It's Dead, Jim

When I returned here to lovely Manitoba, I knew that I'd want to head on into town, go buy some stuff. Food and the like. Well, when I made my way out to my truck, put the key in the ignition, turned, and listened to the engine sputter as it turned over twice before going into a series of rapid-fire thrashings that sounded almost like machine gun fire. I knew at once it was something with the battery. My dad had experienced something like it almost a week before with his truck. Same response, the rapid fire sound after two turn-overs of the engine. Well, I got a buddy of mine to jump start my truck with some cables, then went to Canadian Tire to get my own jumper cables. I knew I'd need them. I didn't know how bad my battery was, not yet anyway.

I got the cables and a tarp, then made for my truck. Key in the ignition, two turn overs and then the rapid-fire sputter again.

To say I was frustrated is an understatement. I was livid, if only for a moment, and found myself waiting a moment to cool my head. It was at this point I spotted a woman, and asked her if she could boost my truck. She said sure, but asked if I had the cables to do it. Well, now I did. Jump started my truck again, and headed on down to the Toyota dealership. This time I left the truck running. I walked in, asked them if they installed new batteries, if they could do it now, and how long it'd take. They said yes, right now, and not too long. They also asked me why I needed it now and so badly, and I only responded with "if I turn my truck off, I'll need someone to boost it to get it going again."

When we yanked my old battery out, it was frozen solid -- just a dead chunk. I could only gawk. They got a new battery in after a little mix-up on the battery type and she started like a charm. Made me happy. Hopefully the new one doesn't freeze. That'd just be bad luck.