When the chili pot comes out, you know summer’s over. 🌶️🍂

When one thing breaks, another thing breaks. Isn’t that how it goes in home ownership?
Well, technically, both the water heater and the shower head have been breaking for a good long while.
Cowboy just never finds the time to fix things around here until they get to the point of not being able to be fixed.

The shower has been limping along for two years. 
Badger tried soaking it, hoping it was just hard water, but that didn’t do anything.
I was taking my shower and got waterboarded. 
I couldn’t adjust the setting no matter how I tried. 
The water had one continuous stream in the middle that filled my nose.
It’s a five‑setting adjustable shower head, but we no longer had five settings, and it just wasn’t adjusting.

I told Cowboy we were getting that thing fixed. 
You shouldn’t come out of a bath feeling like you’ve just fought a battle.
When he came home from morning service, he and I headed up the road.
Oh, my gosh-the shower head we originally had is $50 now.
I’m fairly certain we bought the old one when Badger was still in grade school, and she is 23 now.
But goodness gracious, $50.
We found a less sturdy Walmart brand for under $30.
You could probably have found a normal one considerably cheaper, but we’ve gotten spoiled with this one.
You can use it as a handheld or normally, and I think my sons like the massage setting on it.

While I was there, I also picked Badger up a Jack Skellington. 
Snoopy developed two leaks.
Cowboy found a huge skeleton on sale because it had a broken leg and someone lost the lights in it.
I’m not sure what he’s planning on doing with it. 
I speculate he’ll take it to work.
Look, I don’t question him.
I suspect he’s taking it to work to prank one of the guys down there though.

We came home, Badger got Jack in the yard, and I’ll be darned if Jack doesn’t have a leak.
She said take it back. 
I said that’s more work than I want.
So she super‑glued the seam. 
They hadn’t sealed it, which is why air was leaking out.

Badger got a pot of chili on. 
We only eat chili from October to April.
So, first pot of the season.
When Badger drags out the chili pot, you know it’s well and truly autumn.

Badger got my new phone activated and running.
Holy cow, I’ll never figure it out.
She nearly blew her top setting it up.
It’s far more complicated than my old phone.
I knew it would be- Cowboy’s new work phone is the same way.
I didn’t want a new one, but once a phone becomes unusable, it has to be replaced.

Cowboy took a long nap and then ambled in, got the new shower head on.
We noticed he put it lower down.
Back when Peacock lived with us, Cowboy welded a shower head holder that would accommodate 6’3” Peacock.
We didn’t complain, it was rather like standing in the rain. 
Removing the shower head required us to tiptoe a bit, though.
Peacock shouldn’t be taking showers here anymore. 
My height shrinks a bit more every year, and Badger is just a shorty- I don’t think she’s even 5’3”.

Time for evening service rolled around. 
At both morning and evening services, I noticed Cowboy staying considerably later.
He’s probably gossiping.

Badger and I went ahead, had supper, and took a quick walk around the block.
Then she disappeared to her room, and I’m sitting here typing. 
Cowboy is home, and his TV is blaring.
I’m not in the mood for my headphones tonight, so I’ll be heading to bed.
We have to take Duffy to the veterinarian in the morning anyway