random thoughts – Day 1,737 – (Wednesday) – effity-eff

This week has delivered another exciting installment of “What in the Actual Effi-ty-Eff?” Apparently, major employment uncertainty isn’t enough. Note: several of my friends and colleagues are also going through some extra effity-eff stuff. Tis the season for f*ckery? C'mon Universe, could we catch a break, please?

Anyway.

Slipping out of bed this morning, the room felt chilly. This has happened before, but rarely and due to power outages. The house was quiet. The lights worked, so power loss was not a factor. Downstairs, the thermostat read 58 degrees, providing confirmation that the house was, indeed, chillier than the usual morning automated setting of 68.

After dressing, an amateur investigation began. The gas stove worked and there was hot water, so a gas service problem was ruled out. The basement dwelling metal box furnace has no indicator lights or signals or dials to provide any clues. 

Periodic postcard mailers arrive from various home service firms and are set in a folder called “Home Repairs.” One from the heating and cooling company that installed my hot water tank a few years ago was retrieved.

At 7:00, a call to the heating and cooling company involved a question and answer session with an automated voice that used my name waaaay too much. Like every sentence. I don’t like my name. I especially don’t like hearing it in every sentence in a single call. 

At 8:00, I called the company again hoping to reach a human to determine if I could expect a tech visit today or if I should head to the office as planned and worry about it from afar all day. The news was good. A tech would arrive within the hour. The day's dental appointment, made months ago, was rescheduled to the nearest available slot. In March.

The technician arrived, listened to the day’s symptoms and the normal process, and started exploring the innards of the metal box. I returned to my own work. Before long, there was an update. Some motor- part wasn’t doing its motoring thing. A condensation line has dripped water into the furnace. There is rust. There is collected water. There is “biological matter” in the unit.

The service tech returned to the basement and got busy on his phone. He called at least five parts suppliers looking for the parts needed to repair the 20-year old unit. No parts could be found. By the time he asked me to come downstairs again, I had a pretty good feel for the direction things were headed. The parts to repair the furnace seem to be extinct. The next step was a visit from a “comfort specialist” for an estimate on a new furnace.

The service tech left. The comfort specialist arrived shortly thereafter. He checked out the system and took video with his phone. I headed upstairs to a Zoom meeting while he did his thing. After a while, he came upstairs with two estimates – one for just a furnace (8,000 effing dollars), and one for replacing both the heating and cooling components for more than twice that. Gulp. The immediate heating problem is being addressed and I'm hoping the A/C holds out for a while longer. Or I remember to buy a ticket and win the lottery.

Tomorrow morning, a new furnace is scheduled to arrive “first thing.” In the meantime, the comfort specialist left two portable heaters to provide temporary relief.

High noon from the garage roof.

By 11:45, I was leaving for the office-office for the rest of the day. The original plan had been to work in the morning in the office and go to the dentist for a cracked filling replacement in the afternoon, but the plan was modified due to the furnace situation. Arriving at the garage at midday, I ended up parking on the roof. One elevator is out of service and the other is as slow as cold molasses, but at least the views from up there are interesting.

The funny part, if there is one, is that the office, which is often chilly and inexplicably stuck on the cool setting, was running on the heat setting today and it was warm. High 70s warm. I was mostly okay with it after being cold all morning, but the rest of the team seemed to be wilting from it.

Supper and a heater.

After work, the house was still holding steady at 58 degrees. Supper of a leftover assemblage of boxed stuffing and leftover scrambled meat was nuked and eaten in the living room. The evening's unusual dining companion was a portable heater. There was no conversation, just some crazy clicking and ticking noises that eventually subsided. 

Random fact -- a year ago today, The BungaLowell had a power failure that lasted all afternoon and into the night. The stockpile of candles and flashlights was called into service. Holiday chocolate melting was done with a double boiler on the gas stove flame and surrounded by the glow of pillar candles and an LED lantern. It felt like an adventure, mostly because I was sure it would be temporary.

Tonight, I sit in the living room near a portable heater, a blanket and laptop in my lap as I type words. Netflix is playing Married at First Sight, mostly for the background noise and because it doesn't require my attention or any additional money. Fun times.