Friday, June 27, 2008

Strangling the muse

How often do you have your day planned and then have a monkey wrench thrown into the gears?

I had planned to do some heavy duty writing today. I really want to get my next wolfie finished. Then, I discovered I had no hot water. Now there was a distinct possiblility that I'd run our of heating oil. ('We have baseboard hot water heat.) (We also have a 1000 gallon tank buried in the backyard with no oil gague so I have no idea how much oil is in it.) I called my regular service but they couldn't deliver before Monday because they only had one delivery person today --- in Williamsport only. So I found the phone book and started calling. First two - no answer. Third, no guarantee of delivery today. Fourth, I got a very nice man who now has my business because his oil was only $4.27.9 a gallon. (ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Anyway, oil truck comes - I still have over 400 gallons of oil. ( I got 150 gallons anyway because who knows how much it will cost once the weather starts turning cold.)

This means there's something wrong with the furnace. So, I called that nice man back only he was in a meeting. The woman I talked to was also nice and said she'd either call me back or have their repairman call me. That was at noon.

Two o'clock, no phone call. So, I called them back. The woman answered but gave the phone to the nice man who was back from his meeting. He promised to have a man out today. Five minutes later, he called back to let me know the repairmans' schedule so I wouln't get worried when he didn't show up right away.

I'm prettey sure the furnace will be fixed, but, damn, the hassle threw a bucket of cold water on my muse.

Don't you just love a day like this?

7 comments:

Karen McCullough said...

Sorry about all the hassles, but I know exactly how you feel. Yesterday was like that for me. I had an afternoon free. I planned to run a couple of quick errands then spend the rest of the afternoon writing. Got to the post office, came out and my car refused to start. Had to call a tow truck, the guy said it was the battery, spent an hour or so messing around and finally decided it was one of the battery cables. I'm not sure what he did, but he got the car started, but then of course I had to take it straight to the Toyota dealership to get the part replaced. It was after six by the time I got home. So much for all the writing I was going to do that afternoon.
Real life can be such a pain!

judym said...

Yeah, and it turns out we have a blockage between the oil tank buried in the back yard and the furnace. And the orginal owners put a cement floor over the lines so we can't get at them in the cellar. Luckily, there's an electric hot water heater down there we can use to heat water until we decide what we want to do. However, it hasn't been used in about 10 or 12 years. You want to know what that water smells like?

Mechele Armstrong said...

Yep I know exactly how that is. Sorry about all the hassles.

I hope you get the blockage sorted out.

Yes, my most current hassle was the lingering stomach flu. Uggh. It's so hard to write when you're nauseous. Or listening for someone else to throw up *sigh*.

judym said...

Well, the furnace isn't fixed. Really, there's nothing wrong with the furnace; the fuel lines, which are buried under the cement floor, from the oil tank, which is buried in the back yard,are blocked. The repairman busted his butt trying to get them cleared, but no luck. Luckily, we had an electric hot water heater in the cellar that we could switch on so we do have hot water. Do you have any idea what water that's been sitting in a metal tank for about 15 years smells like? It was nasty until we got it all out and new water in.

So, we now have hot water but have to do something before cold weather sets in. We'll probably get a new tank put into the cellar and not use the one buried in the backyard any more.

Ahhhh, the joys of home ownership. Did I mention my over is falling apart?

judym said...

Well, the furnace isn't fixed. Really, there's nothing wrong with the furnace; the fuel lines, which are buried under the cement floor, from the oil tank, which is buried in the back yard,are blocked. The repairman busted his butt trying to get them cleared, but no luck. Luckily, we had an electric hot water heater in the cellar that we could switch on so we do have hot water. Do you have any idea what water that's been sitting in a metal tank for about 15 years smells like? It was nasty until we got it all out and new water in.

So, we now have hot water but have to do something before cold weather sets in. We'll probably get a new tank put into the cellar and not use the one buried in the backyard any more.

Ahhhh, the joys of home ownership. Did I mention my over is falling apart?

judym said...

Well, the furnace isn't fixed. Really, there's nothing wrong with the furnace; the fuel lines, which are buried under the cement floor, from the oil tank, which is buried in the back yard,are blocked. The repairman busted his butt trying to get them cleared, but no luck. Luckily, we had an electric hot water heater in the cellar that we could switch on so we do have hot water. Do you have any idea what water that's been sitting in a metal tank for about 15 years smells like? It was nasty until we got it all out and new water in.

So, we now have hot water but have to do something before cold weather sets in. We'll probably get a new tank put into the cellar and not use the one buried in the backyard any more.

Ahhhh, the joys of home ownership. Did I mention my over is falling apart?

N.J.Walters said...

What a hassle.

Real life does get in the way of the muse...far too often.