Broken things can bring life to a hasty halt

"If everybody contemplates the infinite instead of fixing the drains, many of us will die of cholera"

— John Rich

17th century

English adventurer and spy

About a month ago it seemed like everything in our house was breaking — everything from computers to the eaves warmer on the roof.

There is a quote from cartoonist Scott Adams that goes like this: "Normal people ... believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet."

My husband, Grit, and I fully believe these words because everything that was breaking around our home wasn't even needed 30 years ago. Now they're practically necessities (think snowblower).

Although the abundant snow was beautiful outside, the long period of cold weather made it feel even our spirits needed fixing. When things work, life is great. When things are broken or need attending to, they niggle at your brain and become irritating and annoying. Sometimes they can bring life to a hasty halt.

So one morning my husband and I got up with an agenda. Things were going to change!

Some would call us self-sufficient because we always like to fix things ourselves; we know that basically we're really cheap. We will at least jump through the initial hoops before calling someone in.

The first item on Grit's agenda was the dead battery in his '94 C4 Corvette. He knew from previous experience he couldn't win that one. To make provident use of the small space available, the designers fitted the battery so that it can only be accessed by taking the fender off. The fiberglass fender had uncountable screws. Grit jumped the battery and we drove it to the dealer.

The parts for the leaking faucet fixed it for awhile, but then it started dripping again. That's when I read Grit this anonymous quote (which happens to sound a lot like something Erma Bombeck would say): "For fixing things around the house, nothing is handier than a man with a checkbook."

Grit called our wonderful plumber, Brenan, who also discovered we needed a new water heater. When he took that one out, he found our second one was leaking, too.

They were only about 6 years old. Sure don't make things like they used to.

There must have been a power surge that bypassed the surge protector as the computer, the fax and the printer all would not work.