Bermuda Triangle over my house

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I do believe that the Bermuda Triangle has centered itself over my house here in Utah. First, the phone company cut my line while installing new lines here in the valley. I now have temporary lying in the dirt. Second, the hot water valve on my kitchen sink gave way and flooded the basement taking down part of the ceiling in the laundry room. Third, the pump on my clothes washer gave out while I was trying to clean up all the mess in the basement. Fourth, my computer developed an unknown hardware problem and is now a very expensive dust collector. At least I can use my son's computer. After doing minimum laundry by hand, the repair man (who is contracted with my appliance insurance) and couldn't come until today (the machine went out last Thursday) assured me the pump was bad (duh) and he must now contact the insurance company for permission to replace the part. He really hopes that they give the permission right away because he is booked up and is leaving on vacation Friday! He couldn't possibly wish it more than me. Doing teenage boys heavy jeans by hand is not fun.

On the bright side, after losing 7 hens to a predator and deciding that I would get another duck next spring for my poor lonely duck, I was given two hens that are just starting to lay and two ducks. A friend of a neighbor, in the city, raised these animals this year in their back yard only to have the neighbors complain about the quacking. Something is going right.

Hase anyone else had weeks like this?

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), September 19, 2000

Answers

Tough week Cheryl! Hope it gets better for you. And that the washer repair gets approved and squeezed in in time. And yes, I've had weeks like you've had, and months, and even a few years.... Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), September 19, 2000.

I don't unnerstan,I always thought that those things just came three at a time. I'll have to tell ya'll 'bout the fishing trip from hell this past sat. or gettin my wife home from the emergency room at 3a.m. this morning.(urinary tract infection or stones or they don't know)But thays more good times than bad.GOOD LUCK

-- BillyB (bloptoad123@cs.com), September 19, 2000.

Hang in there, Cheryl! Just to make you laugh, (ya know ya need to!) my friend called her house the 'Triangle', because there were two bars on the opposite corners! She never knew which door hubby would 'call home' first, or worse...if her house was 'last call' Kathy

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), September 19, 2000.

Green acres is the place to be, farm living is the life for me...

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), September 19, 2000.

Mama always told me that adversity builds character - which might explain some of the "characters" in my family!! Mama also used to tell me "that which does not kill us, makes us stronger". I thought about hiding that book of quotations out in the old barn; that being one place she'd not be likely to go!! Sometimes it seems we've got a rough old row to hoe; and it's hard to see where it ends. It almost always does, though - and you will feel awful good about yourself once you've made it through it. The chickens and ducks are surely good news!

Toss those jeans in the bathtub (assuming the water is working in the bathroom); add soap and climb in and start stomping. Picture Lucy in the wine vat! Gets the jeans clean and as a bonus, works off some frustration too! Put one of those teen age boys on each end of the jeans and have them twist and wring them out; they've probably got more upper body strength than you, and two will get the job done more thoroughly.

And if the Bermuda Triangle doesn't happen to move on and you get sucked up into the vortex; will you look in that parallel universe and see if you can find all those missing socks!?

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), September 19, 2000.



Cheryl, you are not alone. Last night Steve stopped at the bottom of the drive way down there to get the mail, and when he got back in his truck, it was stuck in Park. Steering column handle moved fine, little bar to tranny moved fine, transmission stuck! My truck would NOT EVEN move it. One lane in and out. The guy using our 1 neighbors barn for his tobacco came down the road and I asked him PLEASE pull this truck out of the way. He did, he had to to get out! I lay underneath there getting the transmission pan off untill dark, and then Steve said, Well I'll just drop the drive shaft and we can pull it up the hill! (should've done that FIRST-but nooooo) So I put 2 bolts back in the pan, and I pulled his truck up the long hill in mine. Praying all the way. We made it and now I have to fix it somehow today. (p.s. this is the truck we have for SALE!) Hang in there girlie!

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), September 20, 2000.

