More hilarity - - - called someone from work to bring a portable car battery to get the Mercury started. When he got here, we discovered that the battery posts were bady corroded. He cleaned them by pouring a mixture of baking soda and water on them. The car started! Hooray!

Since the fuel gauge on the Mercury doesn't work (the fuse keeps blowing every time I replace it), the first thing I did was drive across the street to the convenience store and gas up. Because the car had been sitting up for months, the windows were so filthy I could hardly see out of them; ergo, I took it to a car wash. It helped some, but I'll have to wash it another time, or two.

Once the windshield was (comparatively) clean, I could see that the vehicle inspection sticker had expired in February of this year, so then I went to a service station and got a new inspection sticker ($5.00).

Then I stopped back by the house to pick up the paperwork on the accident, get a cup of coffee, and post this, before going to the police station to establish proof of insurance.