Mr. Lucky's Out of Town: Let's Keep a Log of What Goes Awry! (Day 1)

As a military wife, I've had my share of separations from my husband. He had to travel to a different time zone during the third trimesters of my first two pregnancies. Another time I had to deal with not one, but two hurricanes in his absence. (Future post there.)

Now that he's retired from the military, I thought those separations were over, but no. Today he left town on business which we hope will lead to a more prosperous future, and he'll be gone a week.

Things have a way of happening when he's away. Here's today's tally so far:

1. The outside faucet in the back yard is dribbling. Not dripping--dribbling. I hooked up the hose to it, and put the nozzle end in a large bowl, which filled up within minutes. I then placed the nozzle in the middle of the lawn and called a plumber. Someone will be out here on Friday between one and four pm.

2. Baby Bear was home from school less than ten minutes when he dropped his computer mouse, and it broke into every possible piece. I had to move furniture to retrieve the batteries and the plastic cover that keeps them in place. It still works, but after the last time it malfunctioned and Mr. Lucky spent hours trying to fix it and get it to work on the Bear's computer again, I was one big pathetic knot of whimpering anxiety until I established that the mouse still worked fine. A bullet dodged, but I didn't need it.

3. Caught the dogs digging a new escape route in the back fence. I can almost see the twinkling lights of downtown Beijing. Until I can get to Home Depot or Lowe's tomorrow to find something to plug that hole (e.g. maybe a big brick), I'll have to watch them when letting them out there to do their business. This is going to be lots of fun after dark, because the only light on our patio isn't brighter than -20 watts.

4. I turn on the stereo receiver to listen to music, and it shows an unfamiliar red light that says "3CH Logic." I've never seen that before, and have no idea what it means. I did find a button that says "Dolby 3CH Logic" but when I pressed it, the red lit words continued to glow. Whatever it is, it's not going away. The stereo still functions to my satisfaction (though I'm sure Mr. Lucky would detect some nuance of aberration in the sound), but who's to say that if that light glows for too long, the whole thing won't blow?

Stay tuned for more updates. If experience has taught me anything, then I know there's more to come.