I know exactly the kind of week (or two, if the machine doesn't get fixed!) you are having. It gets a bit harder each time to say, "Well, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger." I have found that when I am covered with a seemingly endless avalanche of everything going wrong, that if I start thanking God heartily for all of the blessings I have, it eases up!

Hang in there, and remember, this too shall pass!

-- Doreen (liberty546@hotmail.com), September 20, 2000.


This is definitely not to make light of your situations, but goes along the line of what Doreen said..."I cried because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet." That ALWAYS puts things in perspective for me.

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), September 20, 2000.

Sounds alot like my week. Can it really only be Wednesday? Our non-resident "neighbor" had legal papers delivered to us on Monday about our animals being on his property; our two "new" cars are both down, leaving just the farm truck for three drivers; and the pig absolutely refuses to stay in his pen (or anyone else's). He wants to be with me every minute, and screams when he can't find me. I've got him locked in the unfinished cellar right now, and boy is he mad! It'll all pass, but I'm really tired this week.

-- Teresa (otgonz@bellsouth.net), September 20, 2000.

Ain't homesteading fun? On a lighter note, my duck, who, in a moment of inspiration I named 'Duck', has decided to establish the proper pecking order in the poultry yard. She is making life miserable for the other two. I have hopes, however, that when everyone fully understands that she is the Queen of all the ducks, that fowl play will result. Thanks everyone for the encouragement and the advice on the jeans. I also recieved word today that after 5 weeks in the hospital, my new grandson is coming home tonight! I will gladly wash by hand for this great development.

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), September 20, 2000.


Cheryl, Wonderful news about the grandbaby! I have a 3yr. old grandson. Well, the truck is ok, was just a broken washer, praise the Lord. A good friend drove all the way up here and moved the handle for me, and I could finially see under there. I am so thankful. All that is left to do is get the transmission fluid out of my hair! But dish soap is so much cheaper than a mechanic! Teresa, maybe you can get another pig to keep that one company? Here's something else that happened this week. My son was tickling his wife and horsing around and she said stop and he didn't, and she meant to slug him in the shoulder, but he moved and she swung wide, and she broke his new retainer(that was in his mouth) and his nose!!! He is going to have to go get his nose looked at.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), September 21, 2000.

Hey! That is why I am having a somewhat quiet week, you got my triangle!!! hang in there, just think, if this week is bad, it will make next week look good! (I hope!)

I have bad weeks...but the worst is still when I had 5 children with chicken pox at the same time. One of them had the worst case the ped. had seen, one got strep A in his pox, the twins got them in their mouths and screamed for days, and one had a 105 fever for three days, and I was very pregnant and sick and kept going into early labor. I have had bad weeks...like the time the goat broke down the fence every day until I gave her away..etc...but so far..that one is the most memorable.

Cindy in OKlahoma

-- Cindy Cluck (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), September 22, 2000.


Have I had a week like this?? Well, not exactly like it, but the week my son in law called to ask if we had seen our daughter lately, then the daughter calls and says she has left him and is getting a divorce, then calls two days later and says she is giving up her children, and is signing over custody of the oldest one, with ADHD to us, was a pretty bad week. It is smoothing over now, and we are all adjusting to it, but everyone has bad ones now and then. Try going to Super Saver's on 12th street, in Ogden, on a Tuesday afternoon. That's when they get their produce shipment in, and they usually have some great buys. I try to stop there when I'm in town. You should have some great views of the turning leaves in the canyon now, just go out and breathe the clean air, and remember, "this too, shall pass". Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), September 22, 2000.

Did the washing machine guy make it over to your house?

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), September 23, 2000.

Yes, the repairman came. He spent all morning, he really had a hard time. The pump has been replaced however, the machine is making terrible noises, the clothes are being eaten by the agitator and the machine is dancing all over the floor. And, it still leaks water out the bottom. Have to call them again. The men did come and bury my phone line this morning.

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), September 25, 2000.


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