the universe points its finger of electric death

My readership is growing. The universe read yesterday's post about how much money we saved on energy-efficient appliances and promptly maimed our dryer and our dishwasher to compensate. The dryer, honestly, was a surprise. It's an old battleaxe, and lived for years filled with sand. I think we're actually -- gulp -- going to try to repair it. It still runs, just without heat. Mr. Reluctant had just filled the washer with a bunch of towels and the dryer was full, so we had to break out the wooden drying racks, and it looks like we'll be doing that for a while.

The dishwasher doesn't win any popularity contests around here. It is a vintage GE Potscrubber 1200, and although I wouldn't dream of putting my pots in the dishwasher, I find I need to use the "potscrubber" setting just to get glasses clean. To add insult to injury, the previous owners somehow lost/broke the wheels on the bottom rack, so we have to wrestle it out to load it. Last week, I noticed that the dishwasher started only dissolving the detergent nugget about 1/2 the time. Mr. Reluctant observed yesterday that the dishwasher was running with no water in it for the initial rinse cycle. Bah.

In more bad news, the city came out yesterday morning (while I was sanding drywall in my pajamas at noon) and declared the two medium-sized Western red cedars on our sidewalk strip caput, finito, and toast. This was expected, considering both were suffering from seiridium canker, and one was about 90% defoliated. They both had borer holes and one had a big gash in the trunk that destabilized the tree. Worst of all, they were planted under power lines and had been topped and mangled by whoever does such things to keep the lines clear. Still, it kind of sucked to hear they would be removed. Unfortunately, "the city is out of trees," and I have to wait a year to have replacement trees planted. That is, unless I want to do it myself (hint, hint). The city arborist also showed me that my little redbud tree on the strip has pretty serious borer damage and I should consider "starting over." Double bah. Triple bah.

Some good things happened, too, yesterday. I heard from two old friends, people I hadn't heard from in over a year, plus got a call from a old young friend that I've been playing phone tag with for months. My joint repair in the kitchen nook is going well, and I think the tape is going to work, since it didn't bubble or slide or fall off. The electrician is coming today to fix the kitchen light wiring and the porch light. Mr. Reluctant finished off a bunch of little projects last night, and cleaned the house.

So we beat on, boats against the current, yadda yadda yadda.