We’ve had quite a few minor repairs lately. I already talked about my bike disaster.

The most unusual (for us) issue was our credit cards. If hackers get to your bank account, they love to buy gift cards. We had several gift cards as gifts this year. We bought a few gift cards, then the credit card stopped working. After another gift card, the second credit card stopped working. We completed our purchases on our third (and last) credit card. All was explained when I opened my Email and saw fraud alerts. Fortunately, this was easily fixed with a couple of phone calls.

We had our furnace checked out. It needed a new capacitor. I could save $200 if I did it myself. I ordered the parts. Installation required a little soldering. Imagine my surprise when I discovered my soldering iron didn’t work. I was able to do a temporary installation. Thank goodness Amazon has soldering irons available with one-day delivery. The furnace guy also recommended a water leak detector. That went a lot more smoothly.

Our primary toilet broke. The innards of toiles are plastic these days. It’s inexpensive but not very long lasting. I got a repair kit. Installation went smoothly, but it required 49 steps, not counting several “If .,.. Then” to get the correct part installed.

The window washer on our Leaf stopped working. This is important because the Leaf sits under our tree when I’m on the bike. This time of year, it collects a lot of little sappy things on the windshield. A working washer is a highly desirable thing to have. Adding new washer fluid didn’t help. I diddled with it, undoubtedly creating a small lake of window washer fluid somewhere under the hood. I took it to a repair shop. The hose had rotted. The shop made it good as new in just a few hours. The car is only 8 years old. I don’t understand why Nissan can’t use a hose that’s a little more robust.

I was also called on to help with some minor problems on our web site. A very knowledgeable man took over the web site several months ago, but a few issues were popping up. We spent an hour together getting everything squared away. Before the meeting, I spent several hours reviewing the issues so our work together would go smoothly. I used to know this stuff, but these days I have to look up a lot of stuff to refresh my memory. Thinking on my feet is a definite no-go, unless I have lots of quiet time to get my mind right.

There’s much more to life than niggling problems (such as having the furnace work in the winter time). We had a nice food truck dinner with the Jonse’s. My blood work returned a very respectable “all green”. We’re looking forward to going to a play at Howard Community College in a couple of hours. Danita’s knee is still recovering, albeit very slowly.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.