Photos around Cape Archives

November 7, 2015

Advance Auto Parts Closing

While I was having a problem finding someone around to jump me the other night, I decided to buy a small, cheap battery charger to stick in the what-if box in the back of the car. Turned out it wasn’t the battery, but a bad starter, so the battery and connections were innocent this time and a charger wouldn’t have helped.

Still, I had a few minutes to kill between errands, so I pulled into the Advance Auto Parts store on North Kingshighway to see what they had in stock.

Something looked odd

The shelves looked unusually bare, and there were a couple of notices taped to the door.

For the record, Advance has been my go-to parts store for several years now. The folks who work there have been extraordinarily helpful. They’ve given me some good advice and talked me out of an expensive purchase when a cheaper one would work just as well.

Good troubleshooters

A few years ago, my old van had to be jumped three times in two days, even though I was doing quite a bit of highway driving. The battery was one I had bought in Florida at another chain, and it still had some warranty left. Unfortunately the tester was broken at the Cape store; they could trade out the battery, but I’d still have to pay a substantial amount of difference, and I couldn’t be sure the battery was really the problem.

I drove into Advance, told them my problem and said that if it DID turn out to be a battery problem, then the odds were good that I’d have to buy the replacement from their competitor. After about 15 minutes of troubleshooting, we determined that the battery and alternator were fine, and that it was probably a faulty relay that was draining the charge. I replaced the relay and life was good.

Mother said they were great about replacing wiper blades and bulbs for her.

Sign delivers the bad news

“Store Closing November 7th. We will be closing at 6 p.m. effective immediately. We are sorry for any inconvenience,” the sign read.

“Does that sign mean you are changing your hours and closing at 6 p.m., or does this mean the STORE is closing?” I asked the clerk.

“It’s the store that’s closing tomorrow night. Corporate came in and said we were all laid off and to empty the shelves.”

“Your call is very important to us”

I decided to spend 9 minutes and 57 seconds of my life (most of it on hold listening to a recording telling me how “important” my call was to them) lodging a complaint with Advance’s customer service line.

I told the very nice young lady that I realized that there was nothing either she nor I could do, but I did want someone to know that I was an regular customer because of the great customer service I had gotten from the staff. Over the years, I had been impressed with the low turnover and the way my mother and I had been recognized when we came in. That’s what drew me back to Team #8175

Not that it’ll do any good, but the national customer service line number is 1-877-238-2623. There are at least two levels of menus to work through, and you’ll probably find out your call is “very important to us” before reaching a poor flack-catcher. Be nice to him or her. They aren’t the ones who put some nice folks out on the street.

November 2, 2015

Bad Halloween Car Karma?

Hey, I did my part. I bought a giant bag of candy. There was a plastic jack o’lantern on the planter by the front door. The porch light and pole light were on. I waited patiently for little ghosts and goblins to show up.

Nary a tap, ring, honk, hoot or holler all Halloween night. I was forced to diminish the bag of candy to assuage my disappointment.

Sunday night, needing to go to the store to restock the pantry. I crawled into the car and turned the key. The silence was deafening. It was as quiet as the doorbell on Halloween.

There was a guy dumping glass in a recycle dumpster at the fire station across the street. Somebody who recycles would surely be willing to give me a jump, right?

He agreed to help, but then he remembered that his battery lives under his rear seat. I’d never heard of that since VW days, but I wasn’t going to argue with him.

Neighbor tried to help

The neighbor down the hill from me was home, so he hooked his truck up to my battery. No joy. We changed the grip on the terminals several times, touched the ends of the cables together (which created an impressive arc), revved up his engine, scratched our heads, then gave up.

The headlights still burned brightly and the power doors and other toys all worked fine. That made it unlikely that my new battery was dead. Someone on the internet suggested disconnecting one of the battery leads for ten minutes, then hooking it up again as a way of rebooting the computer. While it was off, I used a terminal cleaner wire brush to make sure the terminal was clean. No go.

It was time to use my Hondacare extended warranty. Within an amazingly short time, a young man from Sperling’s Garage and Wrecker Service showed up. After doing all the things I had done, he tried tapping on the starter to get its attention. Still silence except for one tiny “click” from the starter when the key was turned.

He said it needed to be towed to the Mother Ship, Cape Honda. I told him to close out the ticket and that I’d arrange to have it towed in the morning rather than having it sit on their lot overnight.

Everybody was super nice

After trying to start it Monday morning, I gave up and called Hondacare again. Another nice guy from Sperling’s showed up. After hearing everything we had tried, he said it was time to play Hook the Honda. There was a problem, though. The van was parked ass-end out, and it needed to be grabbed from the front. Wrecker One called Wrecker Two for assistance.

[An aside. One late night, I heard over the police radio, “Athens 1 to Headquarters.” “Headquarters, go ahead Athens 1.” “Headquarters, call me a wrecker.” “Headquarters to Athens 1, you’re a wrecker.”]

Before long, the two guys had me hooked up and headed to Honda. A couple hours later, the service department called to say my van’s starter was Dead on Arrival, and a transplant would have to come in from St. Louis on Tuesday. It should be ready by the end of the day. The good news was that I qualified for a loaner car and the warranty would cover the repair (roughly $358 to $657 based on Internet estimates).

I forgot to mention one other Only in Missouri thing: the neighbor from down the hill came up while the wrecker guys were working and offered me the use of her car for the day if I needed it. I’ve NEVER had that happen in Florida.

