Odd October

My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience. James 1:2-3 NCV

There were a lot of storms in October. Leaks sprung in the walls, two windows of the house, and my car trunk. The backseat of the car had to be removed and a large, bright blue tarp covered my auto. It stayed that way for quite some time.

The phone was out all month. I don't know if that was weather related.

I lost a tax bill, but couldn't call about it or drive to the courthouse to resolve the issue.

My dryer died.

The month progressed this way.

Lightning struck the network cable and fried the computers. I think that was the 30th. On the last day of the month, the T.V. made a loud POP and an acrid, electrical burning smell filled the house. Normally this would upset me, but I simply got up and went to finish cleaning the kitchen.

Then I discovered that the deep freezer had been off for three days.

After that one of the boys told me about the leaky toilet, so we spent some time tearing up the new flooring and disposing of it since it was ruined.

A little after 11:00 p.m. all was quiet except for a drip, drip, dripping. It was not raining. The fridge had decided to start defrosting and produced incredible amounts of water. There was water under the kitchen cabinets. Water had seeped through the wall and puddled in the utility room behind the dryer.

At 11:45 or so we heard an animal getting into the trash. My son put on his shoes and got a flashlight. Remembering the skunk that lurked nearby in the woods I said, "Let's wait fifteen minutes--until October's over."