Minnesota Winter and No Furnace: Day Seven

#1 daughter returned to Alexandria today. I enjoyed having her and her rabbit around for the holidays. I think she liked being here, although it has got to feel good to be in a building with central heating again.

We still don't have a working furnace. The needed part may come tomorrow. Or, on the other hand, it may not. This week has reminded me just how nice it is to have a functioning furnace: particularly during a Minnesota January.

My wife and #3 daughter went to Soo Bahk Do practice tonight. Happily, they were able to use the path they'd cleared earlier today, for #1 daughter's car, to get out themselves.

My son didn't go with them: he's got the bug that's been hopping between members of the family lately. My fever is higher than my son's today - not that we're being competitive about it.

#2 daughter is still down in Louisiana, where she'll be for a couple of months. She's started work as a music teacher there. And, just to keep things interesting, she got a cold.

Minnesota Winter and No Furnace: Day Six

The sky and ground are the same glowing gray as more snow sifts onto an already-lush, pallid, blanket. Headlights of cars pass like sparks in this quiet mid-afternoon.

Quiet, but not silent. In each inhabited room of my house, electric heaters whoosh or hum, lending localized warmth and comfort.

The furnace is still out.

The needed part didn't come Friday, or today: Maybe next week.

I'm rather looking forward to that.

Still, it could be worse: it's almost 40 degrees warmer outside now, than it was earlier in the week.

Minnesota Winter and No Furnace: Day Four

The furnace still isn't fixed, but the kitchen got up to 66 degrees today. Of course, it was a lot warmer: up to the mid-twenties around noon, and only down to roughly zero now.

There was a bit of excitement yesterday, when the part needed for the furnace came. Make that "a part." I thought there was just one on its way, but when the technician came, we discovered that this was the small package. The other one will be about the size of the kitchen trash basket: ours is about two and a half feet tall.

The technician is a nice guy: he assured us that he'd call to make sure that, if the part was back-ordered, one was shipped from an alternative source. He said that he'd call later, when he had news, and showed up at the door, instead.

I'm hoping that the remaining part(s) arrive tomorrow.



#1 daughter took that photo yesterday, of me working at the 'main' computer. It looks like I'm cozy: but between the bug that's settled down in me for a long stay, and my hands being distinctly below their optimal operating temperature, I haven't been as perky as I'd prefer.



#1 daughter brought her rabbit, giol, with her: he's endeared himself to us, when he isn't getting into an area where he's not wanted. I took a picture of him on a kitchen chair a few minutes ago. By now, he's gotten off the chair several times, and given my son and #1 daughter some exercise, recovering him.