Low voltage day
Had the echo &, by chance, the cardiologist reading echos for the day was someone I knew from college as well as my time at Concord Hospital '95-7. That opened the door to a good bit of interaction, going over the study & making light of alma maters & fund raising. Anyway, a fairly leaky mitral valve whose solution remains to be seen.
Missed any kind of run - came home from a half day of work, took a nap, then did some outside stuff. This eve, we went off for a ride to Canterbury, in part to see the Shaker Village. Was on call, the cell with under 5% charge but Beth had hers. The Village dates back to the early 19th century, very picturesque and particularly on the fine June eve that it was - rustling green leaves and waving grass in the breeze, birdsong, distant views, fields, gardens, dirt roads disappearing into the forests, a large pond, walls and all the stuff that can make a rural NE state like NH look so fine. Coming back, lights started to go on on Beth’s dash, suggesting a battery issue. She’d just had one 3 days ago, the car dying about 1.5 mi from home. I was coming home then, drove by & returned with a portable battery starter & she was home easily. Battery then fully charged.
This was the first outing since. Canterbury is about 18 mi from home. Tonight, eventually same thing - first various dash lights went on, then finally the car engine stopped in the last mile from home. So it was coast & coast some more down the long hill. I turned onto Allen with little brake or steering power & coasted to a stop 25 yds from our mail box. I had the Sears starter in the trunk for this undiagnosed problem should it reoccur. The battery read 10.4v. The car started started readily with the jump start but upon disconnecting the portable starter, the engine stopped again. So I restarted it & Beth drove into garage with the hood up about 18”, the starter battery sitting on top of things doing the work. So now the shop - but how lucky to get as far as we did w/o any frustration. No way one could have driven the car with the hood as it was. It remained the fine eve it had been.
I try to imagine this place in the cold, isolated winter of something like 1825 (the settlement started around 1816)