Trouble Comes in Threes

Trouble Comes in Threes

Inspired by today’s humorous post from TanGental (http://geofflepard.com/2015/06/19/international-rescue-south-london-branch/), I feel compelled to comment on what happened when we came back from our last trip. It was sort of like our Christmas curse: every year at Christmas something expensive happens to our house or a car. We now have a Christmas catastrophe fund. But I digress…

Number 1: We are packing up to leave Las Vegas for home and my husband opens our computer, which had been sitting on a desk in our hotel room. The screen displays a lovely abstract of lines and colors right in the middle. At that point, we might have been in an evangelical church for all the calling on the Lord. I commented to Mr. Doctor that we could still read around the edges and maybe by making whatever we were looking at very small, we could see the whole thing. Plus I pointed out that I had worn the letters off the keys and was working with a rubber pad printed with keys laid over the originals. The pad did keep moving to the left though, resulting in some interesting compositions.

Resolution: We bought a new laptop. Cost: You don’t want to know.

Number 2. Upon arriving home, we pull out all our dirty clothes to wash because we are leaving again for a 3 day, thousand mile marathon to Georgia to see my son and get our truck back. He was taking an eight week course at Fort Benning and needed wheels while he was in the States. The washer starts up, goes through the wash cycle and then stops, full of water, and refuses to spin. Mr. Doctor removes the towels to the wash room sink and attempts to get the washer to drain. Some luck, so he starts another, lighter load. Same result. We now have a towering pile of wet clothes.

Resolution: I hand wring the towels (where is that wringer my mother used to have on her washer?) and put them in the dryer. They’re still sodden and it takes two hours for them to dry. Only then do I find the lint screen is totally clogged. Mr. Doctor takes twelve dollars in change to the nearest laundromat, along with the wet, partially washed clothes. He barely makes it back with fifty cents – prices for a load have really skyrocketed since we last used a laundromat! We call Sears, schedule a repairman for when we get back. Cost: $400.

Number 3: Making the guest bed up for our next set of house and pet sitters, I find huge yellow stains all over the bedspread. House sitter #1’s dog has been using the spread at night instead of going outside.

Resolution: Costly trip to the cleaner’s, dragging said bedspread.

On the good side, there are two jars of moonshine in our refrigerator. Owner unknown. Resolution: Guess!