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programs you know where I stole the second and third words of my greeting. In any case, it’s been far too long since I posted a single thing, including the two final chapters of my latest book. Chapter 11 is complete and I just need to find time to sit down and finalize Chapter 12 and then I’ll post both.
Meanwhile, my life has been super busy
with other stuff, the main focus being asking for and receiving bids for new ductwork
beneath the house (more on that later), and a new furnace/heat pump. These
projects are not something that was on my radar, nor were they projects I
wished to do in my lifetime.
You see, I thought I could live in
this house for the remainder of my life and not spend a significant amount of
money on it. I’ve lived here for fifty-seven years and planned to just continue
to live here until the coroner pulled up in the driveway. A twenty-six-year-old
furnace changed my plans, providing I want to be warm and comfortable next winter.
My son, the HVAC tech, has worked on
my furnace this year after it ceased to function multiple times. The last time,
he told me I needed to bite the bullet…or heat resigster…and get a new furnace.
What a disappointment he was to me in that moment…just kidding.
I have no idea how many of you have
been faced with having new and expensive work done on your homes. It’s been
quite some time since I looked at doing anything beyond minor maintenance. The
last furnace installation was just that, a furnace installation that cost
between one thousand and two thousand…a BIG sum of money back in 2000. Times,
as we all know, have moved on and the price of everything has increased.
Informing me of the need for a new
furnace, my son also told me I needed to replace the ductwork below the house.
He said it’s been close to twenty years since his dad and brother went below
the house and removed all the insulation and desiccated rats so he and his
brother could install new ductwork. He said he was sure it would need
replacing. Oh, woe is me.
I am so grateful I had no idea what
the crawl space beneath the house looked like. I am so very sad I looked at the
photos the ductwork person took so he could show me why I needed to have the
crawl space renovated. I could barely sleep that night thinking about all the
rats that were undoubtedly living beneath me. Those photos convinced me that
the work had to be done.
So, today, Sound Crawls came and took
care of the crawl space. You couldn’t pay me enough to go beneath the house, safety
suit/gear or no. I went beneath just once in all the years I’ve lived here and
will never ever do so again. Anyway, they finished for today and will come back
next Thursday, to finish up. For now, there are motion cameras in place to see
if any rats come to call. If it’s just one, they’ll set a trap. If it’s more
than one, then they’ve missed an opening. According to my neighbor who had this
done last month, you could actually go down there and sleep once it’s finished...not that I have any intention of doing that.
Tomorrow, the gentleman from
Washington Energy will return and sign me up for the new furnace/heat pump. I
don’t know how soon they’ll want to do the work, but as far as I’m concerned (and
for financial reasons), it could wait a couple of months. Whenever, however, I’ll
be warm and comfortable next winter and cool this summer no matter what the
outside temps become.
In the previous paragraph, I mentioned
financial reasons. I assumed (made an ass out of my own self) I would die completely
free of debt. Well, that won’t be happening unless I live another twenty years
and pay off the home equity loan I’ve applied for during that time. And, yes, I
could pull funds from my IRA or sell some stock, but as the young man at the
bank pointed out, I’d have to pay taxes and it would put me in a higher income
bracket, thereby eliminating all the old, poor person considerations I now receive.
Still, it’s good to know I had that
option, again assuming they approve the loan. Hopefully, I won’t need to return
to the bank any time soon to ask for an increase in that loan…a friend pointed
out my roof is looking a little scruffy just the other day. Please, could nothing else happen until after
the coroner arrives and this house becomes someone else’s responsibility.