It was one of those days when things seemed to be conspiring to bring me down.

• Abby was home sick again, after what seemed like a very nice recovery the last two days from last week’s difficult arthritic flare.

  

• After putting too much sanitizer on my hands, I tried to shake off the excess into the steel sink in my office (once a darkroom sink). My red-tailed lizard ring flew off and landed in the sink and broke.
• While gassing up my car, I stepped in some diesel fuel and smelled like it for the rest of the afternoon.
• When I got home, the house smelled like something was on fire. Further investigation revealed the furnace wasn’t working. The furnace guy came out an told me what I already suspected based on the increasing mooing and growling when the heat comes on: we need a new furnace.

But it can’t be all that bad, since I simply won’t let it.

• I shot well, both my lame assignments like press conferences and group photos, and the fun stuff like kid features and ball games.
• All the other many mechanical or electrical items in my life seem to be operating smoothly.
• Despite her puniness, Abby is still lovely and still loves me.
• I brought a space heater (the oil-filled kind) in from the RV, so between it, the space heater in the living room, and the propane wall heaters in the bathrooms, the house isn’t all that cold, so the weekend we have to wait for the new furnace won’t be insufferable.