Warm!

Last weekend, I discovered that the furnace wasn't working (again). It hadn't got really cold yet, so running a burner on the kitchen stove (coupled with flannel jammies) was enough to keep me comfortable.

On Saturday, I was able to get someone to come out to look at it. Anyway, while I had been hoping to get one more winter out of the old furnace, I decided to have him install a new one. Among other things, I'd noticed before he arrived that even though I had turned off the power to the unit the night before, gas was still flowing to the pilot; it was an electronic pilot, and the gas should have shut down with the power turned off.

It was pretty chilly when I got home last night (Friday). I turned on *two* burners on the stove, full blast, and carted an electric space heater into the bedroom, and piled comforters on the bed. It was still a chilly night.

But, WARMTH! The guy and his son installed a new, high-effiency furnace today, and an electric water heater (it was past time for the old gas water heater to be replaced) ... and I'm warm!

It's not Thanksgiving Day yet, but in case it wasn't obvious, I'm thankful for warmth ... and for capitalism (*) ... and that I had the money in the bank to pay for this work.

(*) I am thankful that other people have the freedom in America to "selfishly" pursue their own "selfish" interests ... and thereby make my life better, easier, more comfortable. Can you inagine what it would be like if I'd had to wait for some "selfless" government bureaucrat to do this work for me? For one thing, I'd still be waiting for the initial visit to check out the problem.