Never a Dull Moment

You may recall that the washing machine caught fire. Not to mention that the washer and dryer didn’t fit where they have to go and we had to get rid of the cabinet (we didn’t want it anyway). Well, Brother Charles brought a replacement washer today (may he be blessed, and I’m sure he will be.) We went to put it in and we had to shut the valves. We completed that task and when we went to take the hoses off we discovered that one of the valves wouldn’t shut, and the water was running all over the place. I ran to the pump house and shut off water to the house. We cleaned up that mess and transferred the hoses to the new washer. Now one of the valve stems was leaking and we had to experiment to get the leakage to a minimum. Now we try out the washer. We quickly discovered that the red handled valve was NOT the hot water as expected. Thus we had to shut off water to the house again and trade connections. Mission accomplished. Try again to test the washer. OK for a short moment and then the drain line blew off the washer and we had water everywhere. We cleaned up the water and reattached the drain to the washer more carefully. All systems go! We’re doing the wash. After some coffee and excellent conversation with Annette and Charles, they left and Deborah went in to discover that the hose came out of the drainpipe and the mud room was flooded. Towels everywhere and I used the mop to soak up the water. As I’m finishing and hanging out all of the towels to dry in the yard, Deborah yells, “Ahhhh!” I yell back, “WHAT?!” She says “What do you think?” I wondered. Had the roof fallen in? Maybe the river overflowed. Oh, we don’t have a river. Had the dog eaten another door knob? Nope, it was a lizard in the kitchen. No doubt it slipped in while we were replacing the washer. So as I have said before, if it has water in it, it leaks. But now I can include the new problems of the invasion of all of the lizards in the world, and a neurotic dog that eats door knobs. We have to laugh to keep from crying.





I almost have the carport emptied except for the stuff that will be put in storage. Unfortunately, I still have not started putting stuff up in the attic and the pink room has gone from inaccessible to unapproachable. The living room is also collecting things that should go into the attic, not to mention the mattress and box spring that will eventually go on the bed that we don’t have yet and will go into the pink room. In the meantime Deborah is trying to make 4 curtains out of 3.



It was 34 degrees this morning. I need to call Rusty and get the new furnace put in. Those little space heaters are going to start to lose the heating battle. I have to make a trip to the dump because some critter has discovered my trash in the back of the excellent truck. The dishwasher is smelling worse than it was before and I will have to take it out real soon. We need a whole house water filter system because everything is getting rusty fast.

What happened today that was positive?

The spicy pear butter turned out even better than the winter pear butter .

We washed clothes.

The carport is getting cleared out.

We got a very lovely gift and card from our old neighbors and dear friends in the mail.

We met the mail lady.

Carolyn Hutto called to see how we were doing and if there was anything she could do for us. Carolyn is the lady that built this house and lived in it for pver 50 years.

The weather was beautiful after it warmed up.

Our dear daughter called with good news.

I saw Deborah walking around the house with the dog and she smiled.

My mother-in-law gave us a plaque yesterday that says it all. We need to focus on the mission. We need to know that things will continue to get better. Things are better. This is a friendly peaceful place. Things in the house can be fixed. We have done it before. We have the rest of our lives to make this our special place, our estate. So despite the lizards and leaks and dog neurosis, clutter, DMV, and fire ants, we will prevail. Home is where the heart is and our heart is in this place.

We BELIEVE in God. We BELIEVE in each other. We BELIEVE in family and friends.



It is a beautiful place. It just needs a little work.



Thank God I’m a Country Boy!