bad but part of life-- all of it.

 To start, I want to say that what went wrong with us is as nothing compared to other horrendous things-- especially right now, Maui. For us, it was more a string of one thing after another and the question of what might come next. Maui, the terror, lives lost, and loss of an historic town has been something I've followed all week and felt so bad for those living or vacationing there. It is part of life but not what we want to think could happen to anyone. I wrote this blog before the fires, but it is still meaningful for daily life-- usually-- and what do we do about it-- laugh or cry? Well, it's cry when it's huge, but for the rest, pick ourselves up and keep on keeping on.

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It seems to me I read bad things go in threes. So like accidents or items breaking down. We happen to have living proof it doesn't work that way, at least for us. This has been quite a spring,summer for breakdowns and repairs.

First, I think was the pickup truck-- just past its warranty but that would not be covered anyway. This was packrat damage (the little rascals). They evidently like to chew off hoses for their nests. The why of this is beyond human logic, but it required the truck to go into the shop overnight. Fortunately, they do provide rides-- but then they got money too.

It was around then that we realized we had to get new tires for the RV before it could drive north. They can look fine but they get hard and can be a disaster on a long drive.

In late April, we saw that our beloved orange male cat was going downhill. We knew from an earlier veterinary visit and tests that he had FIV. That is no death sentence, but it does cause major health problems. When it became obvious he was in pain, we called the traveling veterinary clinic that does euthanasia in the home. She came and gently he went on his way wherever that might be. Huge loss for us though but worth the cost to have it on his own sofa.  He was buried beside our other male cat that we lost a few years earlier, both with stone markers (names to come later on them)

Then a problem that involved me climbing into the vacation trailer. Although when we last used it, I managed fine, this year-- not so much when it came to the last step, higher than the others. Ranch Boss put on his thinking cap and ordered steps that wouldn't be that high and were sturdier... Turns out they also didn't allow the screen door to close. Back to the thinking cap, while I worked on exercises designed to strengthen old legs. This does not qualify as a breakdown unless I count me. Since I turn 80 this year, I guess that's to be expected unless someone has been running marathons maybe-- then, they probably already got knee or hip replacements....

We got lucky with finding a company that could move the second vacation trailer to my brother's property-- so that was a plus. He paid half the cost of its moving as well as for all of the tires it also needed to drive north.

In the high heat Tucson has been getting, what could go wrong? Turns out our air conditioner. It kind of cooled a bit but not enough. We called a business that had helped us before and they got a new one in place two days later. Amazingly fast but not without cost. A lot of it. 

Of course, after all the wind, the pool opted to have problems with the filter. Ranch Boss took care of that one but it did require a new filter.

Next was the morning when Ranch Boss's computer quit working. This was 'way-badder' since he had not saved his recent hours of work on computing our complicated taxes, where we had filed for an extension, off to the accountant... That meant the accountant had gotten the papers but we had nothing. He tried everything he knew but we are relying on the hopeful help from an expert, as it'd be a shame to lose all that work for our home files. The guy came to the house and all important data was recovered. It's still iffy if a new computer is needed.

We found that the vent for the gas hot water heater's pipe had apparently been disconnected in replacing the A/C; that might be taken care of by the company as just an accident, but we had spent the week waiting for their supposed return. Results on that still awaiting, as is any review on their work *s*.

I didn't count having the expert remove the diamondback from our front porch. It was a cost but not a breakdown as that is just part of nature as was later having a king snake killing one of the fledgling doves. They swallow them whole, and it takes time for them to digest. I'll spare you a photo of that. That was bad for the fledgling and its mama but good for the snake.

The monsoons were late this year and finally got here into August. We have gotten a bit of rain here but more fell other places and in some cases did damage from flooding and wind. Interesting summer so far *s*

The good part about all the unexpected costs is we could afford them. Nobody relishes trouble or its costs, but it does come along-- but so much at once, one after the other?