This Week…

Sucked. Let me count the ways…

I Learned

• The water heater, though under warranty, will take ten days to arrive from the manufacturer. Then it will take two, possibly three, guys and many hundreds of dollars to install. (It’s a 50 gallon tank going into a ridiculously awkward space.)

I Came to Suspect My Basement Hates Me

• Our back-up sump pump (something I’d never heard of until I’d bought property in the Midwest–land of the basement) quit charging properly. This isn’t the first time this temperamental piece of equipment has demanded our attention. It’s timing is impeccable. (Have you ever tried to move the batteries in a back-up sump pump? They’re marine batteries and heavy as lead.) We unplugged the bastard and told it to take a number and get in line.

I Spent Five Hours in the ER

• Monday Sucky Monday

I Dealt With Some Grim News at Work

• Which is pretty much all I’m going to say about it here. I have a rule of never blogging about work. Suffice it to say that the stress of it all, which I’ve been dealing with for a number of months, is starting to manifest itself in insomnia and flashes of panic. I know everything will work out, it’s just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes.

I Did Have One Bright Moment

• Very good friends have recently adopted a little girl from Vietnam. Yesterday they began the final piece of legal work, the re-adoption process which was a sort of combination legal proceeding and ceremony in front of the judge, attended by the immediate family and a few friends, including me. It was a special event and I was so happy to be included. It was also quite interesting. Technically, the process is a law suit, with the wee one named as the defendant. At one point, we all showed up at the sheriff’s office, where the baby was “served” by having the sheriff knight her with the paper work by touching it to her head. Quite amusing.

I Fell

• Literally. I have weak ankles and any little dip or ridge or uneven bit of sidewalk, if it catches me the right way, can send me sprawling like an idiot. Most times I can catch myself and stay on my feet. Sometimes not. And yesterday, while I was out shooting photos (see above) with my new filter…can you see where this is going??…I was walking across the street, turned my ankle, took a tumble, and watched in slow motion as my precious D50, with the more expensive of the two lenses I own (of course), hit the pavement.

Usually when I fall, I bounce right back up. This time I was so stunned I just lay there in the street. If a car had driven by I probably would have been run over. Though the camera didn’t seem too banged up, the glass on the front of the lens was cracked clear through (hopefully it’s just the filter) and the filter is so jammed on I can’t remove it from the lens. I was half a block from home and when I got there, I closed the door and just burst into tears. Yeah, I think I’m a little stressed.

For a number of reasons, some related here, some not, it’s been a long stressful number of months (more than I think I realized) and my camera has been a constant companion, a creative outlet and much needed source of interest and inspiration. So falling on it was hard, in more ways than one.

Today I’ll limp down to the camera repair shop and hope that my trusty D50 checks out okay. Fingers crossed.

I’m Thankful

• That the water tank didn’t rust out completely and dump 50 gallons of water in my basement; that I have friends who are generous with their hot water; that I’ve never had a flooding situation that required the sump pump to actually have to work; that my sister’s car accident (all things being relative to her previous car accidents) was nothing more serious; that I have a job, and therefore have health insurance; that I didn’t sprain more than my ankle; that a car didn’t drive by just at the wrong moment; and that though I may have lost a piece of camera equipment, I didn’t lose any of the many photographs I’ve taken with it over the past year and a half.

Have a great weekend all!