The water broke...and my wife's obsession with dead people

I didn't think that the second repair of the year would arrive so soon. It came this morning, like the Spanish Inquisition.* I went out into the garage for a snow shovel...because...I had a hankering for some quality shovel time before I left for work. I never left for work. I didn't make it to the shovel. Instead of the usual warm tranquility of the garage, I was met by a water heater spilling its guts like a petty criminal accused of a major crime being grilled under hot lights by a bad cop with a taser and a sock full of sand.

The entire plan for the day changed. The snow could wait (which sounds like the name of an interesting short story--this isn't it). New plan. Step one: make it stop--turn off the water and power. Step two: clean it up. Step three: drain the beast (and shovel snow). Step four: find and acquire a new unit--none were to be had in town; I had to expand the search area. Step five: Remove the offender. Step six: dry the premises. Step seven: Install the new recruit, and add water and power.

I left out the part about crying because I knew how much a new water heater would cost; and the crying again when the only one I could find that would fit cost even more than I expected.

Fortunately, Wife was available to help with the parts that required three or more hands. She did disturb me at one point by coming into the garage and announcing that she had found a date, several in fact. I hadn't even realized that she was looking. After all, we just went out last week to see The Last Jedi. If she'd have asked, I'd have been willing to go out again. But I know sometimes she gets spam emails or internet ads from dating service sites. Had she answered one? Before I could ask, she told me that she had found the dates of birth and death for some children or stepchildren of one of her ancestors. Family history is great, but can it be a dangerous addiction? Can this obsession with dead people really be healthy? Actually, I'm really glad she's doing it. I think she says stuff like that just to give me something to write about.

I hated having to replace the water heater. I had things that I needed to do at the office. I had planned an entirely different blog entry for today with some cool pictures from This Man Is Dangerous and some interesting fiction to go along with the pictures. But, the successful completion of a home repair project, no matter how minor, always make me feel like this:

That's right. Like I've just slain Hector and dragged him around the field. I just have to remember that Achilles' eventually took an arrow in the heel. Speaking of which, I have some absolutely fascinating observations about The Iliad...but I'll not go into them now. I'll do the same with my somewhat less fascinating observations about The Last Jedi.

*No one expects the...