@@@ >-----------------------------------------< @@@@ | date: Sun 04 Oct 2026 09:00:29 PM PDT | @@@@@ | subj: punpkins patch auto problems | @@@@@ | auth: bbsing | @@@@ | doc#: 000098 ------------------------ | @@@ >-----------------------------------------< --------------------------------------------------------- We are on the roller coaster. ---------------------------------------------------- + __ ___ /XXXXX | /XX\ / \ __ /XXXXXX | /XXXX\( ) /XX\ /xXXXXXX |/XXXXXX\\___/__ /XXXX\ /xXXXXXXX /XXXXXXXX\__/XXX\__/XXXXXX\__/xXXXXXXXX ----------------------------------------------------- Oh wow nice day at the pumpkins patch. It really was, but it wasn't an easy start today. --------------------------------------------------------- The start of the day was normal, breakfast, eggs, but with waffles, and bananas for the babes. All that was fine and although it was a bit undecided, I had to go to town to get some fuel for the truck. Mom got the babes ready, and I loaded up our son into the truck. We were all set when I noticed no lights or anything was on in the truck. I put the key in the ignition switch, turned, and the truck was still off. It was all the way off. Its off a way its not been off before. I thought, what the heck has caused this to happen? The battery I bought has a three year warranty and its only six months old! My mind and mouth say "Great!" but not in the great way, more like the not great way. I complain to my wife "The truck is dead." She says "Dead?" I say "Totally dead." "Oh no. Need me to get the other car?" she asks. I say "No. I need to get this car running. We need it for daycare tomorrow." then I storm off in a grumped manner to the garage with the battery charger in mind. I think, I'll put the battery charger on and use the jump mode. Right now I wish I had one of those little jump assist devices, but I've got bigger problems. In the garage I look and find the charger and the cord. The cord is tangled and the charger isn't as easy to get out as I want, so I mumble "Why is this shit always Ft up? Am I cursed?" I untangle the cord for the charger, and get out of the garage. I walk to where the truck is, and begin to untangle the cord. My wife helps out, then I hook up the charger to the battery, and set the switch on the charger to jump mode. I plug the charger in and hear a loud hum. I get into the truck and yell at my wife to "Stand back!" I'm usually scared of the battery, and hoping it doesn't catch fire, or blow up. I don't want my sunshine to get hurt. With the key in the ignition switch, I turn it, and the engine starts up. I hop out of the truck, walk around to the charger, unplug it, and then remove the electrodes from the battery terminals. My wife gets in the passenger side, and I get back into the drivers side. We then begin to plan out what to do as I slowly drive towards town. Not knowing if the problem with the truck is the battery or something else, my wife starts researching using her phone. She is great at this, and helps me find things I need. She can use her phone, where as my eyes cant see the phone so well, and my fingers can't use it so well when typing. I always have to correct the auto correct or fix type-os and it takes forever and since I'm driving she is on research. She goes through the options. "It could be a slow drain like a door being open all night." She tries to remember if she went to get her phone out of the car, and worries if she caused the problem. I think .. no no ,not your fault. I say "You got your phone another time, the last thing we did was come back from park and store, then the babes played inside." She remembers "I got the phone out on Friday night." I worry about two doors shutting at the same time, which happened within the last 36 hours, but last night it must not have happened because our son's window was open a little, so the pressure wouldn't have caused a door to be slightly open. My wife says "It could be a bad battery. It could also be a bad alternator diode, and that is causing the battery to drain." I hope for something easy. "It could be a notorious factory radio issue, to find out pull fuse number 42, wait an hour and see if the batter voltage drops." She goes through all the options, checking the validity of the alternator, the battery. As we drive around to daycare, and the store to get cat litter, never shutting the truck off, we decided to drive home get some fuel at local store, instead of leaving the truck running while fueling it the same times. My original plan, but my wife tells me its against the rules. I argue a bit about the situations we are in. She still doesn't like it. I consider her concern, and play a scenario in my mind where I'm on the news for injuring or killing my children and others due to leaving my truck running while fueling it and a massive fire stars at the fuel pump. As I stand outside the truck at the fuel station, a man is fueling his vehicle and I decide to head my wife's good sense and warning. I get back in the truck my ego upset about my problem. My wife says "We can just fill up in near home. Don't fill up all the way just enough to get back to town and you can get more fuel after daycare drop off." Her words make good sense to me, so I drive back towards home. We drive home and then go to pumpkins patch. We'll see if the batter drains while we are at the patch. At home we get kids ready for a stroller ride to the patch, and off we go, hats on, daughter