(the real) Murphy's Law

How is it that the more one tries to declare war on busyness, the more the Big B seems to be victorious over the weary warrior. We are trying a new strategy now. Since I can not seem to ever say NO, Scott is saying NO for me! Call it weakness, call it lack of seizing an opportunity to grow... it seems to work just fine this way. But we are not entirely innocent when it comes to creating "doings"... For all the "NO's" Scott is saying for me and himself, I add a few more mandatory "YES's" to his exclusive "YES-list". And sometimes, just sometimes, he adds a few (unnecessary) doings himself...

I wanted a fence for my birthday, and since having it done is absolutely outrageous, Scott decided he could do it in a week - his week off. Now isn't that a sweet husband who would sacrifice his week off for his wife's birthday request... threat... "if we don't get a fence soooooon we are going to get a boy-pancake in the road one of these days!" So he and a friend started off last Monday diggin' holes and plantin' posts. Actually, a post. Then they realized that the yard slopes too much and that they would have to do a minor excavation project to the yard to get rid of the slope in order that the fence may not be 4 feet high at the beginning and 1 foot low at the end. That took a day extra.

Next day they proceeded to dig more holes for more posts. On hole #2 they hit a drainpipe... It took 2 days to repair. It was so old that no-one in town carried replacement parts for it and Scott had to be quite the creative plumber in fixing it. (I was proud of him.) After 2 days without plumbing we could finally flush the loo again and take a shower. The neighbours were thankful.

And then it was Friday, the 5th day and yet no evidence of a fence. Just 2 holes and 1 pole. On digging hole #3 they hit .... a gas line. After an emergency call to the local gas company, neighbours pulling out gas-masks (that they bought in 2001 for the anticipated anthrax-attack) and a stiff bill for fixing the damage, Scott and helper could finally press on without fear. They had hit every line possible. Now they could dig to heart' s content.

Except that Scott's week off was over by now.

He does think that he has written at least a month's worth of Sunday School lessons in his head during the whole adventure, though. "Everything works for good...." (?)

I, on the other hand, suggested changing our surname. Add to the above episode the following (true) happenings - all within the last month: a dishwasher making enough noise to imitate the space shuttle taking off, a lake-size-leak underneath the bathroom sink (both developed within the hour that Scott left for a 10-day backpacking trip), a dead-as-a-dodo car battery while Neels and I were 160 miles from home and a clothes dryer that has lost all motivation to dry anything.

Oh, and then there was the pressure washer that Scott borrowed last week and on the 1st attempt to start it, the rope broke. Fixing it was not obvious nor easy. If is wasn't for our very able friend Bruce Hubbs, we'd be in a hole right now. (Probably one of those very unfortunate fence post holes.)

So ya theeenk Murphy's Law is just maybe more true for the Murphys than for the Jones' ? Never heard of anyone trying to keep up with the Murphy's... For obvious reasons, I dare say.