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So I drove ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rax to the airport early this morning, and got a little lost on the way back from the airport due to bad signage. So I pulled over, turned on the GPS, and got home accompanied by the Rolling Stones' "Beggars' Banquet," which was great, and a thunderstorn, which was not. And I turned off the GPS, thinking "yay now it won't draw power!" But I forgot to unplug it.
Then I slept for a little while, and mowed and wheedwhacked the lawn, and spread formaldehyde-containing plaster on the ceiling, and showered, and was going to run some errands, but the battery'd drained and the car wouldn't start. I cursed my lack of thought, and called a friend for a jump.
Now, her battery was new, and we'd successfully jumped my car before. But as soon as we touched the ground clip to what we thought was an ok place on the engine block to ground it, it sparked, and glowed red-hot, and caught on fire. And smoke billowed everywhere. We backed away and went into the house and called 911.
Our neighbor showed up, peering into the smoke. "You've got a fire there." We yelled at him to stay away, fearing the car batteries might explode, and remembered that we had a fire extinguisher. So we used it, and about 3 or 4 minutes later the fire department showed up to remove the melted, charred remains of the jumper cables from the batteries, since the connection had burned through the cable entirely and melted lovely Pollock-like smears of plastic on our headlights. And they said I should get my battery looked at, and didn't know why it had caught on fire because they thought that place had been ok to ground it, and we thanked them, and they drove off. I guess it's good to know that they are actually quite quick in an emergency. And then she went to go reassure the neighbors while I talked to the policeman who showed up later.
No one was injured.
Car is still sitting in driveway, unmovable.
Did I mention Rachel's parents are coming tomorrow?
So for those of you wondering why the items "call car insurance," "get towtruck," "go to car repair place," "refill fire extinguisher," and "put out electrical fire" just showed up on my task list, that's why.
If you don't have a fire extinguisher you should get one; I think that might have been the difference between "two ruined cars" and "one car will probably need a new car battery and both need a good car wash."
rax to the airport early this morning, and got a little lost on the way back from the airport due to bad signage. So I pulled over, turned on the GPS, and got home accompanied by the Rolling Stones' "Beggars' Banquet," which was great, and a thunderstorn, which was not. And I turned off the GPS, thinking "yay now it won't draw power!" But I forgot to unplug it. Then I slept for a little while, and mowed and wheedwhacked the lawn, and spread formaldehyde-containing plaster on the ceiling, and showered, and was going to run some errands, but the battery'd drained and the car wouldn't start. I cursed my lack of thought, and called a friend for a jump.
Now, her battery was new, and we'd successfully jumped my car before. But as soon as we touched the ground clip to what we thought was an ok place on the engine block to ground it, it sparked, and glowed red-hot, and caught on fire. And smoke billowed everywhere. We backed away and went into the house and called 911.
Our neighbor showed up, peering into the smoke. "You've got a fire there." We yelled at him to stay away, fearing the car batteries might explode, and remembered that we had a fire extinguisher. So we used it, and about 3 or 4 minutes later the fire department showed up to remove the melted, charred remains of the jumper cables from the batteries, since the connection had burned through the cable entirely and melted lovely Pollock-like smears of plastic on our headlights. And they said I should get my battery looked at, and didn't know why it had caught on fire because they thought that place had been ok to ground it, and we thanked them, and they drove off. I guess it's good to know that they are actually quite quick in an emergency. And then she went to go reassure the neighbors while I talked to the policeman who showed up later.
No one was injured.
Car is still sitting in driveway, unmovable.
Did I mention Rachel's parents are coming tomorrow?
So for those of you wondering why the items "call car insurance," "get towtruck," "go to car repair place," "refill fire extinguisher," and "put out electrical fire" just showed up on my task list, that's why.
If you don't have a fire extinguisher you should get one; I think that might have been the difference between "two ruined cars" and "one car will probably need a new car battery and both need a good car wash."
