Well, well, well.

I was going to title this post "An Unfortunate Series of Events", but I believe that has already been done.  I do remember saying to myself, "Pollyanna, you know, 2014 is going to be the BEST YEAR EVER.  You just wait and see.  A year of new adventures, 'firsts', promise, hope, whoop de freakin do."  Okay, I did add that last bit in just recently.  Just now.

Here is my year to date, all 22 days of it, in one, long, run-on sentence, just to take some of the sting out of it:  major car repairs; frozen pipes; fuel oil tank repair; plumbing repairs; sick hen; lame sheep; first flu from hell in over 15 years; pink eye - another first; dead car; major towing bill; foster failure in a bad way.

Yes, besides contracting an influenza virus (bacterial based - is that possible?) which has also led to incurring pink eye for the first time EVER, and having to be out of the office using more sick days than I've accrued (another first), on my way home from the doctor/pharmacist, I was driving down the main road towards home when - BANG - went my car.  All the indicator lights went on, the engine made non-engine sounds, and I managed to get it off to the side of the road before it died.  And did I mention that the temperature WITHOUT wind chill was -11?  So I sat for a bit and laughed because why the heck not at this point?  As I was dialing up AAA, a very nice man pulled over to help.  When we popped the hood, it was obvious that something had broken - probably a belt - which had then ripped off a hose and the entire inside of the engine was covered in oil.  My Good Samaritan gave me a ride all the way home, where I called AAA from the warm comfort of home.  And discovered that Lucy had counter surfed her way across all surfaces, destroying most of my cache of Emergen-C, devouring an entire stick of butter, shredding boxes, knocking anything loose to the floor.  That, combined with another cat incident last night, made me realize that ours was not the right home.  I have no way of keeping her out of the kitchen.  I know I won't remember to keep my counters completely empty.  And I won't always be there to intervene vis a vis Lucy and the cats.  It is very sad, because she is a dear and we were making strides.  But she needs more supervision than I can give her and she needs to be in a cat-free home.

Let me see.  What is the upside to all of this....hmmmm.  Hmmmmmm.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Okay, here goes:  there was a good Samaritan who came to my aid and kept me from freezing solid in my car! AAA can tow the car to my mechanic in Bennington, as it appears to be JUST inside of their tow limit of 25 miles!  I get the first three of those 25 miles FREE.  It will only cost me under $100 for the rest of the tow!  It appears that I managed to battle my way through the flu without having to take antibiotics!  And it only took me a little over a week!  There may be a chance they can fix my car without my needing to find one to use for the rest of the week!  Maybe!  I have to stop now!  I've used up all my exclamation points!!!

(P.S.  I don't know how the damn ad got on my blog, but I don't sponsor them, or them me, or want them anywhere near me.  If you know how to get rid of them, do tell...)