Just some warm ups for car care in this frigid month of winter. Here are some tips your Mom or mechanic may not have told you...
#1 - Door Handles- Dustin Hoffman heard about it in the movie "The Graduate". Plastics were and are the future. Outside car door handles are all plastic today. In this cold weather be careful how you pull on them to open the door. More than 1 door handle has been known to fail this time of year. So the key word is gently when lifting that handle on a cold winter morning.
#2 - Power Windows - Sniff the air in the morning when you get outside. If the hair in your nose stands on end chances are the windows are frozen stuck. Now it does not take a hair raising cold snap to freeze them up so be aware. Just because they are power windows does not mean they can overcome subzero temps to work as they age. Again, plastic window regulator components come into play and well, see rule #1 for what plastics can do when cold. Go easy.
#3 - Washer Fluid - Don't assume that frozen windshield will thaw while driving with washer fluid. If it's 10 degrees with the car standing still while your driving at MPH the wind chill can drop the temperature in front of the glass to well under zero. That means the washer fluid will freeze on contact to the glass. Warm the car up in the driveway and clear the glass with the defrost/heating system.
#4 - Wiper Blades - Now that I've explained about warming up the car and freezing windshields keep in mind that this weather also wreaks havoc with wiper blades sticking to the glass. Wiper motors are pretty strong and if the rubber is stuck to the glass the motor can pull worn or damaged blades apart and scratch the glass. Bottom line, try to remember to lift the blades off the glass at night when you park the car, if the car is so equipped, and/or try lifting them from the glass before you start out in the morning to be sure they will move.
In a previous blog, “A Runners Wife” I spoke about my husband training for the NYC marathon. All I have to say is that the months of training all came together of an amazing race. Race day is a grueling day for runners, and the family. But a miracle happened...
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the senate judiciary committee and basically shrugged when asked if any other enemy combatant captured overseas had ever been brought to civilian criminal court to face justice. Talk about an incompetent boob, not to mention a disgrace.
Here is a list of wines all from Spain, and menus from restaurants in Brooklyn where a crew of us did a food / wine crawl through Carrol Gardens and Williamsburg recently
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