Hard to believe that the third month of the new year is here already. The above vintage picture of Ireland is intended to put you into a March mood.
I plan to write a few more Hollywood-oriented blog posts....
I'll wait a moment until you calm down from the excitement
....but I'm presently inundated with problems and ill health (so what else is new??), which seriously impedes my creativity, wit, and irresistible charm.
What's wrong with your health, Jon?
What's right with it ? The short version is that I feel like I died three weeks ago.
What problems, Jon?
My problems are presently so multitudinous that I use a special computerized file system to sort them.
Presently, my biggest problem is the furnace - which has been blowing cold air instead of heating.
As fate would have it, next week is predicted to be extremely cold - with frigid weather arriving on Sunday night.
I innocently thought Tennessee was a temperate southern state. If anybody had told me that there would be penguins and ice floes in March, I wouldn't have moved here.
So....
I've been doing research about errant furnaces on the Internet and learning incredibly boring but eye-opening things.
My gut instinct (which is usually wrong) tells me to check out the heating ducts, which could have been damaged by the friggin' wild animals that weasel their way under the house.
I'll try to investigate tomorrow (Saturday) - - if I can summon the courage.
I may look tough, but I'm a sissy.
Change of subject.
I sent my first text on my new cell phone last night (to my cousin Nancy).
It was a difficult procedure because the new phone is a LOT different than my old one was.
So...
everything was going fine - until I tried to send a second text. Suddenly I got a "no service" message.
Cell phone reception isn't particularly good out here in the boonies. Sometimes, in order to successfully send a text I have to go to a different room, or stand outside on the front porch, or out in the back near the forest and hold the phone up towards the east - in the direction where the town is located
(no, I am not kidding!!!!!)
Anyway, last night I couldn't send texts at all - no matter where I was. Yet - strangely enough - I could still make phone calls.
Life is one BIG, irritating enigma.
But you already knew that.
Dear Jon, I do commiserate. My old cell phone is one I bought before retirement, ten years ago. Now IT's retiring every hour --weak battery won't take a charge, like me. I do love the picture of the Old Weir Bridge (Killarney?). One of my sons has just returned from Ireland with wife and kids. He's part Portuguese, she's Vietnamese but Ireland has always called out to them. It's their 3rd visit. Take care going under the house about heating ducts. Consider space heaters and oil-filled electric radiators. That's what I do.
ReplyDeleteI always liked that particular picture of the Old Weir Bridge (yes, Killarney). There's something about Ireland that intrigues all of us non-Irish.
DeleteMy old cell phone was much more durable than the new one - and had better reception.
I went to Walmart yesterday. Unfortunately they were all out of space heaters, so I had to settle for a lesser one (hopefully it will be adequate). I didn't get to crawl under the house yet - and I'm NOT looking forward to it.
Sorry to hear about your lack of heating as well as the poor health. Everything comes at once, I know. A new phone should never, ever go wrong.... so they say.... and I hope it stops playing up very soon. Why is it we are dependent on our phones now, it was never thus until recent years. Hoping you feel more cheerful now.
ReplyDeleteEverything always seems to go wrong at once. Lately I have a surplus of problems. I honestly don't like cell phones - but it's a good idea to have one up here in the wilderness.
DeleteI'm so taken with that bucolic image! I do hope your text content included your plans to crawl under the house? Wait. That sounds pessimistic … just the way my mind works. Always leave a trail -- and carry a parachute … or a shotgun.
ReplyDeleteI'm really getting too old and weary to be crawling around under houses. The joy of rural living is wearing VERY thin.
DeleteI often blog about these things in order to leave some tangible evidence.....in case I get kidnapped by Bigfoot....
I'm right in town but have a cheap server (Google Fi) but on rare occasions I get a dropped call or have to go stand right by my patio door to get reception. You can't get any broadcast TV for free here, either. Just snow or blue screen. Maybe the walls are lined with lead. Not a good thought--LOL!
ReplyDeleteI hope you figure out how to fix the furnace! I would never in a million years thought Tennessee would be that cold in the winter. Sucks! You definitely need a wood stove!! :(
I have a cheap phone and a lousy server - - but my old phone worked better. I honestly never thought Tennessee would be this cold - especially in March. It's supposed to drop down to 15 degrees by Monday night. I'm totally DISGUSTED with the furnace problems. I do have two small electric heaters, which will hopefully keep me and the kitties warm at night.
DeleteMy mother has the same thing with her furnace when I was home last. By morning the house would be down to almost 48!!!!! The real kicker was when I went to take a shower and it was cold as hell. I may see may twin boys by spring, not sure. She has to turn the heat up to almost 70 to get the heat. Last week she had a guy in to look at it, she is getting a new furnace in a week.
ReplyDeleteI hope you hang in dear. Maybe you'll find a leprechaun and his gold this month?
It's ironic that furnaces always stop working during the coldest time of the year (the same thing happened when I lived in Texas). Your Mom is fortunate to be getting a new one.
DeleteI'm going to try to exhaust all options before calling a repairman - I'm frugal, stubborn, and...masochistic.
Perhaps when I go under the house to check the heating ducts I'll find a leprechaun's pot of gold...
I recognised that as Ireland, because for some weird reason bright green and a kind of mustard yellow is the colour scheme for "Irish" pictures and cards. My Irish great grandmother's scrapbook, which I still have, is full of them! Good luck with the furnace.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked that particular picture, which is from an old postcard. There's something about those old images that's so charming and satisfying.
DeleteDoes your furnace have a filter? If so it may need to be changed. Sometimes a very dirty filter will cause it to blow cold air.
ReplyDeleteYou're right - a dirty filter can definitely affect the way a furnace functions. I do have a filter, but it's new and clean.
DeleteSome wild animals got under the crawlspace of my house, and I strongly suspect that they might have damaged the heating ducts.