The Miracle and Satan

 Oh hi Bakey,

This week was a pretty sad week. Not for us directly, but all around us seemingly. Sister Gates viewing and funeral were this week. A teacher at mom’s school had cancer and was given six months to live, she died 4 days after that. Grandpa is in the hospital, there were more layoffs at work, but not in our department, and aunt Stella has major plumbing issues. It’s important to be grateful when things are rough all around, but it’s also important to be there for those that are going through it. 

It’s Saturday afternoon as I start this letter. I’m here with mom and ben watching her FBI show. I was supposed to be with Ben and uncle Tim on an off road adventure. But Joe’s car died Tuesday night, which is the lead up to this week’s stupid George story. So that little Jeep, or as I refer to it, satan, had it’s power steering fail. Joe had just got home and told me his car started to make a loud squeaking noise and became super difficult to steer just as he pulled up to the house. My first reaction was frustration, which more often than not is my first reaction to anything. Then when I went to look at it I realized that it could have been a real disaster. If the steering stopped working in traffic or on the freeway he could have been in a crash. As I looked at the car, I thought it was probably a blessing or maybe even a miracle that it happened when and where it did, I’m not over stating it. The serpentine belt was shredded and tangled up in all the pulleys and there was fluid dripping from the power steering pump. Oh man. So that night I ordered the cheapest rebuilt power steering pump I could find on Amazon, along with a pulley. It came on Thursday, 

I had taken Friday of because I thought we’d go camping. We decided not to go camping on Friday because sister gates funeral was happening Friday. But I decided to work on satan so I could go off roading today. So Joe and I got up yesterday, went to Jim’s for breakfast, then went to go get a drive belt and some power steering fluid. I came home and tore into satan. The worst thing about working on that car is the side of the engine that the belt is on has less than two inches of space to work in, and most of it I had to pull the passenger front wheel off and work from the bottom. I got the old pump off with only minor swearing. The new one was like a puzzle to get back in place. Luckily, Joey was helping and he managed to fit it in and get the bolts in. That kid is pretty dexterous. Then I had to take the wheel and tire off to get to the lower belts. I’d done that before when I changed the alternator, but it’s still a pain. I finally got the belt routed and installed, which was way more difficult and frustrating than I described it. So I get to the point where I can start it up aaaannnd….clicking, squealing, rubbing and smoking. Fu@#&$%!! For some reason the belt kept skipping and becoming misaligned on the pulleys. I disassembled and reassembled several times including changing pulleys etc. seriously, I think I did it no less than five times. By then it was late and I was pi#$@&+! I texted uncle Tim to let him know the trip was off, even though I was tempted to finish fixing the car on Sunday or make Joe walk for the rest of his life. But I decided fixing it Saturday was probably better for my salvation and joes education and employment. 

Saturday we got up and did our normal breakfast at McDonald’s before Joe went to work. Because we were dropping him off in the Buick he asked us to drop him off on the far side of the parking lot, the big dork. Mom had to go get ready for that funeral. Overnight I had researched the problem that I was having with satan and decided that the belt tensioner may be bad, in fact, it may have been the source of the problem in the first place. I think that 8 pulleys spinning at high speed under tension and heat may have multiple issues after one component fails suddenly. In this case it was the pump, belt, and tensioner that failed, even though I’m not sure which one failed first. The only place they had the part I was looking for was at the downtown autozone. You may have felt at home there as everyone was speaking Spanish. They were pretty busy and I was impressed by how professional everyone was. Ben had come with me to get out of the house so we drove by the vivant arena on the way home to see how it was dressed for the all star game. It reminded me a little of the Olympics.

I got back and started the repair process all over again. I still had to fight with it but with a little help from Ben I got it done. I felt genuine delight when I fired it up and there was no clicking or skipping. I took a longish test drive and it worked. It idles a little rough, so I need to fix that sensor I broke and give it a little more love. There’s still a rubbing noise that’s either the brakes or a wheel bearing that I still need to deal with. There will be a point when that crappy car ain’t worth saving, but, as Aragorn might say, “That day is not today!”

The rest of the afternoon I just dinked around the garage a little. Mom made us quesadillas with her leftover fajitas from the Super Bowl party, so good! They released the second season of Clarckson’s farm and we watched the last two episodes last night. It’s probably my favorite current tv show and mom even liked it, despite the constant f-bombs and explicit displays of animal husbandry.

It’s been a really busy Sunday. The highlight of church was when bishop Snarr invited anyone who was going to go on a mission in the next 12 months to bear their testimony. I guess a speaker had fallen through at the last minute so that’s what he decided to do. Some old lady got up first, I don’t think she was listening when Bishop said who he was inviting up, but no biggie. Then Jared carver got up. He’s a good kid and nearly a full year older than Joe. Then Wesley got up, and I’m sure you can imagine his testimony given in all of his home school glory, I have no real expectations of him serving, hopefully I’m wrong. Then Joe got up and did a fine job. The big surprise was Ryder Neilson. They live sort of across the street from us. You may remember the story of the dad that wanted President Randall to say it was okay for young men not to serve a mission. President Randall, like a legend, would not say any such thing. Anyway, I thought that Ryder was really sincere and honest about wanting to go. The Spirit was really strong after those boys bore testimony. After that brother Larsen from the high council gave a really great follow up talk.

We had tostadas after church, then went to go visit grandpa at the VA hospital. that’s the spooky one up by the U. He looks better than he has for a while. According to him he had a near death experience on Monday where he had an opportunity to enter a portal. It sounded legitimate, but then, grandpa. We saw that long spooky hallway I may have told you boy’s stories about. On the way out ben and Joey walked down it, mom wouldn’t have any part of that so we went to get the car. 

On the way home mom saw that it was aunt Stella’s birthday so we decided to go visit. She wasn’t there at first so we chatted with uncle Temmy for a while. We we’re out the door when aunt Stella came home, but it was a nice visit. 

I’ve been thinking of you and your busy week since Monday. You know the plan by now, we’ll be anxious to hear from you. I really love you kid.

Pops