Some months are just no good.

  They start off just fine. Things are going okay. Then something bad happens, and then something else, and before the month is over you’re thinking of throwing yourself off a bridge.

  Not really, but you get the idea.

  Last month was that kind of month for the Woodwards. It started with the water bill.

  “This bill seems pretty high,” my wife said.

  She was right. It was really high, as in two to three times the usual amount. We called the water company, which sent a plumber to check for leaks.

  This was hardly the first time we’ve had leaks at our house – leaks in the downstairs bathroom ceiling, a leak in the upstairs shower line, multiple leaks in the main line from the water meter to the house. The pipes that were being used when our subdivision was built are notorious for leaks. Virtually every house in the neighborhood has had them.

  We hadn’t noticed a leak this time around, though. No sagging ceilings, no damp walls, no pools or puddles. That’s because the leak, which the plumber found in no time, was in the crawl space. Luckily, the water was soaking into the ground rather than causing any damage. 

  The pipes, however, were another story. Some of the pipes, the plumber said, had come loose and were, figuratively speaking, hanging threads.

  “They aren’t leaking yet, but they will,” he said. “They need to be replaced.”

  While he was at it, he installed a device that automatically shuts off the water any time there’s a leak anywhere. A handy thing to have.

  Peace of mind wasn’t cheap, however. The total bill: $7,500.

  A lot of money. But with any luck maybe we wouldn’t have any more unusual expenses for a while.

  Right. As if it had read our thoughts, the washing machine went on strike. It had been make threatening sounds for some time, Threatening – and loud. Sort of like a cross between thunder and a car crash.

  The repairman said the washing machine’s drum had come loose. It would be almost as expensive to repair it as it would to buy a new one. He charged us $120 to recommend that we spring for a new one.

  The new one, with tax, was $700 and change.

  Not to be outdone, the dishwasher joined in the fun. One day it was working fine, the next it would’t drain.

  For the second time in a week, we called a repairman. The problem was diagnosed as a malfunctioning pump. The cost to replace it was roughly $450.

  Then, an unexpected piece of good luck. The dishwasher had a one-year warranty. And it had been 363 days since it was installed!

   This is not the way our luck usually runs. More typical would have been 366 days since it was installed. The warranty covered the new pump and installation completely.

  “Maybe our luck has changed!” I said hopefully. 

  It hadn’t. Next came the worst thing of all.

  I was reading a book in the living room when it happened. Our son, Mark, was in the kitchen doing some paperwork. It was quiet in the house, until we heard a sound that could only mean trouble. Somewhere between a thud and a crash.

  I thought one of the tall dressers in an upstairs bedroom might have fallen over.

  If only that’s all it had been. The sound was that of my wife,  falling. She had tripped at the top of the stairs and fallen all the way to the bottom. Her leg had caught on a sharp corner of the bannister board on the way down, resulting in a deep gash.

  I won’t describe it except to say it was bad enough that Mark and I almost passed out when we saw it. We wrapped it in a towel and called our older daughter, a paramedic, to help.

  The accident happened at about 8 p.m. We were in the emergency room until 3 a.m. The doctor was working on her virtually all of that time. Forty-six stitches.

 Fast forward to the present. It’s been over a month since the accident. She’s still being treated at the wound clinic twice a week, but is getting around pretty well and has a good attitude. The doctor says she’s on her way to making a full recovery, though she’s still attached to a device called a wound vacuum and will have one heck of a scar.

  Things could be worse, in other words. All of the things that went wrong can be fixed. And compared with more serious and unfixable problems that some people have, they’re insignificant. Looking at it that way, we’ve been lucky. 

  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to call the plumber again. A warning light is blinking on the water heater.

Tim Woodward’s column appears every other Sunday in The Idaho Press and is posted on woodwardblog.com the following Mondays. Contact him at woodwardcolumn@gmail.com.