Mark Knoffler of Dire Straits fame wrote a song called, “The Bug.”  It w;as covered by Mary Chapin Carpenter a year later, with lyrics that in my opinion best capture the ups and downs of life.  “Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug.”  My hassles today are not reflective of solely retirement. but rather life itself. Repair issues are ruining my day, and seem magnified by the fact that I’m retired.  A day at the office might make me temporarily forget about the fact that we have no air conditioning.  It’s not even hot enough to have it be a concern, but it still requires calling a repairman.  I won’t know until they get here if it will be a major expense or just a minor setback.  First, I’ll have to pay to find out and then I’ll have to pay for the repair itself.  It could be hundreds or thousands of dollars!  It’s like waiting for the answers to a test or a physical exam.  At least, it’s an object not a person that I’m fretting about.

If I were an outdoors lover (post #177),  I probably would enjoy the cool breeze through the open windows.  Instead, I feel exposed to the outside world.  The dogs don’t seem worried, but then again they get excited when they get to go outside.  I get excited when I get to go home, filled with the comforts of air conditioning, routine, and predictability.  Now, I’m at the mercy of the repairman!  I can’t even close our new shutters to totally insulate myself from the outside elements.  The shutters, by the way, are my second problem.  The new shutters do not match the style of the other windows in our house, and my wife has made it clear that this is my fault.  I showed the window company the shutter design that we wanted.  They apparently felt a more contemporary style was more in order, and I’m stuck with the hassle of getting this corrected.    The customer is always right….right?

I cooked dinner last night, following a recipe that my wife gave me.  Unfortunately, the author of that recipe runs Luscher’s Red Hots in Dallas.  We were both guzzling water and eating cold fruit to alleviate the burning sensation in our mouths from the spicy rub that seasoned the flank steak.  There was just a bit too much Cayenne pepper in the mix.  I took a couple of Pepcid AC tablets, just in case what came out was as spicy as what went in!  I woke up this morning with a touch of heartburn, no air conditioning, sticky humidity, and mismatched shutters.  I’m currently on the phone, hassling with the furnace company and the shutter representatives, eating a frozen ice pop to soothe my throat.  I can’t wait to see what surprises come in the mail!

I started a “silly” project yesterday that I’ve been meaning to do for years.  Working on it last night and this morning, continues to provide distraction from these household hassles that I’ve been fighting.  In the process of getting together with some long-time friends last week, we struggled over memories of concerts that we’ve attended through the years.  We couldn’t remember who, what, when, and where we had attended these events, that are undoubtedly unimportant to anybody but ourselves.  We did have some success pooling our brainpower to solve some of these mysteries of the past.  I have diaries and ticket stubs that constantly prove that my memory is failing.  I quickly gathered all this information together on an Excel Sheet and will e-mail it to them to fill in the details.  Music and concerts have been a pleasant distraction from the everyday hassles of life.  Now, we’ll all know exactly when we last saw Mark Knoffler and Dire Straits!

I continue to be confused on what day it is today, as if it really matters. “Date Night” was delayed until tonight, and I’m sure we’ll both stay away from spicy foods.  My wife has thrown our schedule a day-off  because of some painful dental work.  She was hoping that the new shutters would make our bedroom darker and help her sleep better.  Instead, she’s laid awake worried about get the right ones installed.  The air conditioning problem hasn’t helped her mood either.  As a result, I cooked a day later this week and we’re dining out a day later, as well.  To make matters worse, she also has to go to work a day earlier, taking a Sunday flight to her out-of-town business meetings. I’ll try not to screw anything up while she’s gone….please!  I may even spray for bugs and clean my car’s windshield!