Jan 28 2011

A Bunch of (Hot) Air

Published by at 8:08 am under Country Life

It’s no secret that I’m not handy. I can hardly wrap a Christmas present, let alone put up a shelf or do anything with the car other than put gas in it while simultaneously wincing at the price ($3.69 a gallon in San Francisco! It’s a mere $3.23 out here in the boonies). And even then I sometimes forget to put the cap back on.

Before I ventured to the city, I thought the car had better have a quick check-up, since I couldn’t remember the last time anyone did that and I’d be driving hundreds of miles. Megan and Rob obligingly came over and peeked inside. It didn’t take them long to notice that the oil was practically empty (eek) and that all the tires needed air. The power steering fluid and coolant were fine, though.

Fortunately, I had a quart of oil on hand, but the car needed another one, so I stopped at the store on the way out of town and bought another, which I put in. Then I attempted to put air in the tires. It seemed that nothing was happening, even though there were lots of air noises. I finally went inside the store and asked if there was some secret I didn’t know. It turned out that for once there actually was a magic secret and it wasn’t my usual incompetence. Yay.

The secret is – in case you ever visit and are the kind of person who lets their car tires get low on air – that you have to press your key inside the air nozzle until the generator starts up. It can be hard to hear over the wind and the cars, but listen carefully at the (locked) door and you’ll hear it all right. Then air will actually begin to fill your tires instead of just pretending to.

The catch – and we all know there always is one – is that the generator stops after about a minute and a half, and you have to repeat the process. It took me about seven restarts to get the tires filled, but I triumphed in the end. I also noted the date of the refill and check up on the calendar, so hopefully I will remember to check it again before it’s almost too late. I may do a convincing impersonation of a grown-up one of these days after all. Or not.

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3 responses so far

3 Responses to “A Bunch of (Hot) Air”

  1. Mike Charbonneauon 28 Jan 2011 at 10:20 am

    The secret to our air compressors? Money. One dollar to be specific. It wasn’t that long ago it was 25ยข or even free. I prefer your magic solution better.

  2. suzyon 28 Jan 2011 at 10:25 am

    At least it’s free! Even if you do have to start up the generator seven times. ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. Guyon 29 Jan 2011 at 4:46 am

    Good thing to have someone check for air, gas, oil etc., You need to take care of the vehicle especially living a bit further in the country side.