The Periphery of the Mind

In December it was the water line in the yard. It had leaked before, and when we had it repaired we were told it would leak again. And again. And again, until it was replaced. It was cheap, and when the house was being built it was a way for somebody to cut a corner and save themselves $50. That somebody wasn't me, since I know better than to save $50 now and have to spend $900 down the line. So we called Rocky the Plumber out, and he was able to work with us to get it fixed. We did 95% of the digging (saving $700 in the process), and he replaced the line. Of course, after figuring out the time we spent and the fact we paid a friend (hi Peltablo!) to help us, and then had chiro and massage visits afterwards.... We should have just paid the man the extra money.

Then in January we had the ice storm. A downed power line ripped the power box off the side of our house, and along with it tore the mastehead through the roof, which in turn also knocked the gutter down. It still isn't fixed. We're in a race to see who'll come out first, our insurance agent or the Professor's dad (who's offered to fix it for us for free, because he's nice like that and I suspect secretly longs to use his all skill and knowledge to work in carpentry). The electrical line, power box, and masthead are all repaired however, with a non-exempt donation of $417 to Mike Simpson with Big Red Electric.

Then in February the furnance began to die. As I sit here typing this, we have a nice new furnace and a nice new (and actually pretty small) $1000 bill. And Jeff Dawson Construction to thank for both. I'm really impressed by this guy.

So, to some extent I'm whining here. "My house is falling apart." On the flip side I realize I have a house, I expect to have the house next year, and we can afford to repair and maintain it. And that's saying something in this day and age. Also, hopefully, this'll serve as a record for when I or somebody know needs a good plumber, or a good electrician, or a good HVAC tech, I can refer them to these three.

The carpenter is ours and ours alone though, sorry.

Labels: whine