Always Something

There's always something broken or messed up that needs fixing or replacing.  Always.  It's a necessity to pay attention to the working order of the little things in your home, your car, your RV, your boat and so on.  If you don't you're either putting yourself in danger OR, there will be a whole pile of stuff needing fixing at the same time.

I try to keep up with repairs.  It's not easy.  There's other things I would rather be doing than fixing crap.  It's not being lazy, it's priorities.   Take the dryer vent you see in the photo.  I knew the lint was clogging the vent and piling up.  For the last 8 months the little voice in my mind kept repeating, "Clean it or you'll be sorry!"  This I ignored until one day last week I climbed onto the roof to check it out.

OMG, I thought.  This is "fire in the hole!" waiting to happen.  I attempt to clean out the vent on my own but in short time it was apparent that someone with the right stuff was needed to clean the vent and pipe out top to bottom.  One day and $75 later the vent and pipe were clean and looking like new. 

Wifey says she cleans the lint filter on the dryer nearly every time she uses it.  Nearly every time seems not to cut it.  Has to be every time.  The dryer is fairly new, is in good working condition and the lint filter recently replaced.  Cleaning the filter every time is a good thing.

The dryer vent deal is typical.  There's always something like this needing attention.  This week it was the sprinkler system.  Sprinklers get clogged with the little particles of dirt that are piped in from the water company.  Or they stop working.  Or the tops of the sprinklers come off and water shoots all over the place.  You always know when there's a problem with a sprinkler:  Everything turns brown and dies, especially in the everyday 100 degree heat of Cowtown.

Then there's Sparkle Plenty, the sailboat.  Issues with steering and lighting on the mast bug me.  Both have to be trouble shot by someone who knows what they're doing.  I could try but it's like there would be more damage I'd cause by "fixing" these things than it is worth.  Towing the boat to a dealer in the Bay Area come this fall will be necessary to make those repairs.  There's always something needing repair when it comes to sailboats.

I could go on and on about what needs fixing or attention but you get the idea.  We've all been there, know that and let things slide.  Instead of "put it off today and 'cause you can do it tomorrow" I should be practicing "never put off to tomorrow things needing done today." 

Taking care of "stuff" is becoming a full time job.  There's just too much of it.  Next time I think of buying anything that age old question has be answered first:  How much is enough?