BUGGIE ist krank

At the close of the work day yesterday, I pressed the magic button on my automatic car starter, and BUGGIE started right off. In a few minutes I trudged out into the fresh snow that had fallen a greater part of the day, reached into my car to get my snowbrush/scraper, and put the key in the ignition, then proceeded to brush off the snow and scrape the ice from the new snowfall. When I was finished, I climbed into the car, put my foot on the brake to shift to reverse, and BUGGIE died. I attempted to start it a couple of times, but only heard "click, click, click, click." Fortunately this happened at my office. Many co-workers were still in the building and thus I went to the lobby phone and phoned my next door cube neighbor. He said try this, try that. Do the lights come on? Yada yada. Since I knew it would be safe to leave my car in our parking lot over night, I chose to do that and got a ride home with Dave, another co-worker.

This morning, Dave picked me up (bless his heart) for work. He and I discussed my options and the decision was made to phone an auto repair shop a couple of blocks from my home to see if they could fit me into their schedule today. They told me they were pretty busy, but would try. They also gave me the number of a towing service they use.

I phoned the towing company and made arrangements for them to come to my office to 1) try to jump-start my car and if that wouldn't start it; 2) put it on their flat bed and take it to the repair shop. To my surprise, they were at our office in less than an hour. Now, this is exceptional service considering it is 7 degrees below zero, and there are reports of many accidents on the bridges crossing the Minnesota River this morning.

The driver used a powerful jump starter and BUGGIE started right off. I was so pleased! His suggestion to me was to drive it to the repair shop and have the electrical checked out, which I have done. To be continued. . .