Red is Positive, Black is Negative

As I've mentioned before, there's a little thing called Murphy's Law of Deployment.  It strikes again and again to family members of the military.  I've been pretty lucky so far and have not had too many issues with Mr. Murphy.  Regardless, I have been forced to learn a few things along the way about self-reliance and independence.

I'm not sure that this qualifies as Murphy's Law, but the battery in my husband's cherished and beloved Mustang keeps dying.  I suppose I can't blame this on Murphy at all because it is actually entirely my fault.  I haven't been starting it on a regular basis or even a semi-regular basis.  A couple of weeks ago I enlisted the help of one of my husband's fellow firefighters to jump start his car.  This would have worked fabulously if the plan didn't rely on me continuing to turn the key on his car.  I let the car run for 30 minutes, shut it off, and of course didn't attempt to start it again for pretty much a millenium.   Needless to say, the Mustang sits in our garage with an empty battery and low tire pressure.  I actually believe the tires may be molding into one particular shape because they haven't moved.  I'm a horrible car babysitter.

Today I decided I would be an independent and strong woman.  I would....gasp...try to jump start his car on my own!  Oh the horror! 

I pulled my car forward just narrowly escaping denting his bumper with mine.  It took me a good 15 minutes to find the lever on his hood.  Finally with both car hoods open, I stood proudly admiring my work so far. 

Now came the difficult part.

I opened the jumper cables, inspected the red and black clamps and promptly googled "how to jumpstart a car" on my iphone.  This was quite successful as there are several detailed instructions online.  I connected red to positive (+), black to negative (-), red to positive (+) on the Mustang, and stood there with the final black clamp. 

Connect to a unpainted piece of metal under the hood.

No problem.  I confidently clamped it around a metal piece.  Unfortunately, no one warned me that it would spark. 

Boy did it spark.

I jumped, screamed, retreated, unconnected everything, threw down both hoods, backed up my car, and ran inside.

Why is it that I have no problem defibrillating a human being, but cannot manage to charge a car battery?

Oh well, there's no shame in asking for help.

The Tale of the Toothless Dog

*For the purpose of this blog post, Libby will be referred to by her official name, "Liberty."  From across the world, my husband has informed me that I should be using our dog's complete name on my blog.  He does have a point.*

As soon as Liberty got off the truck from Alabama, I knew something was a little amiss.  Her doggy breath did not smell quite like typical doggy breath.  It was a little more like garbage.  Or a fish tank.  A dirty algae-laden fish tank.

I attributed the stench to the long transport and figured it would pass.  Unfortunately, it did not.  During our first veterinary visit, he immediately zeroed in on her breath.  He opened her mouth, showed us her rotting teeth, and pulled out a dangling one right there in the office.
 
Three days after adopting Ms. Liberty, we were faced with a large vet bill.  She needed her teeth cleaned under anesthesia and any necessary teeth would be extracted.  Sigh. 

I waited until after the hubby had left to take her in for the procedure.  In typical Murphy's Law of Deployment style, the whole thing turned into a much bigger deal. 

Liberty's Final Dental Procedure Count
- 7 pre-existing missing teeth
- 11 x-rays
- 19 teeth extracted, all with abscesses
- Home with pain medication and 2 weeks of antibiotics
- $$$$ = unmentionable

Photos of a Post-Operative Toothless Girl:

One week later, Liberty is back to normal.  Her crusty stick-up hair has been washed and she no longer reeks of surgery.  She has been running around, eating dry food, and giving lots of love, affection, and kisses.

Best of all, her breath no longer smells like algae.

Murphy's Law of Deployment

Everyone keeps telling me about this little phenomenon called the Murphy's Law of Deployment.  In essence, everything in your life spontaneously combusts as soon as your spouse deploys overseas.  I've heard stories about flooded basements, broken heating systems, rodent invasions, flat tires, sick children, pet emergencies, chimney fires, and so on.  I figure this is the one benefit to renting - I always have a landlord to call about anything regarding the apartment.  I keep joking that since I rent, all the karma will probably just shift over to my car.

Well, Murphy was listening AND listening early.

My car is now at the dealership after it began making an EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE sound every time I stepped on the accelerator.  Turns out, this isn't good.  Actually, it's really really bad.

Recommendation: Don't buy a car with turbo.  It will inevitably break and it's nauseatingly expensive to replace.

I'm not sure whether to take this as a good sign or a bad sign. If I was thinking positively, I would say that this major car failure snuck itself in right before my husband left.  Phew.  Murphy (whoever he/she may be) decided to do me the favor of having this occur while he was still home.

The negative view would be that this is just a small taste of what's yet to come.

Please pray for me.