Computer had sympathy pains for the van

Oh, yeah, if that wasn’t enough. The first thing I saw Monday morning was a cry for help from my computer: one of my hard drives had gone critical and needed replacing. If you don’t hear from me, then the replacement didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped.

What do I do to chase this mechanical rain cloud away? Do I have to post a cute cat picture to reverse the bad car karma?

October 31, 2015

Shooting’s Fun for Everyone

I ran across this pamphlet that was dated February 1, 1966. Maybe that’s a second or third printing, because it looks like something I would have read when I got my Daisy pump BB gun for Christmas in either the second or fourth grade.

I remember the grades because we put on a school play where kids with rifles were supposed to bring them so we could do a scene as soldiers performing the manual of arms. Where Miss Gade got her knowledge I don’t know, but she could have been a drill instructor for the way she had us slinging our rifles around.

I hesitated to post this because I didn’t want to get into a “guns are good” / “guns are evil” typical brawl. You are welcome to leave comments, but if I see more heat than light being produced, I’ll close off comments. The publication, it says, was issued by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc., but there are NRA references throughout it. It was certainly a more innocent time.

Photo gallery of pamphlet

The two-page spreads were too big to fit on my scanner, so I had to make two passes and merge them. That’s why some of them don’t exactly match up. Click on any image to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to move around.

Oh, yes. My BB gun was still in the attic. The crosshairs in the scope don’t work, but the gun still cocks and would probably still hit the target after all these years. Check out the rolled-up pants cuffs; some of them are rolled half-way up to the knee. I guess money saved on having to buy clothes for a growing boy went for ammo.

October 30, 2015

118 North Ellis Street

I didn’t find any stories that told when the house at 118 North Ellis Street was built, but there were plenty of stories and briefs about the people who have lived there over the years. From the pages of The Southeast Missourian:

April 30, 1924 – For Rent – 5 rooms, modern, 118 North Ellis.
[In the same paper was an ad that read “To the Colored People: The Marquette Cement Plant Boarding House under new management. Colored employees seeking a refined boarding house will find this a good home, as there will positively be no lawlessness tolerated. Just as the plant has been improved, so has this boarding house. Board, room, short orders, sandwiches, soft drinks and ice cream served. Don (Blue) Hubbard Manager]
August 4, 1925 – Mrs. Pattie Sexton of Malden motored to Cape Girardeau Sunday to spend a few days here as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Emory.
June 8, 1933 – Seven Negro children, whose plight was reported last week when they were living in a darkened room at the Kimmel barn on North Spanish street north of Broadway, are now housed with their parents in more comfortable quarters. They are living in a small house owned by Mrs. Minnie Meystedt, 118 North Ellis street, in the rear on the 500 block on North Sprigg street. They have been permitted to live there until something permanent can be done about their situation. The family was driven from the barn last Friday when Allan Kimmel, owner of the barn, tore away the doors and windows to the room.
July 15, 1935 – Mrs. Howard Templeton, a surgical patient, was discharged from Southeast Missouri Hospital.
June 9, 1936 – Mrs. Jewell Miller and Harvey Meystedt were re-married by Rev. Wm. H. Hackman at the Grace Methodist parsonage, 17 South Sprigg street, in a single ring ceremony Saturday night. Mrs. Meystedt is a daughter of Mrs. Mary Davidson of Fornfelt. He is the son of Mrs. Minnie Meystedt, 118 North Ellis street, and his occupation is that of plumber.
June 26, 1948 – In the presence of relatives, Miss Betty La Don Davis, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Burette O. Davis, 626 South Benton street, became the bride of Bill F. Jackson, 118 North Ellis street, this morning. He is employed at the Marquette Cement plant, and she by the F.W. Woolworth Co.
October 1, 1949 – A building permit was issued to W.H. Meystedt for a 3-car concrete garage, asphalt shingle roof. Cost was $700 and the size was 18 by 20 feet.
January 10, 1950 – Mr. and Mrs. Robert L. Cook, who with their son, Bobby, will move this week to West Frankfort, Ill. Mr. Cook is territorial manager in southern Illinois for the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co. Bobby has been attending St. Mary’s School where he is in the seventh grade.
May 17, 1969 – Delmar W. Karger, son of Mrs. Ernest Karger, has been named a Ford Foundation professor of management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at Troy, N.Y.

The Ray Tibbles Family

The Ray Tibbles family garnered lots of ink in The Missourian.

March 3, 1953 – Mrs. Wayne Tibbles and daughter were dismissed Monday from St. Francis Hospital. The child was born February 25.
October 19, 1953 – Gail Patricia Tibbles celebrated her fifth birthday with her a party at her home Saturday afternoon. Guests included Diane Hunze, Sandy and Johnny Headricks, Amanda Ashby, Martha and Timmy Blattner, Judy Schlimme, Chuckie Dockins, Diane Meystedt, Jo Etta Lewis and Judy Hengst.
May 20, 1954 – Ray Tibbles went to Salem, O. for a training session at the Deming pump manufacturer. He is a salesman for the N.O. Nelson Co.
July 25, 1960 – Leaving Sunday for 12 days at Girl Scout Camp Latonka at Lake Wappapello were Gail Patricia Tibbles and Mary Karen Lail, 806 Themis, members of Troop 1
June 18, 1964 – Miss Gail Tibbles, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Tibbles, and Miss Linda Schumacher, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Schumacher, 1613 Kurre lane, will leave on Sunday for Camp Bear Creek on Kentucky Lake, near Benton, Ky.
May 18, 1968 – Bethany Baptist Church was the setting last Saturday for the afternoon wedding of Miss Gail Patricia Tibbles and Michael Adam Smith.