The Birds and the Beasts

OK, so it's cold. Really cold. And as usual this time of year, my thoughts turn to daydreams of living in Florida.But I don't want to torture myself so I try not to think of it too much. The newscasters keep talking about how cold it is and also how important it is to bring the pets inside from the cold. And since the furnace is broken, "the cold" includes most parts of my house (though luckily, Heidi's furnace works so I don't have to worry about her and Isabelle). So to keep the pets and myself safe, Stella, Magnus and I are huddled in my bedroom, which I have turned into a makeshift apartment-within-an-apartment.

The furnace hasn't worked this entire heating season so far. Originally, I thought it was a problem with the thermostat, but after I got a very fancy new programmable thermostat and installed it, including pulling a new cable to replace the one that was made of what appeared to be the first electrical wire, ever, which of course led to buying another $50 "tool" to run said cable, it turns out that the thermostat wasn't the problem. Well, that seems OK to me, given that the thermostat is supposed to be able to save up to $150 a year from my energy bill (although does that include A/C? because if so, I'm down to probably $75 in savings, but whatever) - so even if it wasn't the problem, it will probably pay for itself in pretty short order. But what I learned today is that both of my furnaces (furni?) are something called a "millivolt" system. The upshot of such a system is that the pilot light provides the power for the thermostat (yeah, I don't understand how that works, either) meaning that, if the power goes out but the gas doesn't, I still have heat. Except when I don't have heat because the thing that takes the pilot light energy and converts it to electricity is broken. I guess it is pretty rare to have this kind of system, and I explained to him that this house is full of things that the professionals haven't ever seen before. Oh, and the guy isn't sure they can still get the part. AND, the brand-new programmable thermostat most likely won't work with this because the thermostat is for 24 volts and the power generated by the furnace is only 750 millivolts, or .75 volts. Not quite enough to run that thermostat. So, I'm not sure what's going to happen now, but for tonight, we are all bunked into this one room and I'm under the electric blanket and a down throw wearing my fleece pants and fleece robe and the pup and cat are curled up on soft warm things like pillows and towels which is how we've been ever since Furnace Man left.

Now. About that bird. That thing was in the room where I sleep when I'm at my dad's place. And what really upset me about it is that I didn't even see the thing for the first 3 nights I slept up there. A normal person in a normal room during a normal visit would have seen this thing immediately. But nothing about the room, the visit, or me are normal, so it wasn't until I reached under one of the side tables to grab something else that I noticed the bird. And it was way dead, and having to pick it up even with a wad of paper towels wrapped around my hand was sickening. I'm kind or retching about it right now. Blech.

To end on a high note, I would just like to say again that I am so thankful for my friends and family and ESPECIALLY for my amazing new job. I know, it's been almost a year. But I have been reminded so many times this month how wonderful the company is and the people are and even though it sounds ridiculously smarmy, I really feel loved and cared for there and I am so thankful that I managed to land there. Yay!! Oh, and tomorrow is "Ugly Christmas Pajama Day" at work. I don't have any Xmas PJs but I do have some Grinch slippers I may just bust out to be festive. Hee!