Various ways to get under cars

A phone friend (that is, someone I talk to every week who is never present in person) told me they plan to work on building a car engine on their weekends. I asked how heavy the engine is, mostly because I cannot remember what a clever question would be in this situation. Do these things even have pistons anymore? I know spark plugs are quaint, but I’m really not clear on modern mechanical forms.

He assured me that he is very careful whenever he has to get under a car.

This is a terrible thing to say to a recovering safety person. People who say they are careful are only acknowledging that they know they are doing something dangerous. It is no reassurance at all. I chided him and reminded him this is why people join car clubs. One needs a repair buddy.

I am a terrible phone friend, obviously. I will mother literally anyone, whether they ask for it or not.

So, since no one asked me. Here’s my advice on how to fix a flat tire!

Make sure the car is on a flat surface, away from traffic. I stopped to warn someone who was jacking up their car on a hill. The person scolded me and claimed they were on a level surface (nope!) They promptly dropped their car off the jack. No one was injured, but dropping a car can be fairly deadly, as a safety-minded person would notice.
Maybe just give up and stand around looking pitiful until a professional can handle it. Sure changing a tire is worth an experience point or two, but so is embracing the humility that one person can’t know how to do everything correctly at the most opportune time.
Do you even know if you have a spare tire or where the jack is stashed? No? Make a phone call, instead!
Okay, so you know how to do this already. Why are you even reading this list?

Crushing injuries are terrible. Remember, we are upright bags of water, so smooshing some of our bodies into other parts of our bodies is bad news. We have organs in specific places for a reason and they need to stay there to do their jobs. This is why you should not get under cars alone or shirk the bookcase anchors.

We can be crushed in a natural disaster with no warning and there’s nothing we can do about it, but we can avoid tempting a collision by avoiding the crushing situation. We can build things that won’t fall on us in most disasters and we can anchor those bookcases to the wall, too.

If you’re like me, you are squinting right now and I’m sorry. Our natural aversion to ideas like getting squashed is a little yellow light that reminds us not to get under cars without triple checking everything.

Stay uncrushed to tackle another day intact!!

Love,
yermom

This is the place where I link to book info and book status info which is looking like a lie again…

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