Ever pull the Tower card?
There’s a quote I came up with that will be my motto for this year, “The goal is to succeed even if you fail along the way.” I used it in my last post about preparing things for the new year.
And it was put to the test this holiday season as the Tower ran amuck, like right out of a drama.
Frozen pipes? They made an appearance. My husband went to wrap some things up in the shop before we left in the morning for Christmas travels. He went to use the sink to wash his hands and the knob broke off. The whole line was frozen solid. The fuel in the backup generator was freezing as well. Apparently diesel additive only keeps it fluid down to 0 degrees F; it’s pretty useless at -9 degrees F. Based on these omens, it was decided to postpone traveling and stay to make sure the rest of the pipes didn’t freeze, and so a solution for the generator could be found. Good thing too because the diesel in the cars was thickening, and a lot of places were without power where we were going.
Wildfire? Got that too. With extra drama. My husband’s friend and brother were visiting when a fire broke out across the street from us. I raced to open the shop side gates while my husband fired up his tractor. But of course one of the locks froze up. Even smashing it with a cinder block didn’t help. Strike one.
We went around to the front gate where the cars were kept, only to find the brother’s truck parked directly in front of it in the driveway. Strike two.
The third and final gate was tried, at the end of our property where the fruit trees grow. Finally success. He rumbled over to the neighbors while I followed behind with a shovel. The fire department arrived shortly after and it was put out before any real damage was done.
Burglary? By golly, can’t leave that out. Someone pulled off our back pasture gate while we were away the day before New Year’s while no one was home. Fortunately the dogs were up to par and chased the person away. They didn’t even get to step one foot on the property. How do I know this? It was all caught on camera (if you don’t use cameras for your place, I highly recommend it. I’ll write a post about that later).
And what about an appliance tanking? Wouldn’t be jolly without our main freezer not closing properly for a day, causing the coils and drain to freeze up. We unloaded all the food from the fridge and freezer for the system to thaw, then put it all back together again. It’s a blessing to have secondary freezers and mini-fridges.
But the moral of this post is not to drown you in woes. It is to remind you to always look on the bright side and persevere. No other pipes froze and a fix was found for the generator; the fire didn’t dangerously spread; our dogs saved the day; and none of the food was spoiled. Plus I got a ton of work done over the holidays, and wrapped up my first pass of edits to my cat poetry sequel. Now to complete the second and third passes, then it’s off to my editor. And I have some other projects stewing as well: some writing, some work-related, and some yet-to-be-revealed.
There is Sun even if the Tower is present. Don’t get bogged down with your failures to the point that you give up. That’s the ultimate failure, because you never know if that one last step, that one final push would have been the tipping point and set you on your course.
May this new year start with Sun for you.
And by the way, the kitties slept through it all like it was nothing. They were in the warm house, oblivious to any danger or disaster. Elsa and Socks send their greetings for a Happy New Year, as every year has been a great year for them.