Friday the 13th Musings — February & March Edition
It’s the first Friday the 13th of 2026. The month is February. So far it’s been quiet and no major issues. This is the first of three Friday the 13ths this year, which makes it a very special year — or at least a very interesting one.
February
The universe behaved.
The cats behaved.
Even the weather behaved.
Suspicious, in hindsight.
And then, on February 23rd, Mother Nature apparently remembered she had a reputation to uphold. She dumped a heavy, wet, back‑breaking load of snow on New England and buried us all. A Friday‑the‑13th vibe… just arriving fashionably late.
March
March didn’t bother with subtlety. It wasn’t even Friday the 13th yet when I woke up to no service on my cell phone. I’d been hacked. Again. These things happen — I shared the whole sad tale in my March 11 post — but apparently March was just laying the groundwork.
Then came Thursday, March 12, when the cats decided to contribute their own brand of “help.”
Banner makes his get away
First, Banner strolled over and hit the delete key at the exact, precise, worst possible moment of a data transfer. I took that as a sign to step away and wait for a quieter, cat‑free moment.
He claims he was framed.
But Balboa had other plans. He emerged from his afternoon nap full of energy and mischief, and in short order he destroyed four — or was it five — mice.
Not the fuzzy, long‑tailed kind.
The kind I actually need to use with my computer.
By the time he was done, I had a small graveyard of plastic mouse parts and one very proud panther‑cat.
Friday the 13th
And then came the big day.
Friday the 13th started quietly enough. We even managed to wrestle Instagram into submission — successfully, I might add — which should have been my first clue that the universe was saving its energy for something else.
Feeling productive, I decided to make a quick grocery run. Lasagna was on the menu for Saturday, and I
needed ricotta cheese. While I was there, I grabbed a couple of small extras. Total bill: $19.00.
Until my card was declined.
I had checked my balance before leaving the house. Plenty of money. No reason for drama. Yet there I was, standing at the Hannaford checkout with a perfectly good grocery order and a very uncooperative debit card.
Since I had to drive right past the bank on my way home, I stopped in. And that’s where the real Friday‑the‑13th twist revealed itself:
the bank had accidentally printed — or attempted to print — two replacement cards when mine was hacked. So they canceled the one I was using. The one in my wallet. The one I had just tried to use to buy ricotta.
Which means, of course, that I now get to go through all my auto‑payments and update the card number… again.
Two Down, One to Go
So that’s February and March. A quiet start, a snow ambush, a hacked phone, feline sabotage, and a bank‑card fiasco — all before we even reach the halfway point of this “special” year.
We’ll see what November brings.
Stay tuned… the calendar isn’t done with us yet.
A Shadowed Reputation
