Now that I have totally confused everyone, please note… I entered our hiatus adventures in the wrong order… today’s blog should have been number two… yesterday’s blog? Number four… please enjoy the jumble…
We learned one other aspect to the latest Patrick debacle… every bit of the tubing with their inadequate connectors needed to be pulled out and replaced,
or (1) we could burn out both furnaces and/or (2) the rusted connectors could leak through our ceilings. So here we are nine months after arriving in Gloversville… in the dead of winter… needing to replace all our heating coils… every single one on all three floors!
To be in this lovely old cottage and be confined to one room and an occasional dash to our second floor bathroom through the cold… well, it feels as if I am Rapunzel trapped in the tower except for that run through the cold to the outhouse in the middle of the night… When I should escape, if I am using my noodle… The only difference is… I am blessed because “my prince” is trapped with me! Who would want to escape?
Plus, you remember all the ceilings we put in the sewing room? The laundry room? The second floor bathroom? The walk-in closet? All those ceilings must be pulled down so the tubing and connectors can be replaced. We are in the same shape when we arrived in April… except for one huge saving grace! We now have a team of competent people helping us restore our cottage.
With it being the eve of Christmas Eve we could not start ripping out coils for a few more days, but we had plenty to do to keep busy. The snow had turned to freezing rain and my precious Scotty spent the afternoon shoveling snow and ice off walkways. He no more removed some of the snow, than the city snow plow came by and shoved it back onto the sidewalk. But, with determination he removed the snow and ice to provide safe passage for any brave enough to venture out.
The problem was… he had been in freezing rain for several hours. He came in soaked! Now he is recovering from a nasty head cold. I am just grateful it did not turn into pneumonia…
Then, on the Saturday afternoon before Christmas Eve, I listened to our phone messages. Bless their heart, Granite and Marble Works was ready to install our kitchen countertops. Could they come Wednesday, December 27? Please remember, this was late afternoon the Saturday before Christmas. They wanted to come on Wednesday. I had not responded to their call. Could they still come on Wednesday? The best I could do was leave a voice message. When I called? They picked up! I was amazed and so very grateful. Wednesday was confirmed! We would have countertops before New Years!
Once plumbing and gas are hooked up? We will have one functioning kitchen, if we can fix the radiant floor tubing so there is heat in at least that room. Right now our first floor and our future bakery are running in the 30s. A wee bit too chilly for dallying…
