It is a truth universally acknowledged that major appliances break down on major holidays: My water heater died on the 4th of July.
I went to the basement Saturday morning to do the laundry and AAAKKKK! Water all over the floor. BUT I still had hot water. In fact, the water heater was working overtime, refilling itself and reheating the water constantly. (I can’t wait to see the electric bill.)
So I went ahead and did the laundry and my beloved brother took me to buy a new water heater, and then he installed it. Bless him.
There goes half a month’s pay.
And while I was doing the laundry, I was washing out the kitty litter boxes outside and I noticed a bird flying around the dryer vent. I checked, and — WHOA! It had built a nest in there. So I pulled out the accumulated debris — a seemingly endless amount of sticks and dryer fluff and feathers — until I couldn’t find any more, and I moved it into a plastic, boxy contraption nearby. The bird is NOT happy. But at least there were no eggs or baby birds in there, and at least I didn’t steam any birds to death running the dryer while they were in there, and at least I didn’t set fire to the house.
So, because I completely lost Saturday, which is a big reading day, I had to read two books yesterday to make up for it so that I can have a column on Friday. And I ate something spicy for dinner before going to bed Sunday night, which meant that my stomach hurt and I couldn’t fall asleep until something like 2:30 in the morning. Blah!
So, I’m very tired, but we have hot water, and no birds died.