Broke, broke and broke

When we moved to our home here in Moscow, we knew it needed a little love and care. We thought we had a bit of time before we had to do anything major. The idea that some of our appliances were old did cross our minds. Our kitchenaid dishwasher started to leave water after the rinse cycle. It was strange but it only did it after some cycles and not others. Rich tried his hand at fixing the machine by taking it apart. He soon realized he was in over his head and could not quite figure out the problem. We called a repair man to assess the situation. Our thoughts were the pump, but it turned out to be the relay. Sad but they don’t make the relays anymore and a new machine would be in store for us. One would think, yeah a new machine, but not me. This dishwasher was 20 years old and they don’t make them like the used to. You might be lucky to get 5 years out of your dishwasher. That is just plain sad. I was heartbroken to see Bessie go, but then Lucy the LG model arrived. Yes she is very shiny and does a wonderful job. But will she last? This was broke object number 1.

Our car is awesome. We love it and we will run it into the ground before we get rid of it. We did a checkup before we left Chicago. All seemed well until recently. She too was giving us a hard time making screeching noises around the tires and another squeaky noise we could not locate. We phoned a mechanic one day because Rich was driving the car and the tire seized up. He thought it might be a rock in the tire and just to back up. Well that trick seemed to work, but she was still making those squeaky noises. I finally convinced Rich to bring it in because these noises were not going away and I was starting to get scared to drive the car. It turns out there was rust on one of the brake pads that was rubbing and making one of the sounds. The other is a bearing of some sort which is a major part. Yes the car is drive able, but at some point it just might not work. We are awaiting a part to come in and get her fixed. Again, we love her and want her to be at her best.

Large puppies and kids just don’t mix. My kids love their German Shepherd, but forget that he is more than their size when he stands on his hind legs. They also do not realize the dog probably weights more than them. The dog has his adult teeth in now as well and they are very sharp. The kids tend to be rough with the dog as they see he can be aggressive. They like to play chase with him, but shepherd dogs like use their teeth to “assist” with whatever they are shepherding. He does well shepherding the kids, but it hurts. When you run away from him, he especially loves to bite you from behind to get your attention. It is all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Well someone did get hurt. Braedon was playing with him while trying to get dressed. The dog jumped on the couch and Braedon’s arm got caught. He went one way and his arm went the other direction. The result is a broken radius and ulna. The doctor calls it a fracture but it is clearly broken. Rich happened to be out of town during this incident and I had to pull it all together. He had surgery to insert two pins into his bone marrow to straighten the bones. The doctor tried to repair them with the pins, but the bones were unstable. It was a traumatic experience for the whole family, but as time passed we all heal. So far Braedon is doing well. He will see the doctor soon for an update and will have to have surgery again to remove the pins.

If it isn’t broke,  don’t fix it—yeah right! We are gradually making changes to our house to make it more homey and put our stamp on it. Minor repairs, paint, pillows, and art have made a difference. I decided that our shower head was not sufficient. I’ve wanted to change it for some time, but Rich stated he would get around to doing it. I thought how hard is it to remove a shower head and replace it? I have had prior experience when we lived in Massachusetts and had success twice. We have very hard water and apparently the shower head was difficult to detach. I ended up breaking off the pipe that led into the wall. Oops. Luckily there wasn’t much of the pipe left and Rich was able to get it out. We now have a new shower head, yeah!

So, what have we learned? For one, everything can be fixed. Sure things get broken or fractured but with time and money it will work itself out. Appliances, rotors, and pipes can be replaced. Fractures can be healed especially in young kids. The best thing to do is not to panic because it will work it out. It just has to because that is the way life runs. It will continue on and give you roadblocks along the way.