Wednesday I broke from scraping the watercloset because I had to do some particular reorganizing in the furnace room right immediately then and no later. This led to an observation: "RDC, there's a leak in the hot water heater."
There wasn't a single leak in the heater. There were several. So much for the hot water, on New Year's Eve, with a prime rib and oven-roasted potatoes and chocolate mousse and wine and champagne to serve and clean up after.
(It did mean that we went to the gym right on New Year's Day, though only to shower.)
The plumber arrived Friday morning, zounds, with a new heater. He told us a few unwelcome things:
When we moved into the house, RDC added a pipe to the hot water heater. A gasket meant to vent in case of...something...was placed at eye level, so the escaping steam would boil your face off. The pipe meant only your toes would come off. Home Depot suggested a certain metal pipe to RDC as more cost effective, but the first thing the plumber said was that code required copper.
Denver code also requires combustion air to the furnace. He looked greedily at the outside wall--the one whose masonry we just had repaired this summer. Instead RDC suggested the coal chute. Now we are vaguely "Brazil"ian and have six-inch aluminum pipe from the coal door, strapped to the ceiling of the coal cellar, piercing the wall between coal cellar and furnace room, and basically facilitating cold air in and warm air out. Also fresh air for safer and more efficient burning in the furnace and heater, if you're into that.
The defunct heater had sprung leaks because the water pressure, as coming in from the outside, was too high, was the third thing. So the plumber also installed a pressure-reducing valve. Which I suppose will reduce our consumption, which is good, though I noticed the difference in the shower and I haven't even washed my hair yet. Watering will take longer, which is not so good, especially since I have to be much, much more assiduous about the trees if they're to stand a chance, according to the tree-trimmers.
This fall I added a curtain to the doorway between the den and the laundry room, which made it cozier-looking and -feeling, but does just about nothing to combat a six-inch aperture in an otherwise not at all airtight house. We closed the door between laundry room and workroom--the door I meant at first sight to remove but then opened against a wall and forgot about for the past nearly four years except insofar as to hang laundry from it--and rolled towels against its sill, but still. We hung a tarp in the furnace room doorway too, but we need a weather-stripped door. Soon.
So that was Friday.
Today An Official Measurer from Home Depot appeared to calculate the kitchen. Blake was upset at not meeting the plumber yesterday and today did meet the measurer, who was charmed (of course), and chatted with Blake on his shoulder: "I don't know what you're saying but I see you've got a lot to say anyway." We talked about vents and cabinetry and deepening the north countertop and narrowing the south one and what to do about the lighting and so forth. On his way out, the measurer noticed the plethora of cards on the mantel and said, "Your friends certainly don't neglect you," which made me happy. He touched the tree softly--yeah, I liked him--and put on his shoes to go. Blake squawked with abandonment and I told the measurer that he likes to be told goodbye; the measurer did so readily, understanding that the little things are important.
Then I took down the tree. All the ornaments to the couch, to be dealt with last. Streamer-garland down, lights unwound, skirt unhooked. I got the tree outside, the needles swept and vacuumed from inside and the needles swept though not vacuumed from the porch. (The tree will become mulch, courtesy of the city.) I had a mess of boxes from shipping this year, so I reorganized everything, which was fun. (The measurer paused in his work to observe of the Fractured Proverbs magnets on the fridge, "very tidy, all lined up." Yes indeed: the subject phrases are right- and the predicates left-aligned making a neat part down the line.)
I went through the cards, cutting pictures from greetings to fit in an album and writing on their backs, tearing fronts (images for homemade cards or gift-tags) from backs (greetings and new addresses). Then I went through the albums, adding all the photographs from the past four years, since we went digital.
Meanwhile RDC was devising and rethinking the breakfast nook. There was much sitting in dining chairs side by side to determine length of bench and facing one another to decide that only one bench would fit (two facing would leave no knee space) and sitting on a length of board propped on crates in the sun room to decide how deep a seat should be. The woodworking book says 15", which is not comfy. Eighteen in more like it.
Anyway, the hot water's back. Blake's cage is dismantled in the dishwasher, laundry's in the clothes washer, and I need to get back into the watercloset with a bucket of warm water and TSP substitute cocktail. Whee.