holding soccer ball, son holding sippy cup. I'm excited for the walk, and we talk about stuff. Some worries, some issues with the world, but not about the truck. We already decided what to do with that, we have a plan. In the back of my mind since we pulled the fuse, it has to be that, and not the alternator. I hate for it to be the alternator because we had to replace one in my wife's vehicle not than long ago, and it cost us A LOT OF MONEY. The dealer didn't give us a deal, it was fing expensive $2k with labor. Kind of absurd to me. So we try a few things, and go on a walk to see what happens with the battery. We'll find out something, is the vampirec drain the radio, or the alternator. We prepared to have a long walk to the pumpkin patch. Our kids in stroller, their supplies, and a stack of movies to return to the library. In a bit of a daze I stroll us up to the library doors, and realize they are closed. Sundays the library doesn't open until 1PM, so we stroll to the media drop and leave the movies there. The brainwashed consumer in me likes the library, my wife might have something on hold for us, or there might be a book, audio book, or audio cd, or a kids book for a dollar I might want to buy. Not today though we stroll on past the library and head to the pumpkins patch. Down the gravel path until it ends, then cross the road and prepare to cross the highway. Its not too busy today so we cross quickly then walk on the country road. We pass a new power pole just installed. I've seen it laying on the side of the road for a couple weeks getting warped. A strand of copper wire that must be 3 gauge was left behind, so I scavenge it. As we walk I notice we really don't have that far. I tell my wife "Its not as far as I thought." She replies "See I told you, not that far. It always seems farther the first time we walk it. I thought you would know it wasn't that far, this is your territory." I tell her "I don't usually ride my bike down this road. I usually ride around. For whatever reason in my mind it seemed further." My wife says "That's because we carried our pumpkins home!" "Ahh." I say she is right it was further carrying pumpkins. We pass a few giant round tanks painted like Jack-o-lanterns, then stroll down the gravel road to the pumpkin patch farm. We park the stroller near the flyer wagons and let the kids out. The kids go in different direction. My son sees a wagon and grabs the wagon handle and starts to pull it. My daughter sees a small pumpkin, and picks it up. Her instincts are good, she tests the stem if it is food by putting it in mouth. Its pretty funny, the stem isn't so good, but she is holding food. She walks around with the small pumpkin like its her little soccer ball. Our boy checking other wagons. An older gentlemen walks into get a wagon to shop for pumpkins and gourds and says hi to our son. Our son doesn't care much about the man's greeting, but instead more concerned with his actions about the wagon. Our daughter is keeping mom busy with the pumpkin and looking good for a nice photo. Our boy pulls a wagon out of the wagon area, and sees a boy playing on an old fire-engine rider from the fifties or sixties. Both kids decide to adventure, and on the route our daughter meets the gravel road and finds some rocks. Rocks seem to be her hearts desire, so she elects rocks and leaves her cute pumpkin behind. Carrying two little rocks she walks across the road. My son heads towards the fire-engine. The little boy playing on the fire-engine wonders off to something else, and my little boy moves into investigate the little fire-engine. I walk over with him, to keep an eye on him and help him out, while mom is watching our daughter. The kids usually like to venture in two different directions when they can at least for a little while. At the fire-engine my little boy sees a shinny bell at the front of the engine, and he finds that fascinating. He begins to flip the bell and it rings out ding ding. A big smile appears on his face, as he looks around, I take a few pictures of him in his happy state. He continues to ring the bell, and after a short time decides to move to the back of the engine, and try to get in. I pick him up and put him in the little fire-engine truck. His legs are a bit short to reach the peddles, and so I try to put his shoes on the steel bars running from the peddles to the anchor past the seat, but his feet fall in the middle and get stuck. So I pry out his stuck foot and push him forward and continue to move his feet when the heals of his shoes get caught under the back wheel. I push him around a bit, and he leans forward and flips the bell. He is happy in the little old days fire-engine. I push him in to the shed where the cash register is, and a couple of teenagers are tending the machine for customers buying pumpkins and gourds. I see the cement has a signature or initials drawn into the cement when it was poured. I can't really make out what it says, except the date 6/24/60. I inspect the slabs, and see they are intact without cracks. I look at the rolling door with an old rope attached to part of the door to pull it down. The door angles downward as it opens allowing the weight of the door as it passes the apex the weight pulls the door open. I think about the craftsmanship of the door the shed and the cement, and wonder about my own garage door, with its fragile mechanics by comparison. I tell the teenagers, this