What Broke Today (First in a Series)

Let’s see…what broke today?

The storm really wasn’t that bad. A large tree branch did break off one of the pine trees next to the clothesline, but it didn’t hurt anything. It was still suspended from where it attached to the tree, up about 15 feet. I spent a little while this morning climbing up and sawing it off then chopping it up with the machete.

Also during the storm I discovered a leak by the back door in the basement–the one to the outside from my office. It was coming in pretty steadily, but I just put some towels and a bucket, and although they were all soaked, there’s been no permanent damage so far. I don’t really know what’s wrong, some kind of seal I guess. It only happens during heavy rains, so maybe it will go away by itself if I ignore it.

Our power hasn’t gone out, but there is some unnerving power “flickering” going on. Yesterday the new cable modem I had installed just went dead. I got this enhanced service because a client needs me to have an IP address that doesn’t change, and it just got installed Monday. So I plugged it back in and still no go. Tech support said plug into another outlet, and it’s fine. Today I plugged it back into the original socket and it’s still fine. The guy couldn’t explain but apparently the modem and the socket won’t talk to each other after a surge, but it gets better after a while. Who knows. I hope this flickering stops, I’d hate to lose something computer-related.

Oh and the dishwasher electronics stopped working again. At least the dishes were washed. And we got a one-year full-service plan which says if the repairs cost more than a new machine, Sears gives you that money toward a new machine. Back to hand-washing for a little while…