Strange times, no?
I’ve been burying myself in distractions and avoiding starting things for the last couple of months. This is partially due to the world being in quite a state in a way that seems to be affecting pretty much everyone I encounter. My attention span can be measured with a stop watch. It’s a general malaise tugging at me, and, quite likely, you’re feeling it too even if you might be reacting differently.
There have been some more specific things as well. It turns out that plumbing is a very important feature in a modern, or at least semi-modern, home. When it goes bad, it can go very, very bad indeed. Things are coming out of places that they are manifestly not meant to come out of. Some very disturbing things are coming out of some of the least-appropriate places and no I will not be getting more specific.
Here’s a bit of advice to anyone looking to purchase an older home: Be absolutely certain that you have a drain clean-out. I didn’t know what one was, and I wish someone had warned me. It turns out that, if you don’t have one, the things your home warranty will cover are extremely limited. The good news is that we have one now. The not-so-good news is that, one emptied saving account later, we have a clean-out but we still have the aforementioned problems.
Our plumber is stumped, which does not fill one with great confidence. This is a problem, as is likely, nay, certain, that I will be in need of stout plumbing in the coming days. The next 48 hours promise to be interesting.
Oh, and the situation in Europe is not filling me with hope. I won’t pretend to know the best way for the United States to navigate what looks like a series of “lesser of two evils” choices. I just don’t know enough and don’t have it in me to balance one set of lives against others. But…I have become aware of some very obvious propaganda being spread by people who should know better. I’m not going to be naming names, but I’m disappointed. I just want this to resolve without a world war and with Ukraine’s sovereignty intact and as little loss of life as possible. I’m not sure that those options are on the table, but I can hope.
This is a bummer of a post, I know. Honestly, there’s a lot more, but the other stories are not mine to tell so I’ll just leave it at that. I hope I can get through my bits, can resolve what is in my power to resolve, can survive what isn’t, and can help the people folks who are going through it.
-RK
P.S. It’s not all bad. there have been a lot of good things in my life over the last few weeks, and I’ll get to those. My head’s just not there right now.