I'm sure a lot of this has to do with deferred maintenance on my part due to budgetary constraints but not all of it. I'll go in reverse chronological order.
On my way home, my cell phone rings and I don't answer it because I'm driving, but my wife calls to say she can't go to the concert she was going to go to with a friend because her windshield wipers stopped working.
She called me an hour or so earlier at work to tell me she heard a horrible crash and went out to find that our old TV antenna had crashed onto our roof and rain gutters and she saw a big bird fly off into a tree that looked like a buzzard. She suspects that he tried to sit on the antenna and broke it.
Last Friday, I went to the store and when I came out my truck wouldn't start. Fuel pump, $600+.
I was out of town about three weeks ago on a survey job, wife calls, her car won't start. She had it towed in to the shop. Rats had eaten a bunch of wires, $100's of dollars.
We have two(2) Mustangs sitting out in the driveway, neither one of which is driveable, and neither one for any known reason.
Our hot tub that was a must-have several years ago is sitting out on the pool deck and I'm afraid to even look in there. The heater is dead (2nd time) and who knows what's living in there right now.
Speaking of the pool, the pool service guy has worked on our poolsweep half a dozen times and has pronounced it dead. Of course, the pool is not looking good with all those leaves on the bottom.
A couple of years ago, the sewer line from the house to the septic tank was replaced with a trenchless replacement (except for the part under the concrete front porch). Guess where it's clogged with roots again.
Sorry, that's about half of the broken stuff, I won't bother you with the rest. The biggest immediate bummer is that I had counted on a bachelor Friday, just a man and his guitar and his partner Jimmy Beam. It is not to be.
Steve,
Your descriptions sound strangely like the descriptions recorded during the fall of the Roman Empire.
You may be going into a new Dark Age.
Mr. Adams
I kind of see what you're saying. I have four vehicles at my house, only two of which work, and one truck at the business that works and one that doesn't. My problems with the luxury items of a pool and hot tub might seem somewhat frivolous to the people living under the bridge. Actually, when I think about it more, these problems are trivial compared to the massive amounts of debt to banks and other institutions that I have amassed from zero to unmanageable in the last couple of years. I feel better already!
I'm sorry, just exactly who was it that said 'this' would be easy? Crybaby. Whatda ya want, a browny cookie? "Dear Abby, Dear Abby, my feet are too long...", yadayadayada,
blah blah blah.
DooDoo happens......... 😉
Take care,
Ed
Ed
No, no browny cookie needed, thanks. Pretty soon we'll all be dead and it'll be somebody else's problem. Just kidding, I'm actually not usually a negative person. The holidays kind of get me down every year. All that ho, ho, ho, jolly stuff is too much for me.
Mr. Adams
I feel better already!
This is what I do, Steve.
Ed
> No, no browny cookie needed, thanks. Pretty soon we'll all be dead and it'll be somebody else's problem. Just kidding, I'm actually not usually a negative person. The holidays kind of get me down every year. All that ho, ho, ho, jolly stuff is too much for me.
Hey, fella, you're not telling me anything. Quit on the hoopla several minutes ago.
I was just joshing with ya. These type subjects are always quite personal. We all take them to the place we wish them to be. The places we take them to are almost always, 'it's all good.'
Take care,
Ed
Ed
Have you heard the song "It's All Good" on Bob Dylan's latest album? That is a classic of cynicism, I love it!
There'll be Weeks like That
And then there'll be weeks that are worse!
A man who owns only one vehicle can only have one broken down. A man with 14 vechicles can have all 14 broken down at the same time.
My Monday started out sort of like your week. Primary vehicle is in the shop. Next best vehicle is indicating that the battery is not charging. Remaining usable vehicle, on old pickup, is doing fine until the passenger door is slammed shut (normal procedure as the latch doesn't work too well) and the window glass shatters into 20 million pieces. Put a "patch" over the broken glass (reminds you of John Wayne in True Grit) and used the pickup to move cattle all day. By some miracle, the battery problem in the car was fixed simply by adding some water. Retrieved primary vehicle from shop late this afternoon. Now the radio/clock doesn't work in it! Agreed to buy another pickup on Wednesday and will take possession on Sunday. First thing that needs done is to install a Gooseneck ball in the center of the bed.
$$$$$$$, what are they good for, not much
Steven....
> Have you heard the song "It's All Good" on Bob Dylan's latest album? That is a classic of cynicism, I love it!
No, no I'm afraid I haven't. The last thing I've dug by Dylan, other than the entire Blood On The Tracks, was Masters Of War. Yes, I'm antiquated, so sue me. I write songs. I'm so far behind the curve it's not funny. "I learned to work the saxaphone, I play, I play just what I feel. Drink scotch whisky all night long....", that kind of thing. Learned Hard Rain Gonna Fall years ago. Lot of words. Still don't know why. Latest craze is Political Science by Randy Newman(sp). I've gone FAR beyond the point of cynicism.
Take care,
Ed
Ed
Well, at least you got as far as Blood on the Tracks 35 years ago. I don't know how much time you have for this kind of stuff, but if you dug that album, the last four Dylan albums are, in my opinion, pretty close to that caliber. It's not just the lyrics, not just the music, it's the sound as a whole, and knowing it's that guy I've followed since I was a kid makes it that much more interesting.
True Grit
> (reminds you of John Wayne in True Grit)
Got a lot of respect for the *Duke*, but Jeff Bridges looks like he'll blow it out of the water.....
Not Bad for a one eyed fat man....
[flash width=640 height=385] http://www.youtube.com/v/s8QLMWN0yNs?fs=1&hl=en_US [/flash]
Don't think I'll miss this one.....
I learned a long time ago not to think "It can't get any worse". Now my attitude is "Well, it could be worse".
Come to think of it, it's not real good right now! Then again...
When I saw this thread, I thought it might be about the RPLS forums, which seem to have been completely broken for the last few days...
> When I saw this thread, I thought it might be about the RPLS forums, which seem to have been completely broken for the last few days...
That place is still in business? Man, those four must have some deeeeeeeeeeep pockets 😉
Next time you see an elf, drop kick it.
It always makes me feel better, anyway, into every life a few restraining orders must fall, small price to pay.
If we're all headed to Nambie Pambie land anyway, I've got a few things to get off my chest as well.
Why is the gayest looking cold weather hat also the most comfortable?
Why will the same contractor that spent six figures on a three acre temporary parking lot refuse two loads of gravel for site access? Next week I say we start drilling piles in the parking lot, after two days of rain it will be the only place anybody can access.
Laundromats suck.
Why is the tire that gets the piece of rebar in the sidewall always the newest one?
No matter how imaginative or varied the ingredients, everything cooked in a crock pot always tastes like it was cooked in a crock pot.
Who was it that said, "Life is Pain"...?
DAng it Gardner, some days are just not worth waking up for with me too.....
Willie saved me years ago when he sang that great song about "I got a house with a 3 car garage and I'm still building on....." that woke me up to the fact that I really don't need all this stuff.
All my toys are surveying related.
I've heard that the basics of life are free, but they forgot to add that its the keeping them free that costs so much.
Another bummer is that our dishwasher completely stopped working and taking it apart and trying to fix it myself was the last nail in its coffin, I'm afraid. At least dishes can be washed by hand. I don't know of a similar solution to broken windshield wipers.
You could tie two pieces of string on the wiper and then run them inside the left and right windows, pull one string and then the other.
You're the one who was wondering...I just supplied the engineering plan upon request!
