This one was especially busy (and costly) primarily because the water pump finally failed Thursday night on my beloved Honda on the way home from work. The firstborn and I had had multiple discussions about the horrendous racket that had been eminating from under the hood of my poor baby over the past couple weeks, and both knew that there was some kind of a pump on the way to death. There was not much we could do about it; sticking the head under the hood while the car was running was greeted with nothing more than a general clatter, that could not be narrowed down to a specific location in the engine compartment.Thursday night when I left the office to drive home, the inevitable finally occured...the belt gave forth a protracted squeal then dropped dead silent...."Fantastic!", I stupidly proclaimed...no more noise; and set off home. I had driven no less than three miles, when I looked down at my dashboard to note that the "battery charge" light was on and the temperature gauge needle was steadily climbing toward the "hot" side...something that I have never seen in all the time I have driven my car. I left the expressway, afraid at that point I might be stranded there, with no way to get to somewhere for help, and observed that as I slowed to a stop at the light, steam (or so I hoped) had begun to roll from under the hood. At that point I began to panic (just a little) and yanked out the cell phone to call the young one to let him know I was having trouble with the car and could be late home. When I got him on the phone, I recounted my concern and the symptoms and asked him to call his brother to find out what I should do to get the car home, and to see if, in the possibility that I might actually lose ability to drive the car, his brother would be able to meet me somewhere to help me. After hanging up with the young one, while still trying to nurse the car toward home, the phone rang....the firstborn....we talked through symptoms, at which point we determined the culprit...the pump that we knew was going to fail finally did...he was concerned at the power issue (battery not being charged since alternator belt was detached) and the fact that the car had fifteen miles to go to get home, with it steadily getting hotter and the coolant boiling out of the system. He advised that I should try to carefully get the car home, and that he would have a look at it for damage when he got home from work (10 PM)
I did as I was instructed and successfully nursed the car home on surface streets. The cooling system efficiently boiled every ounce of liquid out of it, to which anyone who had the uncomfortable situation of following behind me will testify...I was unaware of how much steam was actually coming off the engine, because, of course, as long as the car was moving, the steam was being pulled off the engine and flowing under the car and out from the back. The people who followed were enveloped in hot damp air, with antifreeze mixed in it.....it appeared much like the mosquito spray trucks behind me as I pressed down the road. At about a mile away from the house, the charge in the battery was depleted so much that it could no longer support the headlights, and they were dimmed to the point of being practically useless. Fearing that I would lose all power and be stranded within spitting distance of home, I turned off the lights....the dashboard lights dimmed as far as I could and still see the speedometer...was able to make it home without accident or incident....when the car came to a stop in the driveway, the steam billowed out of the engine compartment rising into the cold night air like a huge plume and spread across the yard to obscure view of the street light probably a hundred feet away. The young one and I opened the hood to try to cool the engine somewhat, and then called the firstborn to let him know that the car (and his mom) was home safely.
Once the firstborn looked in the engine compartment, it was clear to him (and the rest of us) that the water pump had failed. All that was left at that point was to get the parts to replace it. 
I say that as though it is a simple transaction....anyone who is familiar with this type of car, also knows that the process you have to go through to work with any of the belts or pumps is excrutiatingly time consuming and full of possibility to screw things up. The firstborn, however, has gotten quite proficient at maintaining our fleet of four Hondas of this type, so he undertook the repair with little trepidation except for concern about the weather and temperature, which always play a part in the speed and ease with which any project like this is accomplished. His time off was on Saturday morning, so after breakfast, and dropping of the young one at school to start his weekend trip to Canada, we went back to the house and he started on the teardown to get ready to remove and replace the water pump.As he started taking things apart, we decided that there were other parts that he might as well replace while he had everything torn apart (see photo above). I ran to the parts store to get new plugs, a new crankcase gasket and timing belt (it appeared vulnerable and possibly the next thing to go). You really haven't lived until you have gone to the auto supply store as a chick and walked up to the counter to talk to one of the guys that work there about buying parts for a job like this one. They all looked at me like I could have no possible idea what I was asking for, and against my normal inclination, I let them think that way. They actually are more helpful, I have found, if you act clueless. At one point, when the first store did not have the parts I needed, the man behind the counter actually took my note and said to me, "Let me write this part number down for you so you don't forget it or get the wrong thing..." LOL... After visiting three stores (one of them TWICE) I had all the parts that the firstborn needed, and he worked through putting everything back together. He was in a rush to get done, because he also was scheduled to work on Saturday, so he finished up and then ran in the house to take the quickest shower in history. He drove the car to work to assure that everything was OK....and good thing he did...in his haste to finish up, we had forgotten to secured a flywheel, and it came loose inside the engine compartment, allowing belts to loosen and pumps not to work again. He was able to get the car to work and also home after, but he now has the unpleasant task of finding a replacement bolt for the one that was lost in this minor incident...the car unfortunately though is still out of service....again to be addressed tomorrow, when the firstborn will again have to use his free time to get it going.
Other than that, the big things were Ohio State / Michigan game (OSU won!)...Browns /Steelers game (Browns LOST!) and the young one's trip to Canada to be in the Santa Parade and to Toronto to see "Wicked!"...he will be home very early tomorrow morning....I look forward to hearing all about it and seeing photos that I hope he took with my camera...I will share as much of that as he will allow...stop back tomorrow to read about it!
Till then, hope your weekend was well and so are you...your teams won...it is not snowing where you are like it is here right now....much love to you.....
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