State of the Caer

Our power was off for about seven hours, from about 1520 yesterday until about 2245.  We got off lightly, except for discovering that the Tortilla Flats restaurant more or less directly opposite from us on the Daniel Webster Highway (which still had power) almost makes Taco Bell look good.  Their chili con queso was decent, though it didn't really come with enough chips; the rest of the food was ... forgettable.

There were more branches down when we got back from Tortilla Flats, including a large one across the driveway.  Between the weight of the ice on it and the treacherous footing, it was almost all I could do to get it out of the driveway.  I'll have several large branches to drag up to the house and saw up today.  cymrullewes had great difficulty getting the car up the driveway on the ice.  We lit a fire in the living room fireplace, that I'd laid earlier while there was still some daylight left, and waited for power to come back on, which it finally did just as we were giving up and going to bed.  (Just in time for me to load and start the dryer so Pirate has dry pants to wear this morning.)  I powered the UPSen back on, but left the machines until this morning to be sure the power was stable and the UPSen fully recharged.

Merrimack schools are open today, but currently with a 90-minute delay.

Stupid human tricks

Mother-of-three Jennifer Strange, 28, died on Friday after consuming more than a half gallon (two liters) of water in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest organised by KDND 107.9 radio in Sacramento, northern California.

Assisted Darwinism?  I'm guessing it had never occurred to the radio station staff that their stunt might not be safe.  After all, it's only water, right?

Oh joy, more car problems

Last Tuesday, I conclusively diagnosed the ignition problem on the Mercedes.  On Thursday, the parts I ordered on Tuesday arrived, and I installed them and verified the problem was fixed.  On Friday, the Mercedes got four badly-needed new tires, and yesterday it got a four-wheel alignment at the Mercedes dealer.¹  Today, cymrullewes drove it to work instead of the Intrepid.

Which is just as well, because when I drove up to Bedford with Wen the Eternally Surprised for some needed shopping from Lowes Hardware and Target, the Intrepid all but stranded us there.  We came out of Target, unlocked the doors with the remote, got into the car, turned on the ignition, and lost all electrical power.  Everything was dead... except, oddly enough, the oil-pressure light.  I spent about ten minutes futzing with it trying to get it to start, then took Wen and walkesd down to Lowes, did my shopping there, came back, and it still wouldn't start.  I was eventually able to get it started with a jump-start, so we headed for home.  As we left the parking lot, the ABS system failure warning light came on.  About a mile later, coming down 3, so did the charging system failure light.  The interior lights kept flickering on and off on their own.  We made it home, pulled into the garage, and discovered that we had no head or tail lights either and that all of the trunk electrics were out.  I turned the engine off, went to try to start it again, and the entire electrical system totally collapsed again.  Once again, nothing worked but the oil pressure warning light.

Looks to me like the succession of niggling electrical-system glitches we've had almost as long as we've had the car has finally cascaded into a system-wide electrical failure.  As cymrullewes commented, "It looks as though replacing the Intrepid² has just become urgent."  Which is Bad, because we don't have enough financial reserves yet that I'm really comfortable doing so.

But as the saying goes, "Needs must when the devil drives."

[1]  During the course of which we discovered that some time soon, it needs $1500 worth of front suspension work.

[2]  We're hoping to be able to find a 2002 or 2003 Volvo XC70 in Polar Arctic Blue.  If we manage to do so, it'll be named "Eisbär" ("ice bear", the polar bear).