Last year we went all winter without working heat. No real problem, I mean really it is Florida, and I'm from upstate New York - I know how to layer! But this year? We had it. We had it made! I got cold, I cranked the heat. Of course the warnings of my ancient heating guy went unheeded…
“This is only a temporary fix, you know,” he said his voice shaking as much as his hands were.
“Uh-huh,” I replied standing over his shoulder. “Temporary. Got it.” I’ve got a MacGyver for a AC/Heat repairman I thought to myself. MacGyver stopped a bomb with a hockey ticket, surely this man in front of me could easily get my heat operational again.
“You need a whole new system,” he said kneeing on the floor before the furnace.
“Sure. New system. How much is this going to cost?”
“I can patch it up for about four.”
“Four hundred? Ok. Not a problem.” I cheered inside knowing I was getting off cheap!
“But you really do need a new system. This one is original to the house…probably older than you.”
“Got it.”
I paid my bill, he ambled out the door and I revealed all summer in the frigid artic air blowing from my vents. Then came November…we turned the heat on a few times in the morning to take the chill out. Glorious. Luxurious.
December came and with is a cold snap that had us running the heat nearly non-stop. That eased into January. The cold snap became freeze warning after freeze warning and I took it all in stride. I had heat! No problems here!
Then, I got cocky about it.
Second week of January I was picking Cyra up from a sleep over and the topic of the cold snap came up. I bragged and crowed about my MacGyver repairman who gave me heat and how wonderful it was to just crank up the temperature.
The next morning I went to turn the heat up a bit to get the chill out of the air… there wasn’t any satisfying “click,” nor a delightful “whoosh” of warmth. There was just silence. Silence as vast and empty as I imagine Antarctica to be.
Scott and I fussed at the heater for a few minutes, we played with the fuses, we opened the door and glared at the unit...nothing seemed to work.
“It’s my fault,” I said pitifully, my breath puffing white while my nose, toes and fingers froze.
“How is it your fault?” He asked.
“I bragged about having heat this year!”
“Well,” he said.
Without further comment, we both walked into the bedroom and began pulling on more clothes, pulling out the electric blankets mom gave us last year and shaking our head at the cruel twist of Karma. With no money to invest in a new AC/Heat system, right now, we decided to just do as we did last year...only problem last year wasn't nearly as cold!
What does no heat have to do with my dreams of my Iditarod Team?
Junie will never survive being my lead dog.
“This is only a temporary fix, you know,” he said his voice shaking as much as his hands were.
“Uh-huh,” I replied standing over his shoulder. “Temporary. Got it.” I’ve got a MacGyver for a AC/Heat repairman I thought to myself. MacGyver stopped a bomb with a hockey ticket, surely this man in front of me could easily get my heat operational again.
“You need a whole new system,” he said kneeing on the floor before the furnace.
“Sure. New system. How much is this going to cost?”
“I can patch it up for about four.”
“Four hundred? Ok. Not a problem.” I cheered inside knowing I was getting off cheap!
“But you really do need a new system. This one is original to the house…probably older than you.”
“Got it.”
I paid my bill, he ambled out the door and I revealed all summer in the frigid artic air blowing from my vents. Then came November…we turned the heat on a few times in the morning to take the chill out. Glorious. Luxurious.
December came and with is a cold snap that had us running the heat nearly non-stop. That eased into January. The cold snap became freeze warning after freeze warning and I took it all in stride. I had heat! No problems here!
Then, I got cocky about it.
Second week of January I was picking Cyra up from a sleep over and the topic of the cold snap came up. I bragged and crowed about my MacGyver repairman who gave me heat and how wonderful it was to just crank up the temperature.
The next morning I went to turn the heat up a bit to get the chill out of the air… there wasn’t any satisfying “click,” nor a delightful “whoosh” of warmth. There was just silence. Silence as vast and empty as I imagine Antarctica to be.
Scott and I fussed at the heater for a few minutes, we played with the fuses, we opened the door and glared at the unit...nothing seemed to work.
“It’s my fault,” I said pitifully, my breath puffing white while my nose, toes and fingers froze.
“How is it your fault?” He asked.
“I bragged about having heat this year!”
“Well,” he said.
Without further comment, we both walked into the bedroom and began pulling on more clothes, pulling out the electric blankets mom gave us last year and shaking our head at the cruel twist of Karma. With no money to invest in a new AC/Heat system, right now, we decided to just do as we did last year...only problem last year wasn't nearly as cold!
What does no heat have to do with my dreams of my Iditarod Team?
Junie will never survive being my lead dog.
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