Thursday, January 25, 2007

coldest night of the year

3 years ago in the dead of winter, our furnace expired. We froze for 5 days, despite the loan of 3 space heaters from our gas company, while we waited for a new furnace. Each day brought new adventures. . showering in a heatless house in Canada in the winter, sitting on ice-cold toilet seats, sleeping in a room that felt like a meat locker -- ah, good times.

My Saturday thoughts post highlighted our recent brokenness. . . . and now there's more.

Today is the coldest day of the year (so far). Rob dropped me off home after work so I could let Maggie out -- with my fingers crossed that she didn't leave a pee puddle anywhere, or get into a waste basket and shred the used kleenexes. She didn't. Good girl!!! Rob went to pick up Mom for supper and i started to tidy up. I touched the dining room table - it felt cold. Oh no. . . . . I looked at the thermostat -- 62 degrees F -- we never bothered to change it to Celsius (like good Canadians should!) Nothing seemed amiss. But, of course it was.

I tried everything. Rob and Mom got here with supper - he tried everything. We shivered through our meal, Rob with fork in one hand and phone in the other, phone book opened on the table to the "F" pages. I could say something here. . . lol! frig. . that's all - honestly. We had initially thought we'd deal with either the gas company or the gas supplier company. Sheisters!! Each quoted astronomically ridiculous fees - forget that. Back to the yellow pages. Called a big-name place, they wanted to know the make. Rob took the phone down with him to find out. They couldn't promise they could fix it tonight, as they deal mostly with one particular brand. Rob came back up. I asked him, as i flipped through the yellow pages, : "Rob, what make is it?" He replied: "Its a Payne." heh heh. . . yeah.

Of course we had just rejected an 'extended service agreement' with the company that had instaled the sucker -- and I mean JUST. . d'oh! We had reasoned that because it was so new and shiny why should we pay monthly for something we might not need for 10 years? HA! It seems that without an agreement things go like this: "$99 for the call, $99 for the diagnosis and ??? for the parts, plus labour and taxes.

Finally, after some unsuccessful attempts at finding someone to give us some heat, we called a local company and as Rob talked to the humourless receptionist, with Mom and I eating our dessert at the table, the dialogue goes like this: Rob: "Ah, yes, I'd like a service rep to come to my house." (and some other boring particulars) Receptionist: "All right, sir and what is the make of your furnace." Rob: "Uh, its a Payne." **Mom and I are laughing our heads off!!!*** Rob starts to chuckle but kept it together. . he tries to joke with the lady about it being a pain -- she wasn't even faintly amused. We thought it was funny. We won't forget that meal for a while. Icicles practically forming on our toes, blankets around our shoulders. . only thing warm was the food, i don't think i've ever had the desire to put my feet in my food before, so that was a first.

Well, i'm gonna go to dance class now -- at least i'll work up some warmth bouncing around for an hour. . and maybe when i get back we'll have some heat? Please?!!!!!! gahhhh!!!! ssssso cccccold. . .

7 comments:

supersimbo said...

Kat i really hope that you get the heat sorted, that sucks big time. Isnt it funny how receptionist and telephone people dont like jokes or the faintest sign of humour!? I always get caught out with that one......trying to be light hearted and they obviously mistake your joke for a racial slur of some kind!!

Il pray that the "God of central heating" clicks his fingers and sparks up the heat for you!

kathryn said...

yeah, Ally. . often people in those types of jobs are humourless. . . must be something about those jobs, eh?! poor them!

And God must have a central heating branch and i think he did certainly snap his fingers. . when i got home that night and Rob was out. . i said out loud: Thank you, God and thank you Dunn Heating!!!

Thanx, Linds. . its such a relief in this cold snap to have the heat back!!!

kathryn said...

oh, how cool. . yeah, i remember that now.

Amy said...

Man, I feel bad for how often I complain about the cold now! Seriously, I wear my jacket all day because even though it's winter, the poor people in the conference rooms have to have the a/c on! I'm glad you're warm now...at least you were able to get some laughs out of it!

Tee/Tracy said...

I'm a big baby about extreme temps so I can't imagine staying in a house with no heat!

I hope it's fixed now. The brand name is hilarious!

Laughed about wanting to put your feet in your food. LOL.

Drumstick said...

Kathryn, leave it to a Preacher to come up with some Scripture Verses from Paul:

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12: 7 - 10).

Remember, His Grace is always sufficent!

kathryn said...

thanx, Roland. . His grace is what gets me through every difficulty in life, this is no exception. .