Toolin' Around Three Oaks, Michigan

It's a somewhat quiet Monday here in Three Oaks Village - July 20, 2026.  Ken and I hotsted a few rooms last night at our Bed and Breakfast: Three Oaks Inn which during summer it's not rare to have guests stay on a night other than the weekend (Friday / Saturday.)

One room checked out, another will be staying over and one more room checks in later today. After our breakfast service (which was awesome this morning) due to Ken trying out a new recipe for puff pastry custard tarts which accompanied my caramelized onion/fire roasted tomato fritatta, herbed sausage patty, side salad and mixed fruit.  

The skies were a bit overcast (nothing like the Canadian Wile Fire smoke we've been dealt the last week or so...) so I thought I'd take the Clenet out for a spin and pick up a new positive battery cable from the local hardware store (located just across the street from Froehlich's here in town )which the car sorely needed.

While awaking the car two weeks ago from its winter slumber, I had difficulty with the car not wanting to turn over.  Something weird as the lights turned on, typical pre-ignition warning buzzers and the like all seemed to be in working order.  However...when turning the key to the start position, all I had was a click and the entire car went dead.  No more lights, buzzers... dead.  Like a good car owner the battery was on a tender all winter and I had thought it was fully charged... but one turn of the ignition and all I got was a click.

In the past, we've lost batteries due to a myriad of reasons from age to bad battery tenders, etc...  So I thought it's time for a new battery - pulled it and drove out to the nearest AutoZone in Buchanan, Michigan.  Spent $250 on a new battery and brought it back to the car!  A quick 10 minute job of installing meant I'd be driving the car in minutes... Nope!  After installation, I jumped into the driver's seat, turned the key and had the wonderful sound of the pre-ignition warning buzzer, dash lights and the like. Turned the key further into the start position and... Click!  WTH!!! Oh no...the starter is shot!  I am not in the mood to crawl under the car and replace a starter!

I turned the key back into the off position, lifted the hood and began to wiggle the battery cables.  To my surprise, the positive batter cable connection between the post lug and the cable began to spew corrosion... from under the cable insulation.  What the what??? As I wiggled and more corrosion spilled out...the car radio came to life.  Really???

I jumped back behind the wheel, turned the ignition switch and wha-la... we have ignition!

The car took three attempts to start as it usually does after sitting all winter... but it started.  I pulled it out of the garage as not to get gassed from the exhaust and let it warm in the driveway.  After a few minutes I thought it would be safe to drive through town and did just that.  Took it to the local gas station to get some fresh gasoline, checked the oil and coolant levels too.  The tires did well over winter, only losing a few pounds per tire, so I added some air.  Took the car back onto the local in-town roads/streets and enjoyed my first drive of 2026 in the Clenet.  

All this was done in preparation for the following week where the Lambda Car Club would be hosting their annual Day in the Country drive - more on that later...  That's when it dawned on me... I traded in a perfectly good battery when I didn't need to!  I failed to mention earlier in this post that when I was removing the old batter from the car, the wrench slipped and made contact with both posts and caused an arc flash that was absolutly huge!  The arc actually melted part of my wrench onto the negative quick-connect fitting.  A dead battery wouldn't have caused that much of a flash.  Oh well... at least I have a new battery that will give me at least 5 to 7 years of service.

So today, several weeks later, my third drive of the Clenet of 2026.

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