"Colorado Bill and the Fortnight of Doom"

I'm at the stage of life where things are pretty "steady"...mostly "ups", very few "downs...not a lot of surprises (except for pleasant ones).
That being said, I was not prepared for the string of bad luck in the two weeks preceding the 38th Summer Picnic (more on that in the next post).
First, I took in the Escape for my regular $50.00 oil change (I always use Mobil One). Two "fluid changes" and a brake job later, my bill was almost $1000.00. I did not budget for that!
Next, there was the radio "crash". I've got one of those sophisticated sound systems from Pioneer in the Escape...controls my satellite radio and iPod, runs navigation, takes "voice commands", etc. While the Escape was in for maintenance, the battery was apparently disconnected for some period of time. No problem for a regular car stereo, but bad news for the Pioneer system. The Pioneer runs on a very sophisticated software platform...and...when it loses power, the software is lost or "scrambled". So...two weeks before the big trip out West, I have an inoperative car stereo. I take it back to the dealer, "CarTunes", and they give me the bad news...the unit has to be shipped to Pioneer in California for repair and the normal repair time is 8-10 weeks. OK...I can't leave on a 6000 mile trip with no music or news. So...I've got to buy a new radio...a "cheapie" ($200.00 including installation)...another "unanticipated expense".
Next, I connect the electrical harnesses on the Escape/Little Guy Camper and find that I have no running lights, brake lights, or turn signals. So...I take them both in to my car maintenance shop, Mufflers and More, here locally on the Thursday before "Picnic Week". The problem is in the harness of the Escape...no problem...they'll have a new harness installed the next day. But the next day, I get the bad news around 5:00PM...their supplier delivered the wrong harness, so they can't have the thing fixed until Monday. OK...Monday comes and more bad news...their supplier has delivered the wrong harness for a second time...now we're looking at Thursday (?!?!) as the fix date. Finally, at around 6:30PM on Thursday, they finally return my Escape/Little Guy. And, as a courtesy, they even back the Little Guy into my garage...a job that took me over twenty minutes when I tried it.
But wait...there's more! One week before the Picnic, my air conditioning and the two main toilets in the house stop working. So...on the Tuesday of "Picnic Week", I've got one guy down in the basement tearing apart the furnace/AC system, and another guy tearing apart the toilets upstairs and in the Powder Room. The tab?...$100.00 to fix the toilets and $200.00 to get the AC working...more unanticipated expenses.
And last, but not least, my estimated "count" for the Picnic...taken the Monday before...looks to be off 75%(!!!) from a year ago. As you'll see from the next post, the actual turnout was considerably higher...whew!
Still...I was never so glad as this two week period (or, "fortnight") finally came to an end.