Monday, 1/24 -- Please stand back from the VENT. Hot air is escaping.

Just when you think that life was complicated enough, things have to go from bad to worse.

Over the weekend our heater went on the "fritz" again. The plumber was here on Friday, he "temporarily" fixed it, but had to go out on other "no heat" calls. He said he'd be back. I have a call into his office today.

We have heat, but we have to physically light the heater for it to work for a few hours.

This happens every year when the temp stays below freezing for a few days. After three/four years of this I've noticed the pattern. I'm thinking that we should just have the whole damned heater replaced so we don't have to worry about it again.

Also making life more interesting, our roof is leaking. Every time it snows an ice dam forms around the back gutter. The melting snow backs up and starts to come down through the wall. Seeing icicles hang from the ceiling inside the three-season porch is not a good sign. Blocks of ice collecting on our storage shelves.

What color will the walls turn this time?

We had some highly incompetent roofers work on the area back in June. They installed new gutters upside down. They spilled roofing compound in our yard and used our garden tools to clean up the mess... dumping all the hazardous material in our neighbor's yard. Cigarette butts scattered around the work site. It's a great story.

I have a call into these rocket scientists to tell them that the roof they fixed is leaking. As soon as there's no snow on the roof, they'll be out to inspect their handy work. I hope I'm not fatigued for that day. I'm feeling like I want to launch myself at them if they don't fix the problem.

All this and I'm pretty much stuck in the house and on the couch thanks to the snow, outside temperature and the side effects of chemo. I haven't left the house since Tuesday. Doubt I'm leaving today for any reason.

It happens to everyone. Houses are money pits. Things break left and right. If it's not the heater its the washing machine. If it's not the toilet it's the faucet. After you replace the lamp, the light bulb burns out.

This is the kind of stuff no one wants to deal with in the best of health.
This is life. Complicated. Annoying. Stressful. Frustrating. Challenging. Beautiful.

Keep on trucking.