Oh My

I haven't blogged since October. bad me. I have had other things on my mind like everyone else. Its winter here in upper NYS, just as it is in other parts of the state and from Washington DC to Maine. Cold weather. Not to much snow so far which is great for me. Not into all the wintery stuff. Does nothing for me except make me feel more cold. 
We didn't have heat for a few days, air in the pipes, or water, actually no water the pipe in my office burst. Just little holes really but what a mess. Its New Years Eve and Ray calls for someone to fix the heating problem. No such luck, can't be fixed untl Tuesday of the following week. Ray say OK, because what else can you do.8 AM on Tues comes Robert to the door. I lead him to the basement and tell him "Have at it, Its all your." Robert just smiled said it wasn't bad in the basement. Cold up stairs though. 
So the day goes along and Robert is bleeding the pipes and doing whatever you need to do to fix them and can't understand why its not working. He looks at the pipes in the kitchen, bathroom and then I say, maybe you should try the lones in the office. Well we open the door, and now, its late in the afternoon, robert has been all over the pipes and stuff. He even had another another guy, who is a plumber, come to the house and help. As I said, I open the door to the office and there is water all over the floor and it is so cold that things have frozen to the rug. I had a lot of stuff in my office, Boxes for the Xmas deco's my numerous books on writng, witchcraft, wicca and serial killers. I want to write paranormal mysteries with hot love.  Anyway, I digess, water all over the floor. Robert takes the heat cover or whatever you call those things and lo and behold there is a hole in the pipe and not just one but two holes in the pipe.
Of course the office now needs to be cleaned out so Robert can work. I run upstairs and wake Pat. I told him that I needed his help and he will get dressed and come down. I go back to Robert and start taking stuff out of the office. Stuff that is not frozen in place and papers, oh lord, so many papers. Some are wet but I can't just dump them I have to check and see what I have to keep. I hand stuff out from the room and Pat and Robert grab it and look for a place to put it down.
The problem with my office is it used to be an inclosed sunroom or something like that. Tom, the previous owner told us that they enclosed it because either his wifes or his own parents couldn't do the stairs anymore so they fixed that room. Its not insulated that is one thing I can tell you. So the cold, and its been really cold, played a big part in the busted pipe.
How could we not know that there was a problem in the office? We don't go in there unless we are putting something in there. I keep the door closed because its a very cold room. Now its not like I hadn't been in the room for weeks or even days, actucally I put something in the room the day before and I didn't notice anything and I think I would have. Expecially if my shoes made a wet sucking sound.

 Robert and the plumber, I don't remember his name, go out to their respective trucks and check to see if they have all the parts they need. They do. I am happy.  They work to fix the pipes. Ray comes home and I tell and show him the office. "Oh Wow" says Ray.
Things are doing OK and the plumber leaves. Robert comes up from the basement and tells me that everything is fixed and he will go out to his truck and write up the bill.

I look at the bill and say to myself thank god, not that bad. Robert says "You have heat now, call if any problems" I said "Thanks Robert  and hopefuly I won't have to call you again."  That night my husband tells me that there is no heat upstais and I say to him "oh great, there isn't any heat down here either. Bummer."  Ray calls the place and Alisha tells him that they will try and get Robert over to the house to check out the heater. OK, so we wait and its cold. Alisha calls and tell me that Robert won't be available until the day after tomorrow, Friday. What can I say but "oh really not till then." Alisha then asks me if we have othe rways to heat the house and I tell her we have heaters, sweaters and throws, we will be fine.
Not happy but what can I do. The place likes to keep you with one guy and for us its Robert. Thursday Alisha calls and tells me that Robert is available now, can he come? Yes, I say but give me a 1/2 hour. I'm still in my pj's, I  like to do what I have to, clean and stuff then shower and get dressed. Alisha says that's great it will take him that long to get to the house. Super.
I run upstairs throw some clothes on and the phone rings, its Alisha, Robert is downstairs and no one is answering the door. Of course no,t its only been 10 minutes, but I say OK I guess I didn't hear him.I let Robert in and   I say he should ring the doorbell. No matter he is here and he will fix my heating or lack of heat. I follow Robert down to the basement and he looks at he valve and says "Oh you need a new thingy, I think I have some in the car." ( He really didn't say new thingy, I just don't know what its called) "Great" says I. Robert goes out the front door to his truck and returns with new valves. It ended up needing 2 new valves. For the overflow, I don't know and really don't care. If it was just me I would do the same thing again and telling me names of the pieces does nothing for me. Lost cause when it comes to stuff like that.
I remember, it was New Years Eve.  A Thursday, Friday was New Years Eve and they had no one to send unless we wanted to spend lots and lots of money. We didn't want to do that. Alisha, the recep't. told us that couldn't couldn't get anyone out until Tuesday. We can wait. It wasn't bad I think the coldest it got was 56 degrees. So not to bad. Tuesday comes and with it Robert. I showed Robert the basement and told him "Have at  it." Now the basement is in a little bit of a mess. We have to much stuff and anything I am not sure of I put in a box or bag and put it away for me to look at later. I do that alot. We have lots and lots of boxes and bags filled with paper that I know 3/4 could be thrown out. But I can't do it, not until I go through all of it. This brings me to think of Hoarders a new show on A&E. The only difference is I can and do throw out lots of stuff. Hoarders don't. They have a mental illness, I don't. At least not that one. 
Robert fixes the gas heater. We are happy, well I am happy, no one else is home. I pay, it hurts.
That was Tuesday morning. Ray came home and says there is no heat upstairs call the place and get Robert back here. Ray calls and and Robert comes back. There is air in the line that I didn't get, says Robert. I say OK. He does whatever to get the air out and we have. I am happy again.
The next day, I go down to the basement to start the washes. There is water coming out of the heater. Oh no, I say to myself. Ray is home and I call up to him to come and and fix or do something. He comes down see the water and tells me its the over flow but it shouldnt be coming out like that. I go upstair and call the place. Robert not available until the day after. OK, we wait.
Alisha calls and tells me that Robert is back early from a job and can come over in say 1/2-hour. I say great. I run upstairs to get dressed. The phone rings and its Alisha,  asks," you are home, right?" " Yes, I am.
"Well Robert is outside the door and no one is answering." "I will go right down and let him in." I am upstairs and couldn't hear the bell, if he used the bell. I go down and I see that Patrick is up and he didn't hear anything either. I open the front door and before me is Robert, I say "Hi Robert, Hows it going?" He says "OK." I ask him if he rang the bell and he says no he knocked. "That's why I didn't hear it, I was upstairs." That little mystery solved.
I take Robert to the basement and he sees the water and it is the overflow but I need a new setup, acually I get two new ones. Lucky me.
Everything is fixed and I get my check book and Robert goes to make out the bill. I shed a small tear and hand him the check. He says its not to bad and he gave me a discount. I say thanks.
Compared to last year when both cars broke down and had to be towed and then Rays broke down again and had to be towed again. I did not like making out those checks for those bills right before Xmas. At least the heater problem was only half of what I paid for the cars, and it was after Xmas. Of course, because this is the way things go in my world, its right before Ray retires. Thats the way it goes sometimes.