Going through the motions

I'm blogging just to be blogging this afternoon because I can't get motivated to do much of anything.
It's 70 degrees and drizzling and the weather radar shows a rather substantial thunderstorm headed this way. It'll probably be here within the hour, so this won't be a protracted screed. I always shut down the computers when there's lightning about.
I won a $2,100 judgment yesterday against a former tenant in the house I inherited from my parents, so I should be joyous. But I have a feeling she's going to resist paying and I'll have to go to court again to garnish her wages.
The short version is that I left my mom's old washer and dryer in the basement of the house because I had nowhere else to put them and figured the tenant might have a use for them. The were not used as an inducement to rent and there was nothing in the lease to require me to maintain them.
A 100-year rain hit late last June, putting an unprecedented two feet of water into the basement and killing the washer, dryer and water heater. I replaced the water heater, but told the tenant I couldn't afford to fix or replace the washer and dryer and pointed out there was nothing in the lease that obliged me to do so. Even so, I felt sorry for her and, after determining from an area newspaper that a good used washer-dryer combo could be found for $200 or less, I offered her a one-time $250 (I threw in another $50 for transportation and hookup) discount on her rent so she could buy the appliances for herself. I told her I didn't need to see a receipt - if she found a set for $1, she could keep the remainder and the appliances would belong to her.
Her response was to sue me in small claims court, seeking the maximum of $3,000 in damages. She said she didn't want to own/be responsible for a washer and dryer.
When we appeared in court, I summarized my defense with, "Your honor, I'm being sued because I offered this woman a free washer and dryer."
His ruling a month later, in essence, told her to take my offer and move on.
Unfortunately, 10 days after our day in court, she secretly bailed out of the house, giving the keys to a couple she hoped would be my next tenants. I learned she was gone when I got a call from the prospective new tenants inquiring about my vacant rental property. They were a bad financial risk and it wasn't until three months later that I got a suitable tenant in the house and got the cash flowing in the right direction again.
I sued the first tenant for lost rent and expenses last week and recovered most of what she had cost me.
I'm sure she went apoplectic when she got the judge's order in the mail this week. At least I hope she did. Her refusal to accept a $250 asset turned into a $2,100 liability.
Her payment will go into our vacation fund and I plan to send her a postcard from some glamour destination thanking her for enhancing our leisure time.
But as I said, I fully expect to have to fight to get her to pay up and that takes a lot of the pleasure out of winning in court.
And, my wife's ex is now three weeks behind in his child support payments.
Yeah, I know that's no big deal considering how many dirtbags never pay any of the child support they owe. It just pisses me off to be taken advantage of.