Day 1032

What a long day. The furnace installers were at the house from 9 AM until almost 4 PM. Since current furnaces aren't the same size and shape of those twenty years ago, most of the installers time was spent fabricating custom sheet metal work so that the new machinery would line up properly with the old vent system. When I first bought the house, it came with an ancient furnace that was quite large and very noisy. I quickly replaced this antique with a much more efficient model that ended up lasting over twenty years. The new furnace that was installed today was the smallest and most efficient of the three. Everything in life appears to be getting smaller. Cars, phones, computers, and now even furnaces are getting smaller. Hopefully, this is the last furnace I will need. I don't want to go through this ordeal again.

When the installers first removed the dryer and then the old furnace, I was appalled at all the dust that had accumulated in the utility room. There must have been an inch of dust under the clothes dryer. The dryer vent was full of dust too. The intake sheet metal ahead of the filters was coated with a thick layer of dust. I tried to vacuum and get rid of all this dust before the HVAC guys could put all the new equipment back in place again. Most repair people and installers could care less about dust. I knew they would just hook up the new furnace to the old dusty vents if I didn't clean them when I had a chance. I cleaned everything up while the installers were fabricating sheet metal out on the carport, but the room was so dirty that I completely clogged the vacuum cleaner. I had to take the whole thing apart to get it working again.

It's a good thing I boarded the dogs today. It would have been a nightmare with seven hours of non-stop barking on top of all the construction noise. The installers were in and out of the house all day long. I would have worried that the dogs would have gotten loose and disappeared out the front door. They were safe at the vet, but I don't think either of them enjoyed their little vacation. They were frantic when I picked them up at the end of the day and Dot pooped in the car.  One more mess to clean up.

Ironically, after an entire day was spent installing the furnace, the air conditioner is on now. A late Fall heat wave swept through town yesterday and the temperatures are in the high eighties again. It will be cold soon enough though. I'm glad everything is working now, before Winter arrives.

Since I was trapped in the house all day, I got a lot of writing done. There wasn't much else to do and I had some looming deadlines anyway. It all worked out pretty well. I'm going to take it easy this weekend though. Wouldn't you?

Kuuipo is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day