When it rains, it pours.

Life has been CRAZY the last few days. I had no intention of not posting. It just happened. I am really starting to believe the old saying "when it rains, it pours". 

At the beginning of the week, my heat pump called it quits. I had to call in a repair man. We had a warranty, so I wasn't too worried. After he fixes it, he comes in and tells me it is working now and that what he had to do, something about cleaning coils, wasn't covered under the warranty and I owed him $110 right then. I bout had a stroke. Normally if it is not under warranty they will come talk to you, explain what is wrong, talk about price, and ask if you want them to fix it. He just went ahead and fixed it. It has been super hot here so far this summer, so we had to have the air, I had to pay him. Talk about putting a damper in our money situation. It's been tight around here anyway. But at least we have cool air now.

Then that same afternoon I was washing clothes, went into the bathroom and bubbles were coming out from under my bathtub. I was so confused. The washer was spinning. Michael took up the bottom shelf in the bathroom to access the pipes and suds were coming up between two pipes that were sitting in one another. I know nothing about plumbing, but I knew something was wrong. There wasn't any water coming out. Just bubbles. I thought maybe I was using too much detergent. because I had ran out of supplies to make my own and asked Dh to pick me up a cheap box at work until I could get my supplies. I started using 1/2 the amount of detergent and it is still doing it. I have no idea what is going on. Dad said maybe a line is stopped up somewhere, somehow. Michael is going to try to see if he can figure it out today.

As if that wasn't enough issues with my washer.. I walked into the hall and it had just started overflowing. It was filling up and instead of shutting off when it should, it just kept filling. I hit the rest button and it started working, for that load. Next load, problem fixed? Nope. Michael took the front of the machine off, and cleaned out a hose that tells the machine when it is full, and it appears to be working now, however now the crazy thing will just fill up and sit there. It won't wash. I can turn the dial and it will spin out, but it will not wash. GAH!  Michael seems to think it is the timer. The sad part is this is a fairly new machine, but the warranty just expired. Isn't that how it always goes?!

Next, Bailey, my nine year old flops down in my computer chair and it snaps into two pieces. That thing was an industrial type chair from probably the 70s. How he snapped it, I have no idea. He doesn't even weigh 100 lbs. He must of had it in a strain or something when he flopped down in it, but still it shouldn't have broke.. but it did. So now I am sitting in a straight back chair cause I can't afford to go out and buy a new one with all the repairs that have been going on.  Our electric fence had quit working. Michael and I had to spend an entire afternoon working on it, patching places that the goats or some sort of animal broke. We finally got it going, but this morning I woke up and a big strand is broke again. I don't know what is going through it, but it is getting old. The crazy goats got out one day this week and ate my strawberries. They didn't eat the entire plant, just the blooms and the berries. They also ate my stargazer lily blooms and leaves. Now the only thing left of it is the stalk. I was so upset.

Now if all this wasn't enough stress... our lab peaches {whom we keep tied when we are gone} got missing on Monday after Michael went to work. When he came home, I asked about her.  He said she followed him down the road {we turn her lose when we are home} when he went to work, but he ran her back up the hill. Apparently she kept following him at a distance. She had her collar on, but not the name tag. I was so upset, but figured she'd find her way back home in a day or so. Wednesday afternoon rolls around and I still haven't seen her. I'm really starting to worry. The boys claimed they saw a bear in our driveway the evening before.. so even though I didn't see the bear myself and really thought they imagined it, I was starting to wonder. I made a flier and plastered it all over my facebook account. I called and messaged every neighbor within a 5 mile radius. A lady a couple miles away sent me a message saying she had seen her on Monday. So Michael, they boys and I loaded up on the 4 wheeler {Bai rode his motorcycle} and we drove around there to see if we could see her. Another neighbor was in her yard, we stopped to ask her if she had seen Peaches. She said yes, I was just about to take her home with me. She is up at my nieces house on the hill. I called for her, and she came down the hill like a race horse. She was so excited to see us, she jumped up onto the 4 wheeler with us. We were so happy to have her back. Now she is home safe and sound and has a name tag on her collar.

As I mentioned above, on Tuesday afternoon around dark, the boys went outside about a minute before I did. We were going to make sure the chickens had water and lock them up for the night. Instead of going out toward the chickens, they wondered within sight out to the goat barn. As I stepped out the front door, they started running and screaming towards me. I didn't know what on earth was wrong. I about broke my neck getting down the steps and out to them. Bai said they had seen a bear. Now we do live in the mountains, but we have never seen a bear close to our house before. However a neighbor a couple miles a way got pics of a few on his trail camera. I ask them where  it was at and they said out past the property line. Since it was getting dark, I assumed they probably saw a tree stump or something. I walk over and look down that way. I didn't see a thing. I just tell them that it probably wasn't a bear, it was probably that stump they had seen. Bai said, "No Mom, it was big and it turned around and was moving it's head." and Dalton says.. "Yeah Mom, and tree stumps down have paws." I made them come on into the house while I watered the chicks to be safe. When Michael got home he drove around the hill to see if there were any signs of a bear, but he said he didn't see anything. So who knows.

We have had all kinds of critters around here lately... including snakes. The first one the boys saw in the driveway was a black snake. This last one was hanging on the edge of a board at the log building where we store the motorcycles. It looked more like a copperhead. Thankfully Michael was home and was able to kill it. We all had been in and out of that building a dozen times that day. It is sectioned off. We store the motorcylces in one side and the other side has old hay and our goat feed barrels. Michael said it was probably after a mouse or rat that was after crumbs of the goat feed. Who knows.. but I hate those things.. Now I am terrified to go in there to get feed.

Needless to say.. things have been an adventure around here lately.