place has been here since June 1960 as I point to the cement. The teenage girl says "This farm has been in my family six generations, since [1898]." I ask "Are you going to work this farm when you are older?" The girl says "I don't know, maybe." I say "Everyone has a different dream for what they want to do in life." She says "I have lots of cousins, they might work the farm." I say "My family had lots of land in Lodi. My grandfather and his brother were to inherit the farm, but they went to the war. World war two, my grandfathers brother was a pilot and he was lost at sea for a long time. My grandfather was at Pearl Harbor. So they decided they didn't want to work the farm. Eventually his brother was found on a island in the pacific long after the war. They found his bones." The girl looks at me and nodes. What would a young person say to some customer about the family farm let go due to living in a war. I spared her the fun story of Bud (grandpa's brother) flyby antics with a P51 of his mothers house on the farm. These little stories of our family fading to time about to be lost forever. My son continues playing on the fire-engine, and I roll him out of the way, near the edge of the gravel drive way. We see mom and daughter, looking around, and mom trying to get a photo with daughter near the scary Halloween display. Our son sees his mom and wants to go to her. I take him out of the engine steady him on the ground and off he walks onto the gravel road to go see mom and sister. I think what a nice time we are having, lets go see mom. Mom is trying to get some selfies with daughter, but daughter isn't liking the mid morning sun right in her eyes. This time of year the sun never goes overhead, its always at that angle off to the side casting shadows as it moves across the sky throughout the day. I take my phone out and try to capture the moment. Mom scoops up her boy and she tries to get all the three of them in a photo. Its days like this with the loving, joy, and feelings of family and connectedness we want to capture and keep with us forever. The sun causes squint faces but we at least have a picture we can look back on and remember, we were having a great time. The display is there for families and people to take photos. Its directly across the wagon area. The kids fussing from the sun in their face, encourage parents to put them down and let them walk where they wish. They walk across the gravel road back to the wagons. Both our son and daughter are investigating the wagons. Our daughter pulls one out, and decides to climb into it. Mom points "Look at her." as our daughter begins to stand up in the wagon. She tends to our son, and I secure her in the wagon and tell her "can't stand up in the wagon. You have to sit down." I sit her in the wagon, but she is set on not sitting, and she wants to ride the wagon standing up. As she stands in the wagon I give it a little nudge and she realizes she isn't as stable as she likes, so she immediately sits down. Mom looks at me and we laugh a little bit. I give her an expression 'it worked.' We have to do what works. So I give the wagon a little pull and our daughter is having fun. Going for a short ride, before she decides she wants out. There is a small blue wagon not a flyer, and our son is trying to get into, and our daughter wants to get in as well. Its too small for both of them but they try to get in together. They frequently try to inhabit the same space in boxes, and other things. They've been doing this since their conception. With a few fusses they move on to other things instead of occupying the same space. We try to get some photos on the hay grass setup with pumpkins and a painting, but the kids are wanting to explore. Mom sees so many photo shoot opportunities and is a little bummed out the kids are not cooperating with capturing the moment. Our daughter doesn't like the hay-grass bails for some reason she says "uh oh." Uh Oh is her new favorite word for anything out of place in her world. Something as simple as an oat falling to her tray while eating deserves an "uh oh" as she tries to pick it up and hand it to mom or dad. She is pretty funny like that. Something about the hay bails causes uh ohs in her mind and she gets down. I point to the large tractor tires embedded into the grass setup to play on. We gather the stroller and head that way for awhile. We park our stroller in the grass near a small green toy tractor for kids to ride on. A boy just left it, and our son wants to inspect it. It has little yellow peddles and he spins one. The kids are getting a bit grumpy, its near their nap time and snack time. Mom gets their milks out and hands them their sippy cups with the milk in it. They drink their milk have some cheese, and crackers. I look at some old wood structure probably for putting things on horses, or farm equipment. It steel bar up about 10 feet high suspended between some wood posts. I jump up to it to see if I can hang from it. My fingers fall just below the top of the bar. I see a flat rock at the bottom and use that to assist my jump. Its three-quarter height inch is just enough to allow both of my out stretched hands to reach over the bar. I hang there for a bit. I see another parent looking at me with a smile. I dangle there for a bit, as they turn away I do a pull up to see if I still can, and then hang there a bit longer. Enough play for me, I better attend mom and the kids. The kids are