Wouldn't You Know It!

After two weeks of absolutely gorgeous weather--unseasonably warm and sunny--we are now suffering through an unseasonable cold snap, and right at Easter, too, when you want pretty weather to show off your finery. We are due to have high temperatures in the 30's and lows in the low 20's , which is 20-30 degrees lower than average for this time of year. I guess you could say we were due for it, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to bear. After hauling out the lightweight clothes, we now find ourselves in sweaters and winter jackets. That's a bummer, but it's not the worst of it. This is where Murphy's Law comes in...

When it got cold enough for the furnace to kick on Wednesday morning, it didn't. I wasn't home, and Terry called me at Dad's to let me know it wasn't working. I don't know how I was supposed to do anything about it at that point, so he was going to check it out and call for a repair if needed. When I left Dad's an hour or so later, I called him back to find it was running, but making an increasingly loud noise. We had heard this noise before the warm weather came, but we were hoping to make it through the season before doing anything about it. Unfortunately, the furnace only worked on Wednesday. On Thursday morning, at about 6:00, it came on and immediately stopped. Apparently the blower quit functioning. Terry called the repairman, and he came out yesterday afternoon. Yes, the fan was bad, so he relayed the information to his office lady, who called to see about replacing it. She was very prompt to call us back to tell us that we must replace not just the fan, but the whole blower assembly, at a cost of $583 plus labor. What can you do but agree? However, she had to order the part, and she wasn't sure it would be in before today, Friday. If it comes in, the repairman will come back today and install it. Otherwise, you guessed it. We will be without a furnace on the coldest weekend of the spring.

It's fine and warm in our kitchen and family room. We have a gas blower and a space heater that keep the area comfortable. It's not even too bad yet in the nether regions of the house. We slept quite comfortably last night under a few blankets and a bedspread. However, the kids are scheduled to come and stay. I'm afraid it won't be warm enough for them. If they think it's too cold, we can let them stay with Doug and Kellie or maybe get them a motel room, but I hope we can get the furnace fixed before they get here and have to make a decision.

I guess Alissa's bad financial luck was contagious. We were just congratulating ourselves that the insurance company was going to pay $772 of an ambulance bill from when Terry was recuperating, so we were saving money. I guess it burned a hole in our pocket (or our furnace fan), so we now have somewhere to spend it. I am grateful that we have it to spend. Life is good...Happy Easter to everyone!