Saturday, I went to the community rummage sales down the road from us. Got some good deals, nothing fabulous, but at the end of my morning out, I parked on the hill at a sale, and when I opened the door of the van, the wind caught it. I didn’t think a whole lot of it until the van door wouldn’t open when I got back to the van. Rummage sale: 2 glass baking pans and a shirt for Blaine. $3. Driver’s side van door: stuck.
Perfect.
The bumper was dented, the door wouldn’t open more than 2 inches. I’m wider than two inches. Climbing out of the passenger side puts a whole new spin on strange that I hadn’t considered. As if the 12 passenger van wasn’t quite odd enough.
Today, I took it to town with plans to stop and two different places for body work quotes. The first place offered to fix it, free, then and there. Um, yeah! He popped out the fender and told me if I wanted it perfect it would need body work, but it was functioning and barely dented and opening well. Sounds good to me. I took it to Blaine’s office to see what his thoughts on it were.
We decided to stop at the second body shop, just to get an idea of what it would cost to get the dents perfected. I got the quote, got groceries, and got a tube for Eden’s bike tire. Went to the bank. Door worked great.
I pulled into my yard, and the door wouldn’t open. What on earth?!
Climbing out the passenger door, I set to work changing Eden’s bike tire so we could continue to the park with friends for a ride, as planned. The tube I bought now in her tire, I put it back together. Forgot to put the chain on. Found out the front tire was also flat. It lost it’s air within two minutes of being pumped up. Perfect. Liberty tried to ride my bike. It’s 10 inches taller than hers. No go. Eden rode the scooter. She’s a good sport.
Van door opens better on flat ground, but still not right. Blaine to the rescue. It’s now more dented than when he started, but it’s fixed and he figured out why it didn’t stay fixed last time. Speculating on whether the door has been replaced in the past. That would explain why the key doesn’t work in that door.
(That’s a funny story. Blaine’s key never worked, and he didn’t have a key fob like I did, so we went to the hardware store to get a copy of my key made. We figured we’d use his old key as a spare, since it worked in the other doors and the ignition. The new cut key didn’t work. She cut another. Three keys later, it dawns on me I’ve never tried my key in the driver door, only the passenger. My key didn’t work either. We now have multiple copies of that key, none of them work in the driver’s door, and I can only imagine we’re on a black list at ACE.)
In other news, Blaine thinks the house is booby trapped. I think it’s just him. Things jump out at him constantly. You know, things like non-working keys, flat bike tires, and dented fenders.
Glad the door opens. Cosmetics are another story. It’ll probably have more cosmetic needs as it ages – gives it the ‘lived in look’!!