Tag Archives: new furnace

Dammit–

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Jack gets in over the wire again in time – –

The latest member of the household is beginning to make a nuisance of himself. When ‘Wee Dammit’ first arrived, he lived in our guest room before getting a full medical examination to be sure he was safe around other cats. When he got the all-clear, we left the door open, but he was very reluctant to come down to join us. After all, we had kidnapped him from his happy street life….

That has all changed now. We can’t get him to leave us alone. Which is funny, because at first, he only would interact with us when we were lying flat, in bed. That’s how he learned to get along with Wendy the first week he was in the house; she slept upstairs to socialize him, and he grew accustomed to playing with her feet. When she stood up, he would dive for the nearest dark corner.

So when he first came down, he just slunk around, staying away from all of us and hiding in corners.

Then he discovered Bruce!

With two female cats in the house what’s a guy going to do? He wants to play with the other guy, but the other guy is a dog and is BIG. So wee Dammit runs around the house now trying to play tag with Bruce! He runs back and forward, tapping Bruce’s tail and paws, but Bruce is the most laid back dog on the planet and can’t be bothered. He’s very patient and gives Dammit a weary look now and again—just before Dammit bops him on the nose.

So now Dammit finds Wendy’s balls of yarn and carries them all around the house as though they were captured mice. Eventually I find them, soggy with saliva (we hope), and return them to their original place.

But I can hear you asking – why is he called Dammit? A few months ago Wendy was heading to the store and saw a small kitten wandering around an intersection. She happened to have a cat carrier in the car (well, of course) but couldn’t get it in. She came home and got a can of cat food. While he was eating she snatched him up and said, “Dammit, get in the car.”

We had agreed to not have any more cats for a while, so when she brought in another one I said, “DAMMIT.”

And she said, “I totally agree.”

When I took him to the animal clinic to get checked over they asked what his name was – – –

Come back next Wednesday for more from Jack

Life Is A Gas–

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Jack gets in over the wire again in time – –

A few weeks ago in a previous post I mentioned that our gas furnace had stopped working. A very nice and obviously competent young engineer got it working, but a week later it stopped again, so he came back, carried out a more ‘in depth’ inspection and got it working again. At that point he suggested, in the tones of a cheerful funeral conductor, that time until we would be calling again might not be long; would we like to talk parts or full replacement?

We moved here over four years ago, and I always assumed that the furnace was fairly new. But it seems I was wrong; it’s probably over twenty years old and nearing the point where other things could need fixing. So we faced the same dilemma everyone does from time to time: soldier on with repairs to the existing unit or bite the bullet and have it replaced with a new one.

Enter our second engineer, who carried out another inspection, which happily revealed that the duct work throughout our (very old) house was fine, and so was the air conditioning unit. So we would only need a new furnace, and there was easy access to the basement. He also petted our cats, commented on the wine fermenting and the canning going on in the kitchen, all the stuff.

Were we being softened up? No, because as it turns out, we mentioned something about using their company once before, perhaps three years ago, and not being entirely comfortable with the condescension of the person who came.

“Oh, yeah,” said our new friend, Will. “That’s the guy who doesn’t work for us anymore. He was infamous.”

The company had apparently learned its lesson, as the two lads who came this time were excellent communicators throughout and explained things thoroughly without trying to ‘hard sell’ us a new unit. They both sat with us and patiently went through the pros and cons of our decision, one way or the other.

The decision, in the end, is personal to us. Everyone has to make their own decision in these moments, but we are confident we got all the advice we needed to make the right one.

Speaking of advice, I bless the fact that Wendy nag– er– persuaded me we should install a log stove three years ago. Until now it has been an occasional luxury. Right now it’s our main source of heat and working well…

…and the engineers complimented us on our cozy home, leaving their warmth as well.

Come back next Wednesday for more from Jack