Nothing Happened, and Everything Did

Seems like half the time this blog is just me saying I don’t have anything to write.
Nothing happened.
Just putting words down, so the day doesn’t slip away.
Or I’m just putting pen to paper, so I don’t lose track of time.

I think I might’ve ended up giving this blog a theme without even trying.

What? 
Do you think today is following the theme? 
I wish.

We woke up to no hot water. 
I knew I should have gone to clean up last night. 
Darn.

Cowboy said the old water heater has been duct taped as many times as he could, and there is no more fixing it.
As best as we can figure, and as best as he read the tag on it, we bought the heater in ’07. 
Periodically, as the need arose, Cowboy would put new parts in it, and we’d be good to go again. 
Well, when he came in from work he put its new part in, and a second part went kaput. 
Even Cowboy knows when to wave that white flag of surrender.

From what he says, and the way I interpret it, we’re probably lucky one of us didn’t get boiled like a lobster. 
Instead of the temperature going down or returning to its normal set point, even after replacing the part, the temperature continued to rise. 
Badger and I had been saying for a while that the hot water seemed awfully hot, and by June I was telling him I turn the cold water on, but it runs hot for a good ten minutes.
 He’d had the replacement part sitting in his car all summer, but he kept putting it off. 
He took his naps, mowed his yards, and pretended all was well. 
Then Badger sent him a video last night of the heater hissing and spitting like a mad cat.

For today, it’s cold water only. 
Tomorrow we’ll head out and pick up a new water heater, even though the prices are ridiculous. 
We won’t be getting one as big as the old tank.
 So Badger and Heron are going to have to learn they can’t take thirty‑minute clean‑ups while running four loads of laundry and the dishwasher at the same time.

We can keep our fingers crossed that we stumble on a sale, and that they have the old tank size at a price that doesn’t involve selling body parts and promising your firstborn child. 
I’m not optimistic, though.

Aside from the passing of the ancient and mighty water heater, Thursday unfolded like any other. 
We drove to town, bought our groceries, and came home. 
The only shift in the rhythm was that we arrived earlier than usual, though I couldn’t say why. 
Maybe we started sooner, maybe not. 
Time just runs funny here.

After Cowboy headed off to work, Badger went outside to practice her throwing. 
I was sipping coffee and reading Facebook drama. 
What? 
I said I try to avoid it, not that I actually succeed. 
Next thing I know, Badger’s back inside, hauling boxes and swapping one dog for the other.

Next thing I hear is, “I wonder if this is a real giant spider or a decoration.” 
That, I decided, needed some investigating. 
As it was, we’re still not sure what it was. 
It didn’t move, but it wasn’t one of my decorations either.

Badger spent the evening decorating the yard for Halloween. 
I can’t remember the last time I decorated. 
It’s been at least five years. 
A large part of my boogers got broken when the box had to be moved into the laundry room. 
Cats are jerks, what can you say. 
The box had no lid, so I guess that’s on me. 
Cats did what cats do. 
She salvaged enough, and if they’re a bit ratty, well, it’s Halloween. 
They’re not supposed to be fancy.  
I am a bit miffed about blow‑up Snoopy, though. 
I slapped a band‑aid on his cut. 
He’s inflating, so we’ll say he may have survived.

We had one incident where Badger came inside to find something, and had left Lady tied to the porch. 
The couple were walking that German Shepherd, and Lady has already tried to fight with it. 
I just heard that bark, if you live with an aggressive dog, you know what I mean.
 I threw everything off my lap-keyboard, cat, blanket- and literally made a run for it. 
I got to the door and, oh duck, I saw the Shepherd and I saw Lady straining at her leash. 
I started screaming her name while running. 
I grabbed her leash and shoved her inside. 
I yelled at the top of my lungs, “One of these days I’m going to beat you bloody.” 
Then I looked up and realized I had a large audience. 
Yeah, not good. 
They don’t realize I’m all bark and no bite. 
Lady is in no danger with me. 
But it does, in all seriousness, terrify me when she goes into this protective mode. 
I live with the dogs, but I have always been afraid of dogs. 
Now figure out how that works, seeing that I end up with three of them in my bed.

That was the only excitement of this long day. 

Badger went to clean up. 
She said she knew it would be cold, it would be fine.
Well, she came out shivering and a bit blue. 
I plan on taking what my grandpa called a lady of the evening bath later on. 
I’ll warm water on the stove.

We ate our supper and were watching a movie, and at some point Heron slipped in and started watching with us. 
It’s nearly 11 p.m., and we’re all heading to our beds.

 Tomorrow I’ll go with Cowboy to find the heater, and Badger will stay behind to clean out the area around it. 
This might get interesting. 
Cowboy already had the heater installed in the corner of the room when he moved my cabinet in. 
The countertop touches the water heater.
I use this piece for storage; the top holds detergent, and the bottom keeps out‑of‑use kitchen gadgets. 
He may not be able to get the heater out or put a new one in. 
All I have to say is he’d better not break my cabinet. 
It took me too long to get him motivated and able to see my vision for a better organized laundry room to get that cabinet in there.

Before the first kitchen remodel, the water heater was a tabletop one sitting in the kitchen corner. 
Cowboy thought it made more sense to move it to the laundry room, and I didn’t argue. 
I ended up with a new cabinet in the kitchen. 
Now we might have to downsize again, maybe go back to a tabletop model in the laundry room. 
That would give us more storage, almost like having another countertop. 
We’ll see how it plays out.