If it's broken, it can't really break a whole lot more so you might as well take it apart...

The saga of my wiper blade begins a few months ago when it was feeling a little unmotivated. It would think about making an effort to get up and wipe my windshield, but it wouldn't quite make it. Fretting an electronic problem, I called my trusty mechanic (Stillwell's Auto Repair, 207-729-3453, 25 Fisher Rd, Bowdoinham, ME- they ROCK) and they of course said to come on by. I really need to make them some cookies soon, says she, thinking out loud. As suspected by the gentleman on the phone, he pulls out a socket wrench and tightens the nut attaching the wiper mechanism and voila, it works. No charge.

Now, when the blade is making the lazy effort to perform it's assigned task all I need to do is tighten the nut. Argh, but here's where the plot thickens. It was just loose enough this time so the stinker was misaligned and the passenger side ran into the driver's side and crunched the blade. Why, other that the obvious answer of Murphy's Law, is it always the driver's side that gets fudged?? Do the forces of the universe not know one of the key elements of driving is seeing the road?

So, I got to play mechanic today while my two youngest babies were sleeping. I took off both blades, put the good one on the driver's side, took the whole stinkin' passenger's side mechanism off so I didn't have to drive around with a sock on it, potentially scratching my windshield, and said a prayer that it didn't rain, snow, sleet, or otherwise melt enough to require frequent washing of my windshield.

Dreading spending flipping $30 on a single blade (and then usually another $30 because once you put on a good one, the other one decides to keel over which results in repeating this whole process and duplicating a trip to the store for what you should have gotten two of the first time around) I remembered to take it apart and see how it worked, and Ah-HAH! The blade itself wasn't ripped, only the metal casing. Well, not casing, exactly: there are two metal strips that sort of snap inside of the grooves of the blade holding into the frame. A little brute force and some pliers and I bent it all back into shape and reassembled it!! Now, if this works, I just saved myself moola. If that isn't the best kind of Valentine's Day present, I don't know what is. Save the flowers, honey, give me a refurbished wiper blade.