It never rains, but it pours!

It seems as though we have experienced one disaster after another. First, it was unexpected and expensive car repair bills.

Then the furnace just up and quit. (Actually, it is a boiler not a furnace, but "it" packed it in just the same. We have hot water heat and ancient radiators in this old house.) 

Trying to find someone who knew something about repairing a ten year old boiler was like searching for hen's teeth, they were kinda hard to find!

Many fruitless call later, we finally found a guy who came out and told us we needed a new "motherboard." 

Sounds like a part from space ship doesn't it?  We were advised that this new motherboard would have to be ordered in at a cost of almost $600. 

Days later, we were still waiting for this supposed "motherboard" arrive from the far reaches of outer space and land here on earth. 

The house was as cold as a mummy's tomb and there was not a single drop of hot water. We had to heat water in pots to bath and do the dishes. I don't mind loading on an extra sweater or doing the dishes by hand, but a hot shower at the end of the day is one luxury that I find it hard to do without, especially when the house is stone cold.

I don't want to bore you with a long, sad story, but in the end we discovered that we did not need a new motherboard at all, just a $2 fuse. The only problem is that there is a short somewhere in the system that is causing the fuse to blow repeatedly. This mystery is still on going...

But at least we have heat and hot water for now!

If you think this is the end of my tale of woe, well it isn't. 

There was fresh misery today. The toilet backed up at 6 am this morning and flooded the bathroom. The water seeped down through the cracks in the wood floor and flowed on to the kitchen ceiling below. 

Then it began to rain from all the pot lights in the kitchen ceiling. 

I was making lunches at the kitchen counter, when it began to rain on the red pepper I was slicing. After I took a moment to recover from the shock, I grabbed some pots and placed them all over the kitchen floor to catch the rising flood waters.

It took a good part of the morning to clean up the mess.

I am sure you must be wondering about this little guy. He is my other news. Meet Mador!

I know. I know. What another dog! Believe me, this wasn't my idea. Three dogs was more than enough, as far as I was concerned.

Mador is my daughter-in-law's Christmas gift from her own mother. Hanna has long wanted a dog of her own. 

I have nicknamed him the "Poop-in-ator", because all of the little puppy accidents. He is very loveable though, with his one ear up flying up like a bat wing, and his tail that seems to be permanently set on wag.

The only bad thing is that Mador's care has fallen a lot to me, while Hanna is at work. As a result, I am hopelessly behind in my own work. 

And time for blogging last week? Well, that flew right out the window! 

I apologize that I haven't returned many of your visits. I promise to catch shortly on all your news and will post some pretty, new garden pictures shortly!

So what do you think Mador? Should I change the blog title to "Three and a half dogs in a garden"?

I linking this post to the Creative Exchange. To see some great photography, please click the link. 

Tomorrow, I will link to Tuesdays Around the World. To see what is happening in other blogger's world's, please click the link.