A Brand New Craftsman Lawn Mower,...

...that I picked up at Sears last night, meant a newly mown (or is it mowed?) lawn today. An old edge trimmer that did not work when I plugged it in, and then got a quick repair (took apart the handle and reconnected a loose wire, even I never knew I was so handy) meant that the front and back postage stamp sized lawns are now trim albeit still pretty poor excuses for lawns. Then a quick blow round the house with the leaf blower, followed by a quick sweep up of a pile of debris here and there, and the old homestead looks presentable. Now for some refinishing of the front door, a job started about a week or so ago but had to discontinue because of the weather, and it will really look a lot better round here. After that maybe some filling in of holes in the garden, our newest dog Mimi is a digger, then maybe a few dabs of hot sauce here and there where she usually digs and I am hopeful that problem will be gone. Once I'm all done with my chores, I'll be enjoying the best shower I have taken in awhile. I cannot wait to feel the cascading streams of hot water running over head, then flowing over my body till it trickles down between my toes as I take the first hot shower in our house since the new water heater was installed earlier today. Yes the new A.O. Smith hot water heater, a jumbo one at that holding 50 gallons (our last only held 30 gallons) is in place and all fired up. Utopia right here at home (even though I'll be broke for the next month or three paying for it all), but still Utopia - can you imagine that!

I had better get going if I really want to be first into the shower; I've lots of work to do before then, and Brendan gets home from school and lacrosse practice within a few hours, so time is of the essence. Later for you.

All the best,
Glenn B

A Cold Shower Tonight...

...seems to be in store for me. Our hot water heater went on the fritz, and with the price of oil what it is I have decided to replace it with a gas fired system; and I'll still have oil heat for our home heating system but only because I cannot afford to change both the hot water heater and the boiler. As it stands now, the lowest estimate I got for installation of a HWH with 50 gallon tank will be $1,275.00 (the highest estimate was $1750). That is better than the replacement cost for an oil fired one at $1,680.00, and I figure the cost of gas will be less than that of oil - but who knows what will be what in 6 months or a year. It is sort of a crap shoot, but some favorable things about gas are that: it burns cleaner, the unit itself will require almost zero maintenance (and the constant pain in the ass oil burners needed maintenance every couple to few months), one less oil appliance to leak oil from its filter (yes sometimes we have had leaks), gas is currently more efficient and less expensive than home heating oil, and I am told they last longer than oil fired heaters. I would have liked to have ordered a tankless unit, but the cost to purchase and install one of them was about $1,000 to $1,300 more depending on who gave the estimate. What with having to have a tree taken down in my backyard, and the best estimate for that being $1,500.00, and also my needing to buy a new lawn mower at about $220.00 because ours is shot, and you can see money will be tight around here - so the extra cost for a tankless unit was not even a consideration. If only that darned rebate check would show up, I sure could use it - but of course I won't get as much REBATED to me as someone who made less money than me last year, and who paid less taxes than me - but I digress.

So I await my last estimate, promised to get here by 0830 tomorrow, then I make my pick of poisons plumbers for the HWH. Hopefully they will get the job started and finished tomorrow as most said they could do, including the man with the low estimate so far. Funny, all the estimates are for the installation of the same exact HWH by brand and model. Go figure. As for tonight, no more lallygagging around, I am off to Sears to pick up a Craftsman Lawn Mower - one of their least expensive models. After that I would love to stop off an pick up a bottle of Vodka, but me thinks my pockets will be too empty for such an extravagance as that - though lord knows I could use a good belt after my day with the plumbers today. Of course they could surprise me at Sears and give me something like another $25 bucks off the price and things would then look better for that clear elixir for which I have a hankering.

All the best,
Glenn B