I admit to entering this year with a tiny superstitious fear niggling at the back of my mind. What’s with an entire year containing the number 13?
My extremely intelligent nephew, who was born on the 13th of January, is completely cool with the whole thing. Thirteenth day? Thirteenth year of the millennium? Who cares?
I’d like to say I don’t, but I’m starting to get jumpy.
First, I got the stomach flu, although admittedly that was the last two days of 2012. Still, it kind of hung on and made me feel icky for three weeks. Apparently this is a common reaction to this particular stomach ailment. Welcome to the new year, tummy.
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A week or so after the turn of the year, I was in our family room and heard that wonderful sound every homeowner enjoys: drip, drip, drip. I turned toward the noise and sure enough, the fireplace was leaking.
Two days later, after the fireplace stopped weeping, there was that sound again. This time, it was the skylight. (I hate those things.)
We had three feet of snow removed from our roof and the skylight tarped over. So far, so good, but repairs are necessary.
Then we discovered one morning a couple of weeks ago that our water heater had decided to blow its contents all over the floor. In one sense, we were pretty lucky; we caught it before it flooded the basement. In another sense, we were not so lucky. Before we caught it, the water infiltrated the furnace. Goodbye, year-old furnace.
This morning, as I write this, we are down one coffee maker. It’s a basic drip machine, but today it was trying on a new identity. It took half an hour to brew something that resembles espresso. It also decided to spew a fairly significant amount of water all over the counter.
I have to add that I’m taking this unreasonable weather personally. I love the Prairies. I hate winter. When I left for work, leaving the furnace professionals behind at my house, it was – 48 C with the wind chill. Are you kidding me?
I must say, I wonder what will happen next. I don’t think I’ve done anything overt, such as aggravating a black cat or breaking a mirror.
I’m blaming it on 2013.
