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"Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."
- Unknown

"That which does not kill you, makes you stronger."
- Handed down through the ages.

"Life's tough. It's even tougher when you're stupid."
- John Wayne



Fighting Fire with Fire

I'm down in the dumps but, oddly, do want to blog.  But, my mood does not bode well for any chirky posts, so what to write?  Well, it just dawned on me:  fight fire with fire.

I was just trying to organize some of the many digital pictures here on my computer:  putting the "loose" ones into their appropriate folders.  So, in the spirit of bah-humbug, I am going to post all the depressing pictures I can find amongst the "loose" ones.  (All 1,137 of 'em.  Really.  I just counted.)

First, I'm gonna run out and do nighttime chores, though.  Be back in a sec'.

Okay, here goes:




Depressing:  I was supposed to get Tom's passport renewal off ages ago.  Now, I don't even know where his passport is.  It was somewhere . . . here . . . on my desk . . . .  (Nice mugshot, eh?)











Depressing:  This fabric pie carrier was made for me by a dear, now-departed woman.  After it carried this pie, Maisy smelled the apple pie ooze on it, pulled it out of the laundry, and chewed it beyond repair.


Depressing:  During the Christmas snowstorm, our back-up plow truck's (and only other truck) transmission hemorrhaged.  Now we have no back-up plow truck . . . nor any other truck with which to pull the main truck out if it gets stuck.









Depressing:  This was the morning harvest from ONE night's worth of garden slugs who commited Harry Carry in the cheap beer I'd set out for just that purpose.  September '09.





 




Depressing:  While hurrying to get ready for one of the Christmas art festivals, I lit my finger on fire while starting the woodstove.  What the . . . ?!


 
 

















Depressing:  This is how big my broccoli got this past summer.







 





Depressing:  This is the big, beautiful pond I always dreamed of.  It doesn't hold water. 







 



Depressing:  To enjoy the outdoors during the summer here, a bug shirt & being covered head-to-toe, no matter the temperature, is required. 



And, one final depressing note to end this depressing day . . . .




 
Depressing:  Thinking the huge, 4' square pile of ashes you shoveled out of the wood furnace a couple of days ago are cool . . . and then placing the large in-ground, animal-grade "pond" (that you just bought for the ducks & geese and hauled 3 hours home from Menards) over it in order to keep the ashes from flying around in the high winds.  And then going out in the morning & realizing that those ashes weren't so cold, after all.




8 comments:

  1. Oh dear, so sorry things seem so bleak right now! We have a saying "that if it isn't one thing, it's two" and you have photographic proof of that! Hoping today is brighter and you're feeling better.

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  2. I forget the saying about shared pain being pain halved, but I think it's appropriate here. Hope you feel a little better getting those things out. I've made the mistake about the ashes!

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  3. I feel bad for you! I would be bummed too. I hate it when the pups wreck the unreplaceable and sentimental. Actually, I got a little bummed as I read. BUT it made me feel like my own troubles weren't so bad.

    I turned the water off in the bathroom only to have the handle come off in my hand yesterday. Now I need a plumber as this is the second time I have done this. Amazing hand strength - I think not.

    But the chickens are laying, we are half way through January and it will be bug and garden season before you know it ;)

    Hang in there!

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  4. Hey, all - thanks for the "buck up". :) This is why I need to remember to blog, even when I'm down. (How selfish is THAT?!)

    And, Jordan: 'shared pain being pain halved'? I've never heard that before, but I really like it! And, in many ways, I think it's true: sometimes, just saying things - getting them out - helps so much.

    TJ, damn dogs. ;) Too bad that's the price we pay for loving them . . . AND, it's always a lesson learned ("do not leave yummy tasting laundry anywhere the dogs can get to")! And, I think you're right, too, about hearing about others' problems make your own seem not so bad. So, maybe it's not so wrong to complain once in a while. After all, none of us are in Haiti, so, really, do we have ANYTHING to complain about? (And good luck with that bathroom faucet, you brute, you!)

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  5. I liked this post. Nuthin' wrong with calling it like it is when it is. Your mama would have been very worried about you if you had written a chirky post. Great pictures.

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  6. Ugh, slugs! that's a lot of depressing stuff Chicken Mama! Hope things start cheering up a bit for you soon!

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  7. Hey - I would be HAPPY about the slugs! Just think how many won't be eating your garden after that :)

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  8. Ruthie, for today (baby steps), I'm focusing on Me Time. Listening to my Inner Me and what she wants . . . and not second guessing it. And that feels good. :)

    Jenyfer, yes, I AM a glass half-full kinda gal, so each slug I took out of the garden last summer was one less slug IN it! :)

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