If It Ain't Broke, It Ain't Mine

It's been a while since I've posted here, because I really try to keep things kind of "upbeat".  No one wants to hear about my problems, except for my friend Bucky.  He says it makes him feel so much better about HIS life.

The month of November started off amazingly well.  Temps were in the mid to upper 30's for the lows for the first week and a half.  Then things went straight to Hades.  Except it's supposed to be warm there.  We went from 42 degrees (f) at 7am on the 10th, to 2 degrees (f) at 7am on the 11th.  For you English majors, that's 40 degree difference in one day.  And the temperatures went down from there.  Driving back from a meeting in Estes Park, we watched the thermometer go down to -24 degrees.  I walked into the lodge muttering "I'm glad I'm not a brass monkey".  It stayed below zero for DAYS.

During the very unseasonably cold stretch, an outside sewer pipe froze solid, and several water pipes in our "Sunroom" froze and ruptured, spraying water all over inside the walls.  Both of the shut-off valves for the hot water line chose the same night to fail, so I had to shut off the hot water to the entire lodge to stop the spraying water, and then scramble to find fittings to replace the broken joints before guests arrived the following night.  In case you ever need to know, PVC and CPVC fittings and pipes are not the same.  At all.

Each time I would fix one break, the next one would thaw out and spray.

I hate plumbing.

Also during this period, the wind picked up in earnest.  It has been blowing between 20mph and 80mph nonstop for the last two weeks.  We quit riding our horses, and even feeding them turned into a life threatening ordeal.  I finished the plumbing.  At least it was indoors.

We then took the horses down the mountain to stay with the "other herd"  that they stay with in the winter.  They kept crashing through the hot wire so they could bug the cows in the field next to them. After a couple trips back down the mountain to fix the hot wire, they finally decided to stay put.  Bless their pointy little heads.

All of the extra driving at sub zero temperatures made the "odd-little-grinding-noise" in the front end of the minivan turn into a "horrific-helicopter-crashing-killing-all-on-board" sound.  No way in heel was I going to work on that in the cold.  We took it to the dealer.  They tore it apart, but couldn't get the parts (both front wheel bearing/hub assemblies) until the next day.  We had to borrow my mother-in-law's Pontiac-Buick to drive home in.  I could feel myself shrinking until I could only see between  the steering wheel and the dash.  I left the blinker on.  We got the van back the next day.  Fixed, but not free.  Something about it being a quarter million miles out of warranty or something.  Crooks.

Now, last summer during our busiest, I broke a molar.  I finally got an appointment made to get it looked at during the first part of this month. At that point, they scheduled me for a root canal on the 25th (only one more shopping month til Christmas!).  Joy.  I got that done and got a temporary crown.

I think I enjoyed it more than plumbing.


On the 26th, we made the decision to put our dog to sleep.  She had been fighting seizures for a year, and was losing the battle. It was time.  Sophie the lodge dog, you will be missed.  Damn.  I'm crying again.   I'd rather have another root canal than go through that again.

Yesterday, on Thanksgiving, all the kids showed up with all of their kids and spouses.  We had two turkeys and enough sides that there was barely room for peoples plates on the table.  We even fed the folks in the two rooms we had staying with us that night.  The food was great, the conversations were great and the people were wonderful.  World problems were solved and history was rewritten.  The laughter was loud and continuous.  After the meal was over, the evening continued in much the same vein.  After all was said and done, and the leftovers were divvied up and everyone had driven back to their homes safely, I realized something.

It was a good month after all.

v

Bill