still eating. Our daughter sets her cheese and crackers in the grass. Mom and I look and mom says something like 'Oh well.' Sometimes there is nothing we can do when dealing with two little people who want to do what they do and see as the best way to handle their stuff. Something I sometimes have a hard time remembering with my family, they will do what they do the best way they think to do it. Not always my way, but it works for them. A boy and his mother come to see the green tractor. The little boy gets on the tractor. He throws his hat off. His mom is near him, and attending to him. The little boy is fast. He jumps off the tractor and runs around like a cheetah. My wife and I watch the cute little guy zoom around. I tell my wife "That is how fast they go." She looks at me "I know." We think together 'are we ready for this? No.' I ask the boys mother "How old is your son?" She says proudly "He's two." I say "He is really fast." The little boy seems to have heard me and just runs around in a large circle, then returns to his mother near the tractor. "She laughs and says I know." She says to her son "You dropped your hat." as she tries to put it back on his head. He flips it off right after. "Oh ok you don't want to wear your hat." as she picks it up. The boy jumps off the tractor and just runs off in the direction of the wagons at about eight miles an hour. His mom collects their things and runs off after him. I marvel at the entire situation in my tired state, and say something to my wife about "I in about six months we are are going to be doing the same thing." My wife expresses her tiredness at me and leans on me, a little snuggle. We wonder if we can handle it. At least I do, a constant worry in my mind. Our kids are wondering around a bit back to the gravel and I head off after our son. Mom says "I'll get the stroller." My boy sees another toy tractor and he wants to get on it. Its a black and red one from the fifties with old steel pedals and red steering wheel at the top. I put my son on it and push him around. He can't use the pedals yet, but he grabs the steering wheel and holds on. He likes the ride. The tractor gets very loud as I roll it off the cement onto the gravel. The ride is bumpy and I try to help him steer it back to the cement pad it was on. There is a large water troft near by, and a red barn full of hay straw all over the ground with hay bails piled up. My wife took our daughter into the barn. My son bores of the tractor as I bore of an awkward bent over position I have to be in the push him while making sure he doesn't fall off. He wants off so I gladly help him off. Mom standing under the door frame of the barn calls me over. I scoop up our son and walk to the barn to see what mom and daughter have found. In the red barn with the piled high hay bails are little boys and girls jumping off them. My daughter is on the edge of the hay pile where its not too deep with a small stuffed jack-o'-lantern. She has two of them, and she is watching the rambunctious kids jump off the hay bails into the hay. A girl and a boy, they pick up the hay and throw it into the air. The hay flies everywhere, and hay grass dust fills the air. My wife and I cough after breathing in the hay. The kids are just wild. I move to the edge of the barn and sit on a hay bail where I can watch my kids ready to help them if needed. They watch the wild kids throw hay. The hay flies into the air and solid things fall from the hay one of the objects grazes my back and another lands to the left of my wife. The debris landed near me on the hay bail smells. I tell my wife "Its poop!" She uses her shoe to flick it away from our children. The smell is distinct and I say "Its dog poop." My wife frowns. Our mutual concern for our children playing in the hay where hidden dog poop lay. I get off the hay bail and walk to stand next to my wife behind my children. My son imitates the young and wild, he picks up hay and throws it over his head. Our daughter and son covered with hay. Our daughter watching it all holding two stuffed jack-o-lanterns, her brother "aaaah!" with excitement as he throws up the hay. The two wild kids are called off by their giant 7 foot tall father. I look to my wife and with mutual understanding "Lets get these kids out of here. I don't like the poop." She agrees but pauses and says "Look at our daughter. She has too pumpkins. She always has to be holding something." "She does." I say. Then we scoop up our kids, mom says "I'll get the stroller." She loads up our kids and we start making our way to the road leaving the farm. We are all getting tired and its past our children's nap time. My wife and I grumble about the dog poop in the hay pile. We discuss our frustrations about people letting their dogs poop where the children play. Nothing worse than hidden little dirty poop land mines waiting for kids to land in or pick up by surprise. Having had to deal with this ourselves, a month ago our son finding dog poop in the playground, his hands covered in it while he's crying about it. The disgusting dog poop on our son's hands and us frantically trying to clean it before he puts it in his mouth and on his face, as we clean his hands. Little kids don't like their hands or face wiped off and when we wipe them, they try and stop us from doing that. In their effort they spread the mess on their hands to their face, our hands, their other hand, their arms, etc. My wife's and