Hey Humble Readers...
When was the last time you cleaned your dryer vent? Be honest now.
I'm not talking about the lint trap, I'm talking about the actual exhaust hose and vent that goes outside your home. It's a task that's easily missed in your annual home maintenance schedule.
We are fairly sure that it had been done just before we moved, a little over four years ago. Over the past couple of years, my Beloved and I have talked about having someone come out to take care of it for us, but something more pressing always came up... like a new furnace, a new hot watertank, a baby or two needing car seats and all.
We finally bit the bullet and had a guy out to tackle this ooky job... And man oh man, it's a good thing he did.
(A bit of background... we live in an small older condo-ized apartment building in which every unit has stackable washers and dyers. We live on the second floor, and the length of the exhaust tubing from the dryer to the outside is too long and too high for us to manage this task ourselves. Hence the need to hire a professional.)
Humble Readers... there was a bird's nest in there. And I'm not talking figuratively. An actuall honest-to-goodness bird's nest. Just imagine all the lint and gunk that was trapped in there along with birdy ickies. It makes me shudder to think about it. Beyond the grossness factor, the risk of fire associated with blocked dryer vents is substantial.
So, my advice to you all... find out when you last had your dryer vent cleaned, and if it's been more than a couple of years, GET IT DONE!
We now return you to your regularly scheduled head-cold.
Showing posts with label home repair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home repair. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Journey Out of Crazy Town
Hey Humble Readers.... (if any of you are still out there)
I know it's been a while. The last you heard from this intrepid hobbit, I was just getting home from the ER after a terrible bout of stomach flu. Much has happened in the interim, but suffice it to say, I feel like we are coming back to normal. At least our brand of normal around here. Let me give you the run down... (hope you're prepared for a long story)
The Wretched Stomach Flu
Ginny came down with the nasty bug around the 12th or 13th of December. Vomiting, diarrhea, the works. For her, it lasted about 24 hours... with a few little straggling pukey sessions that lingered into the second day. We had a recovery day, and went for doctor appointments for both she an I... her well-baby check up and blood work results for me. Both were anticlimactic, botched test results for me and a cursory check over for the wee girl.
That night, sometime just after midnight, I woke up with a horrible pain in my stomach. I got up and assumed that I would be spending some time in the bathroom with my usual IBS issues. An hour or so later, I started puking. And puking. And puking. It lasted for close to twelve hours. I couldn't keep anything down, not even water. I started to get a little freaked out, and I begged my Beloved to stay home from work because I was in no condition to look after Ginny. It was around noon, after a particularly ugly round of vomiting that I decided to call our healtlink hotline. I gave the nurse all my info (pregnant, diabetic, stomach flu, etc) and she was adamant that I go to the ER.
Another 6 hours, lots of needle sticks, and two bags of IV fluids later I was on my way home, feeling like I had been run over by a Mack truck. My MIL came the next day to help look after Ginny so that I could rest. She made soup, gave Ginny a bath, and basically ran things for the day, while I laid on the couch like a lump. (Sadly, she ended up catching the vile, wretched bug. Since that point, no less than 8 members of our extended family have had it, altho none of them ended up in the hospital thankfully!)
The Continuing Plumbing Saga
The Hobbit-hole has some issues. It's small. It's old-ish. The front north corner of the building is slightly lower than the rest due to a settling foundation after a major flood at the building next door. But the pressing issue this year has been our plumbing. You may recall, if you have a good memory, that we had to have the kitchen taps worked on last year. Then came the hot water tap in our tub. A temporary fix, followed by an expensive replacement. Then the aging hot water tank started acting up. Two days after the stomach flu/ER fiasco the pilot light went out on the tank. We called a plumber, and he got it restarted but strongly recommended getting the tank replaced. We knew it was due soon (the tank was pushing 20 years old), but were hoping to hold out until tax refund time. NO SUCH LUCK!
The next day, I had no hot water for my shower. It had now been 3 days since my last hot shower. Hobbits don't deal well with repeated exposure to icy water. My Beloved and I bit the bullet and called the plumber. They got us on the schedule for the next day, and they came in and with relatively little fuss (and a big check that I had to sign) they swapped old for new, and I had the promise of hot water... UNTIL...
The Carbon Monoxide Scare
The guy who was doing the install on our hot water tank was just finishing up. I had just written the check. The plumber was doing one final check on the tank when he noticed something odd. Where the furnace and hot water tank exhaust should have been venting, it was backdrafting. As in venting back into our furnace room. As in carbon monoxide was filling the space. Pardon the expression, but WTF!?!?! If I believed in karma, I would be of the opinion that I really pissed someone off in a former life. Plumber-dude immediately shut down both the new hot water tank and the furnace... in December... on the frozen flatland.
Two days and five furnace specialists later, the problem/mystery was solved. It turns out that one of the downstairs units in our building had the furnace replaced, and the asshat who did it managed to hook that furnace up to our chimney (again I say, WTF!?). He then ran an exhaust hose from that furnace, through our chimney to the roof, and then capped it, effectively blocking the path for our furnace exhaust. Our furnace was venting into the wall between our unit and the one next door. Sounds like a great idea, huh? The particularly fun bit was when the owner of the unit with the furnace in question decided to drag her feet for half a day before she would come and let the furnace guys into her unit to check it out (her exact words to my Beloved were "how do you know it's coming from my unit? What proof do you have?").
