Enjoy Every Sandwich: Jim's Italian Hoagie

My husband and I had plans to hop in the car that's parked outside, go somewhere for a jog (him) and a hike (me), and grab some takeout from Jim's in Bellefonte. The Impala had other plans, though. When he went to start it, the battery was dead. Again. That happened once before, back in November. What the heck?!?

The last time it happened, we jumped his car from my Mazda, which used to sit right beside his Impala. But we sold that Mazda back in December. A helpful neighbor with a truck provided a quick jump-start, and then the question was: What to do next?

Was the battery shot? Would it hold a charge? What caused it? Had a light been left on? Was something drawing power when it shouldn't be? (Parasitic draw test, anyone?) What about the alternator?

We called in our hoagie order, hopped in the car, drove to Jim's in Bellefonte, left the car running, grabbed a pair of hoagies, and then headed directly to our local mechanic, who, as it turns out, was NOT at his garage. So we parked in his parking lot, turned off the car, ate our hoagies, and waited, hoping he'd turn up.

The mechanic showed up about 15 minutes later, and he attached a device to the car to check any codes the car might be throwing. There was nothing relevant there. He checked the battery load, and bingo, that was it. He said it was drawing 39 out of 600 amps. The battery is shot! (From Star Trek: "He's dead, Jim.")

But it was holding at least enough charge to turn the engine over one more time. When we learned the bad news about the battery, we tabled any other travel plans, and simply headed home. The jog and hike we wanted, we ended up taking in the local gameland after parking the car in our driveway. Looks like we're going battery shopping on Monday.

This photo depicts the hoagie I had for lunch, under very weird circumstances, from Jim's Italian Cuisine, in Bellefonte. It is a delicious ensemble of fresh bread, assorted meats, cheeses, and fresh vegetables. (Jim is VERY fussy about his tomatoes!) Even when some things are going wrong, a very nice sandwich will certainly brighten your day. So, in the immortal words of Warren Zevon, "Enjoy every sandwich!"

My soundtrack song has to be from the Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich. Here are Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, with Poor Poor Pitiful Me. Here it is performed by Warren Zevon, who wrote it.