A Tale Of Woe ;)

 Whew . . . and meanwhile, it's been a jenky year or so.  I'm not one to complain, and haven't, and am not now, just reminiscing, lol.  It's like an extended mechanical demonic attack. . . .

You could say this run of troubles began last winter--THE worst, craziest, snowy winter we've ever had up here in our 18 years on the mountain.  The snow was 12 feet high on either side of our driveway!  Aaaand my old trusty snowblower died just as the beginning storms started (storms that pretty much didn't stop through to March!)  So I had to shovel by hand, pretty much a couple hours each morning just so I could get out to go to work.  Great exercise though!

It really kicked off in May 2023-- both air conditioning and furnace died.  Yikes.  Sooo, yeah, had to figure that out.

Then in August when we had a freak storm here that caused all kinds of damage in our area and flooded our basement where my musical equipment and Isaac's bedroom are.  Had to tear out and get new carpet, paint.  I acted fast when it happened and managed to rescue my instruments and stuff for the most part though.  But that took us weeks and weeks to clean up, and still some places need it!  Insurance didn't cover anything.

Then September Skylar tore the ligaments in his left arm doing heavy lifting at his work. (One year before he tore the ligs in his right arm and had to have surgery and was recovering for 6 months.)

Also in September days after Sky showed up with his new arm injury, Lindsay fell over one of our dogs and I came in from the garage to find her face down on the floor, blood pouring from where she smacked her chin.  Near broken jaw!  She couldn't open her mouth for weeks!  It was scary.  Also fractured a rib and other wounds.  It was a hard fall!  Oh, and also in the midst of that, Lindsay had to have a tooth pulled due to neglect from a prior dentist (we believe).  She still has to get one put back in.  I cracked a tooth about 6 months ago--haven't had a chance to get it dealt with. . . .

A few weeks later, our kitchen facet died--followed by a clogged something or other which made the dishwasher flood from the bottom, lol!

Lindsay does a lot of laundry for the four of us living here, every day.  That was in January. Well, the washer spinner stopped working.  We had to do the old laundromat run!  Eventually got it fixed, but it wasn't cheap. 

Meanwhile, my old work truck has the check engine light on for a year now.  It's not really worth fixing--I will have to break down and figure out a new work car--I have not wanted to get into any car payments, as both our cars are paid off...but will have to acquiesce.  I gotta get to work and really can't miss a day.  Which has now been complicated by the fact my driver's door handle won't open and I have to climb in the passenger side (really impressive to my clients on my jobs lol).  Well, and just got two new tires and new brakes a few months ago.

We did finally get a refurbished snow blower for this winter--BUT it was put together by an old retired guy who likes to fiddle with them as a hobby.  Great old powerful snowblower--IF I COULD GET IT STARTED!  I got it going twice, and it was delightful.  That was back in January.  I tried the electric start the other day, and it blew our breakers.... Soooo, back to hand shoveling.

Well, and with the economy, inflation going on, hitting everybody hard . . . my work really slowed down December through February--which is not a time you want to be scraping by!  Christmas was... well, spiritual!  We really couldn't do anything much present-wise because I've had to pretty much be shelling out big chunks of cash for all these things over the past year.  There's probably several other things I can't even remember.

Hit after hit after hit!  It's been a doozy!

BUT praise God!  There are so many things I am grateful for--life, family and God above all!  And that, while gettin' on in years now, I'm still healthy and strong enough to do my physically demanding job, and still have clients who've stuck with me for years. And, well YOU, and you and you and readers here have been a blessing and encouragement I never take for granted here at this little outpost:)! 

And I know many, many others are also struggling and dealing with challenges and outright tragedies in the days of chaos and attack!  For instance our neighbors across the street just a week ago had to experience their teen granddaughter getting hit by a car and killed!  

Onward Christian Soldiers!