Saturday morning-note on bathroom mirror:
"The floor feels wet, I think the toilet is leaking".
Sure enough, when the first plumber came last spring and pulled it to run his auger because there wasn't a clean-out in the front yard, he put it back down the first time and it still didn't flush right, so he pulled it a 2nd time and found the tree roots that had dropped out of his auger. Sadly, when he put it back down, he didn't use a new wax ring, because he had just put a new one down. That night the toilet "wiggled" so I tightened the bolts and thought all was fine.
Apparently not...
The underlayment was already screwed up and the tile was as well from the other times it had overflowed. I was planning to replace them this spring and had started looking at tile...guess that got moved up in the priority list, though at least for now a new wax ring seems to have solved the problem.
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Sunday morning- note on mirror:
"The furnace smells like exhaust".
Years ago when I replaced the original Winkler "closet furnace" because I couldn't weld up the liner in it that kept splitting open anymore, I put in a Sears "wall furnace", as the house didn't have central heat and air and I had two new window unit air-conditioners and didn't plan to be here the next time it needed work.
To put a 50,000 btu furnace in a foot square 7 foot tall box, the burner liner in it narrows down very quickly at the top, and when it was about 5 years old it did this same thing. Turns out that it tends to carbon up the inside as it necks down for the flue. That time Sears came out, charged me over $100 to clean and check it because they had to do that first, then sent someone else out for another $80 to hitch a vacuum hose to it, string it out to something that looked like a parking lot sweeper truck, and vacuum it out.
Ever since I've cleaned it out myself every other year by running an old piece of steel cable up inside it and beating on the outside of the liner with a rubber hammer.
Sunday I went and bought a "flue brush" thinking it would be easier, got as much stuff out of it as I usually do, and all seemed fine.
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Monday's note on mirror:
"It's going to be 50 today and you said you need to change the oil in your truck".
Yep, found out last week that I had used the last of my free oil changes from the dealer, so it was time to change it over to Mobil 1.
Did that and was getting ready to rotate the tires on it when some kind of commotion started across the street, and someone's brother I don't really want knowing what exactly I have in my garage showed up, so I pulled the door down until things settled down. Of course it was almost dark...I finished what I needed to do, put new "winter blades" on and put things away just in time for Dottie to come home, so I put new "winter blades" on her Malibu as well. (I love not having to knock the ice out of the tensioner arms all winter long...try a set, you'll love them unless you drive over 80 in the winter time!)
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Tuesday...
Dottie was off...we went to "Australia".
One helluva good movie!
"Famous Dave's" had a sign out for a Tuesday special and it was too good to pass up, so we picked that up and eased our way home in the snow and ice, then settled in and watched "In Bruges". An odd, dark, unsettling comedy I guess I would describe it. A beautiful place, though!
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This morning's note:
"The furnace still smells like exhaust".
So I just cranked it up to 80 to get it warm enough in here to shut it down for a few hours as it's only 20 degrees outside. Instead of just using the flue brush this time I'm going back to my old tools and try again...if that doesn't work I guess I'm going to try to call someone and figure out how to get one of those trucks out here again without having to pay Sears for the service call first. Being stupid, I didn't write down the name on the side of the first one...
I haven't managed to make it downstairs to my little gym in a week!
And I thought retirement would be "living the life of Riley"...
Guess I hadn't counted on "Murphy"!
Having been a Navy helicopter mechanic, I should know better!
May the rest of your week be kind!
alan
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7 comments:
:-)
Sears repair policies need some repair work, I think.
Glad you had one day of fun, at least.
Hope tomorrow is post-it free!
Oof. Maybe one day you will find a note that says, "The sofa is cold. Please sit down and put your feet up."
In Bruges sounds right up my alley. I should check it out.
you two give me hope for marriage!
it a good job you are 'retired', you'd never fit all that in if you were working.
Hmm...I think I need to try this note on mirror thing.
Happy Holidays!
One thing we have in Minnesota is Service Plus through out Gas company
for a very low monthly fee they come out and service most of our major appliances..Furnace is covered and
we have used it often so it has more then paid for itself.
A couple years ago we got a new furnace, but before it was installed our old furnace went kaplooey.
It was freezing out side,
Service plus came within the hour they had to order the part and they brought us a couple heaters to use until they came the next day to repair it
No charge..
I don't know if you have anything like that but believe me it is worth the extra 10 to 15 bucks a month.
May the rest of your Holidays go smoother...
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Wow, sounds like you should be getting paid for all the hard work. I had to laugh at Rysee' comment. That never would have happened at my house because Earl was always keeping the couch warm himself.
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