zzzzzzzzzzzing

That was the sound as we ducked another bullet shot at us. This morning the car that CamMad calls home during the week did not start. As our morning schedule is tight I couldn't afford to wait for AAA. Fortunately Parent2 drove us in and Parent2 spent quite a bit of time in the car picking up CamMad and me from a late meeting at school. When we got home we called AAA and they sent over someone who gruffly said "Try now" nothing, "Try now" nothing, a few more times then the car started up. The next thing I hear is "Clean the terminals!" My response was "Alright, baking soda and water right?" His response, "You could use Coca-Cola." I'm think, not only does it rot teeth but it cleans car batteries. Whoa! As the moment was passing I hear, "Do you have your card?" I got the sense he wanted to be somewhere else and fast!

After he left I ran the car for a half hour or so then I decided to put on my brave face. I was armed with my water/baking soda mixture and an old toothbrush. I went out there and shut the engine down and went to work. It looked worse than it was and the battery acid met the base mixture and cleaned up nicely, much like CamMad after a bath. Then it was the true test, would the battery put a charge to the engine to turn it over? I cautiously put the key in the ignition and said a prayer (I'm not ready to go car shopping). The engine turned over like it did in the showroom. Not wanting to say, whew, I wanted to run the car a little longer. I shut everything up afterwards and decided the real test was going to be early in the morning. Only time will tell but it looks encouraging.