#19- Learn to change the oil in my car

(For this one I have to give a special thanks to my amazing sister who was willing to share her husband all afternoon even though he was on vacation)

On my first day of Spring break I elicited the help of my brother-in-law to learn how to change the oil in my car. I had asked him if he would be willing to help me with #19 on my list and he was excited to get started. Our adventure started by opening the hood of the car and having a brief lesson on where different things are located in the engine. Then we began making the list of all of the car care items we should buy when we visited the auto care store. We decided to change the air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, windshield wipers and add to all fluids. Then we headed to the store to pick up what was needed. My brother-in-law is an excellent teacher (of course that is what he does for a living). He made me do everything, from asking for the oil filter at the store, to jacking up the car, to the entire oil change process. At the auto store he attempted to have me make decisions about which things to buy, but I have to admit that I would look at him with pleading eyes...I hadn't caught on that quickly regarding making decisions about one windshield cleaner over another. Thankfully, he is not only a good teacher, but also very kind and so he was willing to step in and make some decisions for me as well. We paid for everything (I should say, I paid for everything) and headed back to his garage to begin the work.

The first job was of course to pull the car into the garage and put it up on the jack (I didn't learn all the lingo so I don't know what the red stilt things in the photo are called- stationary jacks?). One thing that will inhibit me from changing my oil in the future is that I do not own all of these fancy car care tools...but perhaps little by little I can obtain my own. This was the first chance we had to get up under the car as he instructed me on the finer points of where to place the jack so that I wouldn't risk the car falling, or ruining the body of my car. Once the car was up, the real lesson began and I happily participated in every step (he demonstrated or gave directions, but left all of the work up to me).

I emptied the oil, changed the oil filter, added more oil, changed the air filter, added brake fluid, coolant, windshield cleaner and then moved onto the fuel filter. I did have to have some help pouring in some of the fluids from my expert brother-in-law who has done this many more times than I have. They definitely don't make engines in a way that make these types of things convenient. Often the angle at which the liquid had to be poured was quite annoying. The second place I had to have help was changing the fuel filter. Getting those tight little tubes off of the fuel filter takes quite a bit of muscle. Of course that didn't mean that I missed out on having some of that lovely pressurized gas get flicked onto me as my brother-in-law finally got them unattached, but I did have to have him do that part. We made sure everything was back in place, lowered the car, shut the hood and called it good.

I definitely got more than I asked for, but that was a great blessing. It was a lot of fun, and I would say I would be willing to change my oil again when the time comes. Who doesn't want to end their day with greasy hands and the smell of gasoline on their clothes? For now I am just thankful for family that is willing to humor me with lessons in the finer things of life.

The "30 before 30"

1. Visit Crater Lake

2. “Run” a half-marathon

3. Visit Multnomah Falls

4. Visit Newport Aquarium

5. Visit the Oregon Sea Lion Caves

6. Go skydiving

7. Swim with dolphins

8. Run Hood to Coast (since this one involves a team and lottery, the back up is walk the Portland to Coast)- if anyone needs a back-up member this next year, let me know!

9. Hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail

10. Rock climb at Smith Rock

11. Try snowshoeing or cross-country skiing

12. Finish my Masters Degree (very close...I finished classes (see photo below), now I just have to make it through a couple of tests and graduate in June!)

13. Climb the Astoria Column

14. Visit Mt. St. Helens

15. Go clamming

16. Visit Timberline Lodge

17. Ride on a motorcycle

18. Move into my own place

19. Learn to change the oil in my car

20. Eastern Oregon trip- Fossil Beds, Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, etc.

21. Go fly-fishing (by the way, I’m looking for an expert to help me out with this one)

22. Visit Silver Falls

23. Visit the Chinese Garden in Portland

24. Go for a helicopter ride

25. Learn about photography- I don’t know if this will amount to a class or “lessons” from someone more knowledgeable, but I would love to become more knowledgeable about photography and invest in a good camera.

26. Go speed dating- this one is just because I am curious what this is really like and I am not doing this one alone!

27. Run the Warrior Dash

28. Visit a continent I haven't visited before (Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, Antarctica)- What does Western Russia count as?

29. Take an out-of-state trip with friends (road trip?)- trip planned for July...stay tuned

30. To Be Decided (last one to be completed…maybe something extra fun for my 30^th birthday)