It’s been a strange day, to say the least.

It started quietly enough, but around noon, I received an email from the office administrator of our neighborhood’s HOA, in which she stated that she had quit the day before. Her reasons for quitting were two, and named- two men who sit on the board were specified as the reason for her removal/

I’ve had my frustrations with the board and with the mystery of our ostentatious- and rising- HOA fees. I’d been challenged by the office administrator a time or two in the past for late payments or neighborhood offenses that seemed poorly grounded and tacky, but I felt she was doing her job. My main beef was with the policies of the HOA, that seemed to feed the pockets of officers and not benefit the neighborhood. If had realized what I was getting into with the HOA back when I bought the home, I might not done it, but it was my first home, and I was naive about it.

The two men in question were elected to the board back in February, and I met them when they were going door to door introducing themselves. They were young and idealistic and adamant about wanting to lower HOA fees while preserving the quality of the neighborhood. I thought they were nice enough. And, I didn’t vote for them, because I didn’t vote in the election.

The office administrator wanted the alleged violations of the two newbies known before she left, I guess, and some of the accusations were concerning if they were true- the most troubling being alleged cronyism, rules violations by officers, and prejudice in the invitation of people to board and executive meetings for decision-making. The list she gave was fairly long as well.

My main concern, naturally, is safety and peace within the neighborhood, and the preservation and improvement of home values. I have anxieties about a good ole boys club trying to take the neighborhood over for their pleasure and gain.

I emailed a neighbor and long-time trusted friend about it, sharing my concern. With wisdom, he suggested we both attend upcoming HOA meetings.

After work, I was grateful to meet my folks for dinner.

I then came home to the furnace and languished on the couch while the Cubs lost to the Miami Marlins and I tried (and wanted) to sleep.

Around 8:15, I finally did something useful and went out in the garage and continued my auto repair journey. Tonight, with more YouTube guidance, I removed the bulbs in my trucks headlamps and replaced them with a few I ordered online. The low beams in both bulbs were out, and had probably been out for a year or more, so I had been driving around on high beams which must have made me a lot of friends.

The process involved unplugging a plug cord from the back of the bulb, removing a covering cone of plastic that sat over the seated bulb, pulling back a wire clip that kept the bulb tight against its seat, and then pulling out the old bulb and putting the new in, replacing the clip, replacing the cone, and then plugging the bulb in.

To my excitement, replacing the bulbs fixed the problem. My low beams were back, and it didn’t take me five tries to put the structures back together. I also did not electrocute myself or blow the battery up disconnecting the battery.

I count that as a massive victory on this uncomfortable day.

I have to tackle the air conditioning issue soon, as Albuquerque has seen 4 or 5 straight days of 100 degree temps or more.

Today was another long slow burner.