In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote in his pamphlet “The American Crisis” “These are the times that try men’s soul — an aside: Watching the current political nincompoopish goings on (that’s all of it, i am no longer in the political rock throwing) Paine’s pamphlet title and this phrase seems appropriate for today. But man, it also applies to my past ten days or so.

Our home has two gas heat furnaces (we don’t have nor need air conditioning: bless you Southwest corner climate). We use the heaters from December through February for about two hours in the morning and intermittently in the evenings for that period. We had noticed some variations in the heat in different rooms and asked a local HVAC firm for an assessment. Result: two heaters and an substantial amount of ducting replaced costing just south of the national debt.

Then, we discovered a leak in our irrigation system that is wasting over five or six gallons a day. We are still searching for the source and bracing for the cost of the fix.

On Monday last week, i took my new Mazda CX-30 into the dealership for a re under warranty for the driver’s seat. It was to take five hours. It took four days. Blessedly, the dealer gave us a loner. It was a minor annoyance.

Last Sunday night, my laptop screen went bonkers. i took it to the Apple store on Monday. It came back in two days when the estimated time of repair was three to five days. If you have an Apple product, i recommend you get Apple Care. It’s worth it.

Then my website went down due to a requirement to renew my certification. As you can see, it’s back up now after taking four days when the estimated time of repair was two days and the cost went into orbit.

Fun days. As Mr. Paine noted, it was a time, although trivial, to try my soul.

Now, on to good times. i’m ready.