Tuesday was a rough day for me (my uncle's funeral and I couldn't be there), so I asked Mike to pick me up a cherry limeade from sonic on his way home, it was happy hour afterall! So, he calls me - while idling in the drive thru lane, the Xterra decides to just quit - won't restart, so he pushes it out of line, then coasts it down hill through the plaza and parks it at the place we normally take our cars to get fixed (how convenient was that?).
So, they have our car for 48 hours and can NOT figure out what is wrong with it. It starts back up for them, then dies - a few times, so they hook up their computer and the car keeps running and running. Mike decides on Thursday to pick it up - and drive it to work on Friday. I'm on standby. It makes it there and back. Then after picking up our Friday night pizza, he lets his truck idle in the driveway - it dies. He's kinda excited about this.
Well the mechanics best guess had been the distributor - but after running some 'tests', Mike was convinced it was not the distributor - it was something with the fuel pump. He's got the fuel pump torn apart, is elbow deep in gasoline and is telling me to 'start the car carefully' and 'be ready to turn it off quick' - umm, should I be worried (I whisper to the dog to abandon ship so she can comfort the girls in the case of explosion) - he tells me not to worry, everything is fine - as he slices his finger open and blood drips into the gasoline. I'm thinking this can't be good. Phew, we survive that - he's so intensely focused. I like that about him.
After dark, he does some internet research and discovers a part on the fuel pump has been recalled on our vehicle due to possible corrosion - it was only a mandatory recall in Northern states where salt corrodes it more. So this morning, he gets up at 7am (you don't understand, it's Saturday morning, this NEVER happens!), - but it's suppose to be 100 today and we want to head to the lake, and like I said, when something is wrong, he's focused on figuring it out. In fact at bed last night, he said something about it being a 'fun puzzle'. He's crazy, but I'm totally okay with it because he enjoys it and it saves us lots of money!
At 7:24, he walks back into our bedroom (yes, I'm still in bed!) carrying a part, and smelling horribly of gasoline - "I figured it out, want to see what's wrong?" Why, yes, yes I do! (Really, was there any other answer possible?! but, yes, I did!) And he shows me where the part corroded and how it has cracked the connection. We discover the Nissan dealer IS open on Saturday - yay! - so we're hoping they will let him just go and exchange the recalled part - and he doesn't have to put the car back together and have it towed to the dealer. Crossing my fingers!
So like I said, he's a genius! I'm not sure how he knows how to figure out stuff like this - but I'm glad he can, and he does, and that he enjoys the 'puzzle' of it all! And that he had a grandpa who took the time to teach him the 'basics'!
And since I'm bragging on Mike, last weekend I mentioned about redoing under the girl's bathroom sink, trying to provide some organization...and so, this past week, he just whipped up this organization for me (inspired by a combo of pinterest ideas, of course!) ...just.like.that. I love him.
And as you can see from the 'before' picture, it definitely needed some help...
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