my anxiety trying to quickly clean off our boy while our daughter is off wondering possibly out of view, increases the stress and anxiety in us, and causes us to bicker and anger each other. So dealing with the possibility of more dog poop in the children's play area makes us mad. We stop for one more family photo attempt on our way off the farm. We try to get some pictures of the kids in the stroller, but the sun still in our face prevents a nice photo. At least mom captures us at the pumpkin patch on the way out. We decide to stroll to the store and collect a kabasa for the beans we plan to cook for dinner. Beans rice and kabasa a decent economic meal that isn't super healthy but better than packaged food. We're always trying to find a way to feed our children healthy food. We stroller down the country road to the small town super expensive store. We pass an old man near the trailer homes going for a walk with his walker. The old fella looks and smells like he hasn't showered in a week. We great him as we pass saying "Good afternoon." He nods. My wife says how she thinks about older people after my father has died and her aging parents "I just want to take him home and give him a meal." I tell her her sentiment is "Because you are a good person." She says "I don't know about that." I say "You are. You are." She really is a good person. Her concern for others is the way she's been ever since I've known her. She has always been that way. I think about my wife as we all walk to the store. How can I be more like her. Then my fears and demons enter my mind. My mind, remembers of my father's last month of life. My sister, her boyfriend, my wife and myself went to visit him. He just got out of the hospital, and he wasn't doing that well. We at least got to see him for a short time before he past. I had plans to help him finish putting his guitar together. I was going to see him within a few months to have a good time with him working on something he likes. I had no idea that day was the last day I would see him. He was showered and his place was somewhat clean. I found out after his death he asked his neighbor to help him clean up because his son was coming to visit and he didn't want the shame of a mess in front of his son. Poor dad, I'm sorry if I made you concerned, I love you just the same mess or not. I wasn't there when he died. My mind remembers the lyrics and melodies of a Sound Garden song, "Bound to die alone." rings in my mind. The words in a song I've sang many times. The feeling in my throat like an object swelling as the emotions appear making me want to cry appears. I do my best to hold back my emotions as tears swell a bit in my eyes. I look straight ahead as we walk to the store, not wanting my wife to see my eyelids turning red. Just after my father died she had to deal with seeing me just start crying while preparing meals in our kitchen, while I was unable to stop crying. Something she never saw in me before, and something that hasn't really gone away completely. My mind thinks about how my father died all alone. I was there for my grandfather, we all were. My sister, our step mom, my father. Nobody else was but we were there. My grandma she died alone. I think about the millions of animals that die alone. Its the way of us animals, for most of us, that's our fate. Even Chris Cornell he died alone in a hotel room. I think I'll have to face it eventually. As we walk my wife says "That old guy makes me think of my parents. They are getting older. I haven't seen them is so long. I don't have that much time left with them." I tell her "I know." She says "I don't like to think of it." I know how she feels, and I look at her with sorrow in my heart. I dread the time she will have to face that day. I hope I can help her. I hope I can help ease her pain and sorrow, her suffering. Nobody really can do that, fill the emptiness felt in ones heart and mind for the loss of a loved one, or the loss of a relationship. The hole is always there, at least that's my experience. I have no idea how bad it will be for her, for she is several times closer to her parents than I was to my own. All I know is its fucking really really hard and I still struggle with it every week. We try to think of something better as we walk but my mind gets stuck on this issue. I don't want to face it and I tell her "We have to learn how to face getting older. We all have to learn to face this." My mind goes to the Zen Monastery, and my training, sitting in the Zendo with men and women twenty and thirty years older than myself we're all trying to grasp the impermanence of reality and life, as Tendo reads the wise words where sometimes the subject of learning to face the end of our time is mentioned. At the store we select our kabasa and a chocolate bar. We pay, exit, and start our walk back home, and realize our daughter's soccer ball is missing. I immediately think someone stole it. My wife elects to walk back even though I tell her I think it was stolen. She says "I have to go look its our daughters soccer ball." I continue slowly with the kids in the direction of home, and turn back to see her walking by herself. I can't stand it, us all separated. I turn the stroller and briskly push the stroller. I choose the most direct route, cutting through the grass and the parking lot. As I get to the other side behind the store toward the road back to the pumpkin patch I look to the right to see