Hey Alice,
IMHO, it's pretty natural for your personality to shift in a high-stress environment. I sympathize.
A couple years back I was working a couple jobs at the same time. I felt like I joined "manual labor monastery". My personality was amputated: interests, friends, sexuality. Work, eat, sleep, repeat.
Hey, at least when you're done, there's a sense of accomplishment!
"Your hands are cold but your lips are warm..."
First let me say, Alice you have my sympathies, I hate working on cars, spent to much of my youth laying on a cold garage floor putting a car back together.
But I've never had to do it in weather like you guys are having this year!
After a day like that, how could you want anything but a warm shower and a bed.
Hope you get it running, it's to cold for a bike.
Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will.
sounds hard, I'm going to school to become a mechanic. I get how hard it is in a nice warm garage I couldn't imagine trying to work in the cold, make sure you take a break every once and a wile so you don't get frost bite
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Thanks to all of you who replied!! A lot of outdoor workers are in the bitter icebox this year. I had a unheated shed most of the job, but did some outside. Yes, Murphy's law. The manual had only a paragraph, making it sound easy, and quick. TODAY, Jan 26, after 12 days, of agaony, and good ups, redo's, beating my head against the wall, hands numb with cuts and sores, and splinters, and a very sore body. In the below zero stuff, i had four layers of clothes. No gloves. A fur trapper hat. I was not really cold, but hands did, after a while. I screwed up countless times. I am bipolar, and losing some of my ability to concentrate, and think logically at times. Anyway, I did things i did not think i could do, and despite yelling and cussing and utter frustration, after 12 days, i am driving the old 1976 Dodge Aspen. But, all the salt spread this winter, is taking its toll on the body. I miss the northwest, no salt! I know a lot of you have horror stories about icy weather, and cars, and other thing. That must be hell on the crews out restoring power, in extreme cold. I complained and moaned, when i had to replace my transmission, in 90 degree and humid. I would choose the heat, now, even though that drains you of energy , also. I don't mind working on car in cold, but not this sub and below zero stuff. Makes me think of the German Army stuck in the extreme hell winter in Russia.
Well, Alice, I'm glad to read that you're back on the road again
"On the road again
I just can't wait to get on the road again
The life I love is making music".............um sorry. I got a little carried away for a moment there. Maybe I can just blame it on the ADH...........Oh, look! There goes a bunny rabbit!...um Where was I...oh yeah..
ADHD
Anyway, glad you got it running.
"We don't see things as they are; we see things as we are." Anais Nin
Hi Alice,We are getting one of the most frigid January's.I too am on a budget, so I know how it is being forced to make a repair or else!You have a major win under your belt with getting it running again ....not quite conquering the Russian winter,but pretty close.lol
I have to do this as my son in-law and I go back and forth all the time. He loves chevy and I am a former ford mechanic (20 years in a dealership) You should have bought a Ford. Just Kidding. Been there many times no fun when weather is like we have had recently. When all is done take a hot shower, a deep breath, and say look what Alice has accomplished.
Before I retired almost 5 years ago, I decided to buy a new car as I figured I'd was getting too old to be crawling under them. Up until then I had always done my own repairs and maintenance, mostly on cars about 2 steps from the junk yard. I learned by doing over a pretty long time and watching those who knew how when I could. I had a low income and more time than money and was in decent physical shape, so could manage pretty well, but it was never comfortable; dirt seemed to have a magnetic attraction to me and lodged deeply in every crack in my skin and nails and was nearly impossible to get out.
You have my every sympathy; I hope you are successful with the repairs
ALWAYS plan for the worst, then you can be pleasantly surprised if something else happens!
"The important thing about the bear is not how well she dances, but that she dances at all." - Old Russian Proverb (with a gender change)
I think that if I were in your situation I would invest in a drip pan and just keep pouring oil into the engine until spring!
My upbringing was one of "Real Men fix their own cars" and I really can't shake it. As the de facto male in my household those tasks fall to me.
Eryn
"These girls have the most beautiful dresses. And so do I! How about that!" [Kaylee, in Firefly] [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
"What do you care what other people think?" [Arlene Feynman, to her husband Richard]
"She's taller than all the women in my family, combined!" [Howard, in The Big Bang Theory]
"Tall, tall girl. The woman could hunt geese with a rake!" [Mary Cooper, in The Big Bang Theory]
My sympathies, Alice!
But here's a youtube video (a clip from one of the classic Fawlty Towers episodes) that you can probably relate to, and which should give you a bit of a chuckle...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc
Way to go, Alice! A car that runs is just so much better. A huge reward to your efforts in itself. And fixing things is just so educational---lol! Somewhere there is a woman than needs things fixed--and who doesn't care what you do in your spare time.
Now tell me--what happened with the high heel dents in the floor situation? Was any blood spilled? (Mainly yours I was concerned about).
Hang in there, Alice. I admire you for your skills and your hard work. Don't worry about dressing. Just think of doing something special while dressed after you get the job done. Also, it is cold everywhere. BE CAREFUL! Take care of yourself. Good luck. Heather.
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