I can't post pictures because my laptop crashes when I try to open photo software. So I will just update what's been going on.
In the past week, I have had 2 different men out to fix the central unit. It's dead until I can come up with the money to fix it or replace it. In a nutshell, the power went out a couple of weeks ago and when it came back on, the inside unit blew 24-7. We had to turn it off at the breaker to stop it. First guy came out, rewired the relay switch and it ran fine for 2 days. Next guy came out, rewired the rewire and tested everything. The blower fan is about to go out (not pulling the correct amps, slow to kick in) and the control panel is SHOT. So while it runs now, the control panel won't fire up the heating coils (which tested fine, so I know they have not gone out), so it blows ice cold attic air. Or not-sometimes the coils do run. The emergency heat (heat strips) work, but the wiring to it will not actually turn them on any longer. The control panel is no longer made-the system is 19 years old-so he will have to take it out and rebuild it by hand using other boards and I guess replace the fan motor at the same time. That's going to cost-but not as much as a new system. But, since we just paid out some $800 in various unbudgeted repairs and teeth in the past 2 weeks alone, we just shut it off and hauled out the space heaters and got the wood stove going again with what wood we had left from the bonfire party. We have enough for a couple more days of wood heat and it keeps the front part of the house warm enough, even today when it was down to 22 with 25 MPH winds overnight. The kitchen and back porch may as well be on another planet though.
Chan and I put heavy plastic on the inside of the kitchen and back porch windows. I put a layer outside on the north end as well. That will help some, I also put all the throw rugs from around the house in the floor in the kitchen and that has helped some, too. I have been trying to find someone to deliver more wood for us, but none of my calls are being returned from local numbers and anyone who has to drive ALL the way out here wants another $50 at least per load. Maybe after the holiday I will have better luck. We have talked about getting a chainsaw and cutting our own wood from what we could clear out around the house, but I worry it will break and I KNOW Matt has no patience for things that don't work perfectly and chainsaws seem to always have something screwy going on. I can just see it being a huge dramatic expense and having to call to have wood delivered anyway. Plus, it won't be dry enough if we try to cut and burn immediately-which is what we will have to do.
Anyway, there's more crap going on but it's just too depressing to start listing it all. I don't even want to think about it. I just needed to purge this major whine before tomorrow when I HOPE to make a list of things I am thankful for. And I am thankful for so much, I want to focus on that a while. And in the meantime, don't watch R.I.P.D. which is a movie about ghost cops, which you would think would be great (in the 'mindless entertainment' arena that Jake and I enjoy at times) but it was HORRIBLE. However, The End of the World is pretty good.