if I can see my wife. I don't see her, wow she is really moving a lot faster than I thought. The she appears to the left of me. She says "I can walk by myself I don't need help." I tell her "I know I just think we should all go together." She says "Go ahead you can walk faster than me." I continue pushing the stroller quickly down the road, and off in the distance I what looks like a small object on the edge of the grass near the road. "I think I see her ball." I say facing the direction I'm walking. My wife behind me says "What? I can't hear you." I often mumble or face the wrong direction while I speak to her. "I think her ball is there." I say, there being where I see on the side of the road. We walk toward the ball. "Yep that's her ball. She sometimes just drops it." My wife says "I remember now. I put it in her hands. I took her water cup and gave her the ball instead." We rush to collect the little ball. I pick it up and hand it to my wife. She secures it in the stroller. "Good thing we got it back. See nobody stole it." my wife says. I say "That's good. I always think someone did something bad. I've got to fix this in my mind." A mind of trauma has a difficult time thinking the world isn't against one's self and family. All write with our little slice of the world, we turn and head home. On our walk home we talk about stuff, different things, the issues with the school going on, and things on our children's horizon. My wife concerned for her babies education and the school they will attend. She is always thinking of her family. Eventually we arrive home, and I check the truck battery. Mom inside with the kids, unhappy I go back in and say "The battery is dead." "What?" says my wife. I tell her "THE BATTERY IS DEAD." as I'm walking outside to figure out what to do. Outside I run various tests my wife read to me while we were driving around earlier. I put the charger on the battery. I feel the alternator and it feels warm. I watch the battery charger needle bounce back and forth between charge and start, completely opposite ends of the battery charger meter. I contemplate this awhile, and sms text a co-worker about it. He tells me its likely the battery. I go to get the tools and disconnect the batter from the truck system, then reconnect the battery charger to the battery. I go inside to have a snack. Inside mom is feeding the kids snacks. They are annoyed and fussy but not taking a nap. I get a drink then go outside and work on the truck. I put my hand on the alternator and feel it, its is cool! One of the conditions my wife spoke to me that indicated the alternator diode is broke, and the alternator is draining the batter. I'm bummed out a bit, but happy at least I know the likely problem. I watch the battery charger stabilize a bit no more bouncing needle. I then rush back into the house and ask my wife for help. She is good at finding things online with her phone. I ask her "Can you source me an alternator." She says "Yes I can." in her exhausted state still recovering form being sick and working hard all week. The kids running her ragged she gets her phone and helps me. I walk outside to confirm the alternator state is still cool. At the truck I again put my hand on the alternator and confirm it is cool, and the temperature matches the rest of the engine. My wife appears just out the front door then asks what truck we have. Neither of us know all the details she needs. Eventually I give her the VIN and she is able to source us the alternator. She says "I'll send you screen shots of the ones to ask about. I'll send you the address to your phone." I tell her I'm going to get the alternator. Off I go to get the alternator. In a rush as usual I take her vehicle and drive to town. Think all the while how to replace the alternator. Earlier I watched one video on youtube, so I go through each step in my mind from the video. I think 'I'm not paying two thousand dollars again. I'll do it myself.' The video says it was easy. My wife's research her voice in my mind saying 'It only takes twenty five minutes.' That means I can do it in fifty minutes. I calculate the drive time to and from town and the time it takes me to work on this and estimate the daylight left, just enough probably. I'll have time to help with dinner for the kids and bath night. At the store the auto parts dealer helps me select a good alternator. He asks if I have a phone number on file, and I tell him "I probably do. My wife and I used to shop here all the time years ago when I would work on my jeep." He puts in the number and there's my name on the screen. I remember years ago while at the auto parts store my wife looking around at all the stuff, and her good nature having to deal with me during another trip to get auto parts. She made it fun to go to the store. After the store back home I worked in the dark garage I would us a little walkie talkie to call out to her, and she walk talk to me over the talkie while I struggled working on the jeep trying to get it fixed before work on Monday. The auto parts dealer says "Do you want to add this vehicle to your profile" pointing at my truck type on the computer screen. This time I say "yes", knowing I haven't remembered all the details of our truck yet. I collect the alternator box, tell the auto parts dealer "If I can fix this in twenty-five minutes, my wife will be happy." He smiles. He doesn't know I have twins and they are hard on us when its just