Is this the Year of the Gremlin on the Chinese calendar or something?

[captainsblog]

Sure has seemed it. I didn't comment on their January 1 introduction to our lives- our garage door opener finally forcing us to abandon all hope of ye automatically entering here- because (a) the thing's been wonky for weeks, after needing many repairs in recent years, and (b) any January 1 disaster not involving indoor plumbing seems a marked improvement over some recent ones. I've just gotten re-used to manually hauling it the hell up and then standing back when the slightest pull seems to bring it back down in a matter of seconds.

Today, though, the gremlins got inside the garage. We probably would've begged out of church today on account of the weather, since it's one of the rare Sundays they don't have an "extended session" class for 3-10 year olds during the second half of the service that Emily assists at; she got called in to acolyte for another kid, though, and Eleanor decided to go, too, so that meant piling into my car, which needed gas, and, it quickly developed, what they refer to in the Mafia as udda thingza.

As soon as I made the first left turn, I knew what one of them was: my left turn signal started that annoying fast-flashy thing it does when there's a bulb out. Why these things choose subzero wind chill days to announce themselves, I'll never know. Then, on arrival back home, when I went to turn the car on to replace the bulb, I noticed that the driver's side mirror, knocked off in an unfortunate intra-family accident close to three years ago and held on for the time since then with some serious industrial-strength glue, was starting to come off again. And it's too cold for that glue to work anytime soon.

So I'll be driving the truck until we can get that taken care of, along with a call to a new garage door guy who, we pray, is not going to diagnose a need for a new garage door like the last idiots did.^*

In between all that, church itself was fine and fun. Never did get an answer on my "Three Kings" question from earlier (the choir did a variation on it which left out the offensive verse), but they did sing "Happy Birthday" to Emily after I ratted her out. Even better, the piano/organ prelude turned out to be something which, in lengthy spots, was a dead ringer for Procul Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pale," which got both of us giggling up a forcedly quiet storm. Later, I noticed that Eleanor had brought her omnipresent tube of A&D Ointment to work onto her still-healing hands while we waited for Communion; I waited until after the service to note that, probably, Jesus could've used a bit of that stuff on His hands during those years of ministry- particularly the last few days.

We've spent the afternoon tackling a mountain of laundry, watching commentary and special features on Up, and generally being near-snowbound individuals with lots to be happy for, gremlins or not.

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^*There were at least a few other work-related Gremlin visits, but I'm closed until tomorrow and won't go in to them just yet.

Comments

[headbanger118.livejournal.com]

Yikes...the hits just keep coming for you guys! Hope the garage door is fixable, and the mirror can be repaired soon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Emily!