Broken Stuff...and Riding

I'm not having too much luck with "stuff" these days. It's kind of starting to feel like everything around here is broken, needs fixing or is on it's last legs. I get that up-to-my-ears feeling again when I can't keep up with the breakage. The list is long and seems like I can't nibble it off. Case in point...
Over the weekend, my work schedule got confused so I wound up with an extra day off today. That's the good part. I figured the weather was going to be good so I'd try to get in a ride as soon as everybody left for school. Had a route figured out and was ready to roll just as soon as I put a little air in the bike tires. That's when the front tube blew right at the stem where I couldn't even patch it. Crap. I decided I'd run to my friendly local bike shop for a tube and gas up the car while I was out. Good plan except the shop was closed so I had to detour to the next closest purveyor of parts which happened to be another half-hour away. I was at their door when they opened, got the tube and headed for home figuring on a late start for my ride once I got the tire fixed. Another good plan except that when I got home, the washing machine had decided to give up on that spinning thing and the load of laundry I had going was in the tub still full of water. Grrrr....
Various efforts didn't get the thing working so it's haul the basket out to the clothesline and hang them up. Now to fix the tire...at least that went OK but by the time I got out the door, it was 11:30 instead of 8:30 and I'm burning daylight. I really didn't want to push hard this time but with time running shorter than planned, I had to burn pretty hard to get around my planned loop. I made it but was about done when I got home. 54 miles and two good climbs sort of took the edge off the frustration but didn't fix anything that was on my list.



So now I'm going to dig into the pile I tried to ride away from this morning. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet and buy another washing machine tomorrow. Gotta get front tires for the Malibu, change a tire tube on the 4500 mountain bike (that got a flat a couple days ago), try to get some shingles on the west side of 'Old Drafty' that blew off in the last storm, start cleaning up the yard, work on the Hog, get a hitch put on the van, etc., etc., etc., oh and by the way...somewhere in there I've got to go back to work. I have an ever-lengthening list started and I better try to shorten it a little. Guess I'll have to shoot for some overtime to pay for all this. It's a good thing the sun is finally shining.