Tank is Home

Tank arrived with November!

Yesterday evening, just as we were finishing our dinner, the telephone rang. It was the garage, the call display let me know before I picked up the receiver, and I was prepared for bad news. But it wasn’t bad news, it was great news. Tank was ready to come home! Even though it was after hours, they had called us and were willing to wait until we could get over there to pick her up… and pay the bill of course.

The bill was what kept my anxiety high, and Attila’s too. Tank had been at the garage for two weeks, with repeated calls regarding additional parts needed. I was afraid the bill would be so high that we would have to decline paying it, and walk away from Tank. This happened to me once before, as I’ve mentioned, and it was disastrous, there was no safety net, the children and I fell. So the drive over the garage was one of great trepidation.

Sometimes the universe directs you to what you need, and in this case that is what has happened. The garage had repeatedly told us they wanted to get it right, and get it back to us. They felt we were incredibly patient, which I inwardly smiled about, had they only known! The upshot was that the bill was the original quote, plus the extra parts. They waived any additional labour fees, and that is a big deal, they had Tank for two weeks! The credit card took care of the bill, for now. It will take at least six months to recover from this financial setback, but it could have been so much worse! The bill was thousands of dollars. Tank is running like new, and with any luck will continue to do so for a very long time. Their last words to us were, if we notice ANY problems, to bring her back in, and they will take care of it. And they mean it.

This garage has a reputation for being honest. But we weren’t sure that this “honesty” was extended equitably to all customers. So often I’ve listened to recommendations by people who must have received preferred service, because my experience was nothing like theirs, well below the standards they described. This garage, however, has lived up to its reputation. They are honest. They can be trusted to be so. If we run into a situation like this with them again, I won’t be worrying much, just trusting that it will work out just fine.

The furnace wasn’t working again this morning. The oil furnace is our auxilliary heat, and it isn’t kicking in when it is supposed to. This is the second time the heat pump has not come on when it should have. The oil furnace hasn’t come on at all, since the furnace inspection, which it passed without issue. I fiddled around with the thermostat for about a half an hour, connecting to wifi, disconnecting from wifi, turning the heat up, turning the heat down, logging into the account online, logging out, turning off the breaker in the electrical panel, turning the breaker back on… eventually the heat pump just started working I don’t know why. There are no batteries in the thermostat to change, so it isn’t a failing battery in the thermostat. Attila is going to explore the issue over the weekend, see what he can figure out.

Yesterday the hydro time-of-use algorithm changed, mid-peak now runs from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., so that it is reasonable to bake during that time of day, and to cook dinner before 5:00 p.m. when the two hour peak charges begin again. After 7:00 p.m. the least expensive off-peak prices start. I am usually far too tired at the end of the day to do a lot of cooking.

Today I decided to make biscuits. I love biscuits. Apparently I do not love all biscuits, because I did not love the biscuits I made today. The Scottish Oat Biscuits appealed to me because they didn’t use a lot of white bleached flour, were low sodium, and low fat. In my opinion that is all they have to recommend them. They are tasteless, doughy articles. I will eat them of course, because I don’t throw out failures unless they are beyond the pale. These biscuits are very healthy food, so down the hatch they will go.

Back to the drawing board!

Worldly

Weather

5°C
Date: 2:00 PM EDT Friday 2 November 2018
Condition: Cloudy
Pressure: 100.4 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 5.3°C
Dew point: 4.3°C
Humidity: 93%
Wind: NE 19 gust 31 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.”
Henry David Thoreau
1817 – 1862