You know what I mean. I’m talking about that ship. The one which is carrying your treasure. The ship we wait for all our lives. Someone once asked me if I’d been down to the wharf lately to wave at incoming ships. “Maybe,” she said, “Your ship is out there just looking for you, loaded with treasure and unless you wave it into shore, it will never find you.” Now there’s a thought.
I went outside to collect a package this morning. When I came inside, the door molding fell off, revealing a mess of dry and not-so-dry rot underneath. I don’t know if we need a new door assembly (again), but we absolutely need some repairs to the threshold and the door frame. If we don’t fix it, I’m pretty sure it will fix us.
I know money cannot buy happiness, but I’m replete with happiness. Any happiness that comes without a price, I’ve got it. I need some of the stuff that only money can buy. Repairs to the house. New bathroom fixtures and flooring. Paint. Molding. Someone to clean the gutters, paint the window frames, and clean up what used to be a garden. Repave the driveway.
Neither God nor love nor hope of a miracle pays those bills. So barring my treasure ship showing up in port, I’m not sure what, exactly, remains for me to do.
Because that door frame is looking expensive in a dollar sign kind of way.
ANOTHER CRAZY ASS DAY 
DON’T MOVE THE FURNITURE! 
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I guess that’s why my ship has not come in yet…. I live too far inland. I guess I could always hope for my treasure to come on a barge, but barges are usually just loaded with garbage and smell real bad…
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An incoming ship is a wonderful metaphor. I better look out so I don’t miss it.
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Our furnace is still on the fritz. I hear you.
Leslie
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How are you dealing with the cold?
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Our son is able to reignite the furnace for short periods of time to bring up the temperature. Otherwise it’s been getting pretty cool around here.
They have this song and dance that they have to inspect the furnace -$150.00. The part that needs to be replaced is called the ignitor. I knew what it was all along. Then he comes back with the song and dance that our ignitor is rare and it is going to cost somewhere around $500. + tax to replace it. I checked online line. These things go for about $24.00 – $79.00. These guys won’t even give you an itemized bill before hand. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
Leslie
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Goodness — that’s almost a new gas furnace!
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Not quite in Canada. It’s $3500. qpprox. new here. So at the moment we are igniting the gas manually until we can get a deal.
Leslie
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We had to replace the igniter last year on our oil burner (no gas around here). The service call, replacing the part and doing the annual servicing that we ought to do every year but inevitably doesn’t get done until something doesn’t work cost about $400. And it was on Sunday. It was getting really cold. We couldn’t ignite it manually. It would ignite and immediately turn off. But we have a contract with a local company that provides the oil on a budget plan and service when we need it. And in the end, because we have a budget plan, we actually had prepaid for the service call.
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That sounds like a good plan, Marilyn.
Our furnace is on at the moment for the last shot of heat for the night. We have to turn off the thermostat when it’s done (comes up to temperature) so as not to burn out something else. We have it cleaned once a year for $150. tax included. That was done in September and everything was fine at that time. This is the second time the ignitor has gone on us. It only lasted two years. We’ll deal with it in the morning.
Leslie
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It’s gonna have to be a really big ship to accommodate all of us. At this point, I think I’d settle for a dinghy.
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A rowboat that doesn’t leak with a couple of oars?
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When the shipping line Maruchan declared bankruptcy earlier this year, there were several of their ships off the Port of LA, waiting to be unloaded. They are all still there, since the port won’t let them in until they pay their bills. Maybe one of them is your ship?
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It would be just my luck for my ship to be locked out of port due to bankruptcy. That would be just perfect.
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Mum always used to say “When our ship comes in we’ll do such and such.” I think our ship must be the slow boat to China sometimes but I’ll wave to as many ships as it takes. I do know what people mean when they say “Money can’t buy happiness.” but to suggest that we’re better off without the means to pay our bills, fix our houses and enjoy a few little comforts is downright ridiculous. I am sure you and Garry would still be happy if you had your house and garden all fixed.
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Me too. I also love the people who tell me that God will fix it. In my experience, God has never paid a bill or fixed a door frame, or repaved a driveway. Whatever He/She/They are doing, it’s more along the lines of “God helps those who help themselves.” I’m pretty sure we could could retain our happiness on a cruise ship as easily as here, watching our house slowly crumble around us.
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It’s also interesting that it is usually people who don’t have money worries that tell you these things.
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Your ship’s out there, probably along with mine, steaming in circles. You have a chance, being so close to the sea.., but me, I haven’t gotten close to a large body of water in decades. Now, if ships could traverse over sand.., that’d be a different story.
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Maybe for you it’s a caravan? Camels have been called “ships of the sea,” right? So maybe a caravan will show up at your door. That would get the neighbors talking, eh?
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Camels.., UGH! nasty creatures
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I was peed on once by a camel in the zoo… 🙂
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I don’t think that was the treasure, but who knows? Camels have odd ideas of value.
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The camel was very sneaky in doing it too…, swishing its tail in a seemingly contented way as I was pointing my camera at him. Then he casually peed into the swishing tail which was swinging in my direction. It was like he was swinging at a golf ball and the thing hit me in the head. Of course the first thing I got out of his way was the camera. Save that gear even if it KILLS you, right?
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Hey, I always figure I will heal, but the camera won’t. Garry was peed on by a gorilla on camera while doing a story. You are not alone 🙂
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Aaaah the old “Peed On” trick Chief! (Maxwell Smart voice).., would prefer to have missed it by “That Much” (still in character) 🙂
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I can nderstand that, Marilyn. I wouldn’t change much in my life… but a bank with something in it would be nice sometimes 🙂
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Often. Especially at a moment like this when I realize that the house is getting older and so are we.
I wouldn’t change much in my life … except how we handled money. That’s the thing both Garry and I should have done better. Too soon old, too late smart 🙂
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‘Should have’ …we all have then, but we didn’t. But then…you never know how that might have changed things, not always for the better.
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