Plans? What plans?
But first, the most important thing.
Yes, we still have hot water. Lol! Oh, it is so good! And no waste of the day, heating water all morning.
With the temperatures dropping, I had intended to not go ANYWHERE if I could avoid it.
However, I forgot about doing a dump run. Continue reading
Our plumber is a saint.
He worked until almost 9pm getting the new tank installed. He started at about 6pm.
It works beautifully.
The job took up almost the entire CPP Disability payment that came in today.
Worth. Every. Penny.
Interestingly, he recognized me when he came in, and we later figured out where from.
He is also an excavator, and does grave digging on the side. It turns out he buried my father, and had been at the internment. That was almost two years ago. Good memory! I’m lucky if I can recognize a person’s face the day after I’ve met them. Lol
He also had a grave to dig by tomorrow afternoon. He was going to do it tonight, but made us a priority, instead.
Like I said. A saint!
Even the outside cats were appreciative. The old tank was drained into the sump pump reservoir. There was enough to turn it on, to drain into the yard. When I came out with warm water for the cats, I found them gathered around the melted snow at the end of the drainage pipe, trying to drink the water. I was able to give them some nice, fresh clean warm water.
The old tank is still lying on its side at the reservoir. We will figure out what to do with it in early spring, before things start getting wet down there.
None of us will be taking hot water for granted, that’s for sure!
An awesome Christmas present!
The Re-farmer
The plumber just swing by to check out what we’ve got and where the tank is, so he has a better idea of what he needs to bring along. For example, this tank is a bottom feed, while new ones are top feed, so he will have to install a new shut off valve. Things like that.
He has just left and will be back shortly with a new tank and supplies.
This beast has served us well for many decades.
Barring any unexpected problems, we should have hot water again in a few hours.
Oh, the luxury… 🤣
The Re-farmer
Yeah, it was bugging me.
But I went back to some of the larger boxes I had already opened, including one I had put in the office because my shredder was in it.
The shredder was inside the giant stock pot.
Looks like I will be brining a turkey for Christmas. 😁
This gives me hope that the box the girls are missing will show up, too.
😂
The Re-farmer
If all goes well, we have only one more day without hot water!
The plumber called me back this evening. Turns out he is out of town. After asking me some questions – including if we had any hot water right now – he said he could come over tomorrow! He won’t reach The City until mid afternoon, where he will pick up a tank for us and collect what he needs to install it. Then he will give us a call before heading out. Hopefully, he will be here around 3 or 4 pm.
Thank God CPP payments come in early at Christmas, or we would have to wait another week or two.
Getting the new tank in is going to be a challenge. Thankfully, he remembers this place and has an idea of what to expect.
Also, he takes payment by eTransfer. Which is cool, because we have no checks left. Actually, I think we do, but I’m not sure what box they are in.
Speaking of boxes…
I am 99% sure we are missing some boxes. The girls are unable to find some things, just as I have not been able to find my giant stock pot. While we have not unpacked everything, we have at least opened all boxes and bins.
We were the last drop off, so the truck was empty when they unloaded our stuff. It might be possible that a couple boxes went with one of the other two drop offs before us, but items have colour coded tags, so that’s unlikely. They were not left behind in our old place. So if they got lost somewhere, it is most likely to have been when our stuff was put in or out of storage.
Two provinces away.
But until we unpack more, there is still that 1% chance we just haven’t found them yet.
And it will likely be weeks before we reach the point where I can say I’m 100% sure.
Frustrating.
The Re-farmer
Since it doesn’t look like we will be able to put up even one of our little trees for Christmas, I made do.
Featuring our newest decorations from my wonderful friend.
Merry Christmas!
The Re-farmer
Today was another day to work on packing the kitchen. Including a whole bunch of canisters on the counter, most empty, but some with food in them. I don’t know how many years they were in there, but in one of them, the canister was starting to rust into the sugar. 😝
Tomorrow, we will have another load for the shed, then the cupboards can be cleaned. Then we can unpack our own kitchen stuff.
Hopefully, we will finally find my giant stock pot. That thing is big enough to brine a whole turkey, with room to spare. You’d think something that big would be easy to find!
We did end up keeping quite a bit of plates and bowls, since we had to get rid of almost all of ours. With the cramped layout of the kitchen, those will go into shelves outside the kitchen. The plan is for the kitchen to only have pantry items, food and cooking tools, so much as possible. With the counters as empty as possible. Soon, I might even have room to use a slow cooker!
It’s amazing how the most mundane things become exciting when you realize just how much you use them, and suddenly you can’t.
Speaking of which…
With the hot water totally gone again (we have theories as to what happened, but no way to know for sure), we went over our budget and crunched some numbers. With Christmas, my husband will actually get a disability payment early, so if we can swing it, we might be able to get a new tank installed before Christmas, instead of in January. It will depend on whether the guy I called can fit us in.
Some bills will have to wait, but the amount of time and energy going towards heating water every day has got to stop. Our electric bill is going to be insane.
But, if we are careful, we will be okay. Not having rent to pay makes a difference.
We still need to consider all those little fees that need to be dealt with, like transferring our drivers licenses and vehicle registration and insurance. Thankfully, those all seem to be cheaper in this province. Still, it’s never the big things that kill a budget. It’s the little things that sneak up on you, chipping away, a few dollars here, a few dollars there.
Still, we have got by on much less, in the past. Plus, growing up here, I learned very early, how to make a little go a long way.
That has come in handy, many times, over the years.
That initial rough patch is sure painful, though! 😂
The Re-farmer
With all that’s going on, we have still done zero Christmas decorating. Being in the middle of nowhere, we aren’t seeing anyone else’s, unless we go into town.
So getting a parcel from a friend today helped bring that Christmas spirit a little closer.
Being the amazing, generous person she is, there was a little something for everyone. Even the “critters” were included – right on the mailing address!
We had a wonderful time looking through the surprises, from the thoughtful (healing hand cream) to the funny (a Shopkins toy – inside joke on that one!).
I must say, this little game is my favourite.
It has three “take a nap” options. Which is a needed reminder for our topsy turvy lives right now!
Speaking of which. Still no hot water. *sigh*
The Re-farmer
I was finally able to get a picture of The Hand. The Hand is one of the shyest of the cats and was not very happy about me coming closer for a photo. Food won out, though.
As skittish as he (she?) is, its not quite as much as Squishums, the last of the cats that hang out here, whom I have yet to get an identifiable picture of.
Sometimes, they go onto the roof of the newer part of the house and watch my daughters through the second floor windows. Much to my daughters’ delight.
The Re-farmer
Well, that sucks.
It looks like we’re back to having hot water in the morning, but not for the rest of the day.
We got two showers in before it was gone.
It didn’t come back.
So the top band is working, but the bottom band isn’t. It seems. If that’s how it is, we’ll have hot water again in the morning.
Which we can put up with until we can come up with the money to have a new tank installed.
The list of things we’ll need to pay for, on top of catching up on things because of how much the move cost us, is getting very long.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 