Today started out with a bit of sunshine, or what they call around here ‘sun breaks’. Still cool/cold; currently about 41F under cloudy skies. Series of wet storms coming through here; the usual for this time of year.

A trip to Silverdale with the electric chair that Pam uses on trips to Utah. I let the batteries run down, and they were not revivable. Had to get replacements (2), and then installed them and the chair still doesn’t work or take a charge. Took off the batteries again, hooked them both up to the charger to ensure full charge. Put them on again, and still no joy.

So I had to put the power lift on the back of the Highlander, strap the chair to it, and take it to the repair shop (about 30 miles). They verified proper battery connections, and took it back into the shop. Hope to hear from them tomorrow about the repair needs.

Also, a few weeks ago, one of the knobs on the climate control on the Highlander broke off, down to the shaft. Not repairable; you have to replace the unit.

Local Toyota dealer said $1100. Local independent shop said $600. E-bay said $110 (from a dismantler).

Survey says: “E-Bay!”.

Arrived today. Used my Harbor Freight plastic panel tools to pry it out (it snaps in/out of the center dash area). Popped the broken one out. Put the replacement in. Took all of 20 minutes.

And it works just fine. Doesn’t have the fake wood grain facing, but the radio above doesn’t either; just the heat seater knobs below (and the center console area) have the wood grain facing. So looks OK to me. (I suppose I could take the facing off of the old unit, but not a high priority.)

Rick for the win! And a savings of $500+ on the car repair.

Hope also to be lucky on the chair repair. We’ll find out tomorrow.

In the meantime, back to the Reading program as I work through cookies and arrays and such.

But, some frozen cherry pies (local school fundraiser) are arriving later today. I’ll count that as another win.