one parent. With part I rush home with hope in my mind and heart I can save us money. I think about how my wife helped me figure out the problem, how to test it, and what to do next. I think how we were working as a team. I think how when we aren't tired and exhausted and stressed at work we really work well together. I'm so happy about that, and with her as I drive home the sun fading. I plan every step in my mind what I'm going to do. At home I gather the tools and get to work. I quickly remove the alternator remembering the steps in the video. I put the new one in, and find its slightly bigger than the older one, and the wire harness wont go in. "Ugh! Just remove the bolts and fix it. Remove the bolt on the left, loosen the bolt on the right. Use the crow bar and pry the alternator up. Put the harness in, then attempt to put the left bolt back in." Not quite like the steps in my mind but close I remove the alternator put the wire harness back on and then bolt the alternator in place. It fits. My wife comes out to check on me. I say "I'm almost done." She asks "You think its fixed?" I tell her "I think its going to work." She asks "Did you test it?" I say "I didn't." She wants me to turn the truck on and see if it works. "I told her I turned the truck on, but I didn't start it. The system came on and it looks OK, but I'm charging the battery. I'll find out how it goes tomorrow morning. If I have to I'll use the charger to jump it like we did this morning and I'll take your keys lock the truck leaving my keys in it while its running during drop of (of the kids) and not turn off the truck until I get back home." She worries but I think my plan will work. She goes back in to tend the kids. I start the clean up in the light of dusk. I see the neighbors and the husband asks about my truck "Is your truck broken?" I tell him how it was dead this morning but we think its the alternator and I just replaced it. "its easy. If your truck has this problem, let me know and I'll help you fix it." He smiles and says "OK" then he, his wife, and dog continue on their walk. My wife calls out the window "Can you come in and help me?" I says "Yes." I rush back to the front door and in to the house. I see her upset and frantic, our daughter has puked on the floor, while our son is trying to get into it. She's holding our daughter a rag, and our son back form the puke. She says "Can you take him so he doesn't get into the puke." I grab our son, and move him to his room. I return to the living room where my wife is trying to hold our daughter and clean up the puke. I tell her "I'll take care of this." She goes to clean up our daughter. I take the rag and clean the puke. I think 'oh no, she was fine all day, now she is sick again. Another day of missed work.' Stress builds up again. Always something. At this point mom has had enough of the day. She is tired. She puts our sick daughter to bed early. We worry about missing work again. I tell her we'll see how she is tomorrow. We talk about our daughter having a fever. I rush out to do the finishing touches on the truck job, securing the charger, and prep for tomorrow. Its bath day so I return from outside and start the bath water. Then I go back out to make sure everything is ready with the truck. Back in from outside I prepare for "Man time." with my son, where we take a bath together. The bath is good, our son is happy. He plays in the water after relaxing a bit, while I wash his hair and body. After he is clean and has had enough play time mom collects him and gets him ready for bed. He is happy, and we are tired, but mom gets him ready outside of our kids bedroom so our daughter can sleep. We do the ritual bed time stuff outside of their bedroom, teeth brushing, and saying "good night day." I'm so dang proud of my wife. She helped a lot researching the possible issues, causes and solutions, how to test the problem with our truck battery dying. We made a plan. We worked as a team and that made me super happy. I felt connected to her. I had good feelings about her and I and hope for the future. I wasn't going to spend $2K on alternator service repair from the dealer, and we just don't have the time to deal with them. My wife and I did it ourselves. I'm proud of that and her and our work. I know she had an exhausting day, but this day I go to write these lines to remember my thoughts and feelings, happy about how we turned it around ourselves. The more we do solve our problems the more we can handle and our confidence will grow, we might just find we are able to raise a family. :) Who knows we'll keep trying. I know of I have dark thoughts and hard days, and it seems each week my wife and I get hit with another problem. Sometimes I just want no problems. I don't know if that's what the universe wants for us, when we ask so for so much more than we had before. It was a freaken hard day, harder than we wanted, and nothing but the pumpkin patch went quite how we expected, but we got through it. ----------------------------------------------------- We are on the roller coaster. ----------------------------------------------------- + __ ___ /XXXXX | /XX\ / \ __ /XXXXXX | /XXXX\( ) /XX\ /xXXXXXX |/XXXXXX\\___/__ /XXXX\ /xXXXXXXX /XXXXXXXX\__/XXX\__/XXXXXX\__/xXXXXXXXX ----------------------------------------------------- updated and finished: date: Fri 09 Oct 2026 12:56:45 PM PDT ----------------------------------------------------- EOF 000098