Travels with a Toddler
Two days after the whole furnace fiasco, we were heading out to fly to K-town to spend the holidays with my family. Ginny has flown before, and she did well, sleeping through the whole journey. This time, no such luck. Plus it wasn't a direct flight... we had to fly through Vancouver, so add an extra hour to our flying time. Less than 15 minutes into the flight, she somehow managed to wet through her diaper, onesie, jeans and my shirt (she hasn't had a major leak like that since she was in cloth diapers!). I wasn't prepared for it, and we had no change of clothes for her in the diaper bag. So, I got to sit on a plane with a very wet, very fussy baby soaking me.
Then, on the descent into Vancouver, Ginny started to have some issues. And when I say some, I mean major issues. She became 'that' baby on the plane. The one every traveler dreads. The screaming, snotty, pee-soaked, red in the face baby. Oh, and did I mention that I really had to pee? The Halfling 2.0 decided that would be a good time to line dance on my bladder. And we had to change planes... kind of. We had to get off the plane in Vancouver, with all our carry ons and a very upset baby, only to get right back on it 10 minutes later. The only upside was that I had a moment to go pee.
The flight from Vancouver to K-town was considerably quieter (thank you Tyl.enol), but that was the last quiet time we got for a while. Apparently, Ginny is going through a phase where change is a very bad thing. Sleeping in a strange play pen, in a strange room, sharing said room with Mommy and Daddy... all added up to very little sleep for 10 days. Other than that, it was a great trip, and I'm glad we went. The flight home was much less traumatic, and significantly shorter as we had a direct flight. Ginny didn't sleep on the plane, but we weren't even out of the airport parking lot before she was out cold. She slept for the two hour drive from Big City to the South to our little city.
I'm now in that post-trip recovery mode. I'm feeling like I'm coming down with a bit of a cold. I've unpacked two out of three suitcases, and hopefully tomorrow I will have the energy to do the third suitcase and start to take down all our Christmas decorations.
Oh yeah, and I have a little thing called an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon! Yippee!
I know it's been a while. The last you heard from this intrepid hobbit, I was just getting home from the ER after a terrible bout of stomach flu. Much has happened in the interim, but suffice it to say, I feel like we are coming back to normal. At least our brand of normal around here. Let me give you the run down... (hope you're prepared for a long story)
The Wretched Stomach Flu
Ginny came down with the nasty bug around the 12th or 13th of December. Vomiting, diarrhea, the works. For her, it lasted about 24 hours... with a few little straggling pukey sessions that lingered into the second day. We had a recovery day, and went for doctor appointments for both she an I... her well-baby check up and blood work results for me. Both were anticlimactic, botched test results for me and a cursory check over for the wee girl.
That night, sometime just after midnight, I woke up with a horrible pain in my stomach. I got up and assumed that I would be spending some time in the bathroom with my usual IBS issues. An hour or so later, I started puking. And puking. And puking. It lasted for close to twelve hours. I couldn't keep anything down, not even water. I started to get a little freaked out, and I begged my Beloved to stay home from work because I was in no condition to look after Ginny. It was around noon, after a particularly ugly round of vomiting that I decided to call our healtlink hotline. I gave the nurse all my info (pregnant, diabetic, stomach flu, etc) and she was adamant that I go to the ER.
Another 6 hours, lots of needle sticks, and two bags of IV fluids later I was on my way home, feeling like I had been run over by a Mack truck. My MIL came the next day to help look after Ginny so that I could rest. She made soup, gave Ginny a bath, and basically ran things for the day, while I laid on the couch like a lump. (Sadly, she ended up catching the vile, wretched bug. Since that point, no less than 8 members of our extended family have had it, altho none of them ended up in the hospital thankfully!)
The Continuing Plumbing Saga
The Hobbit-hole has some issues. It's small. It's old-ish. The front north corner of the building is slightly lower than the rest due to a settling foundation after a major flood at the building next door. But the pressing issue this year has been our plumbing. You may recall, if you have a good memory, that we had to have the kitchen taps worked on last year. Then came the hot water tap in our tub. A temporary fix, followed by an expensive replacement. Then the aging hot water tank started acting up. Two days after the stomach flu/ER fiasco the pilot light went out on the tank. We called a plumber, and he got it restarted but strongly recommended getting the tank replaced. We knew it was due soon (the tank was pushing 20 years old), but were hoping to hold out until tax refund time. NO SUCH LUCK!
The next day, I had no hot water for my shower. It had now been 3 days since my last hot shower. Hobbits don't deal well with repeated exposure to icy water. My Beloved and I bit the bullet and called the plumber. They got us on the schedule for the next day, and they came in and with relatively little fuss (and a big check that I had to sign) they swapped old for new, and I had the promise of hot water... UNTIL...
The Carbon Monoxide Scare
The guy who was doing the install on our hot water tank was just finishing up. I had just written the check. The plumber was doing one final check on the tank when he noticed something odd. Where the furnace and hot water tank exhaust should have been venting, it was backdrafting. As in venting back into our furnace room. As in carbon monoxide was filling the space. Pardon the expression, but WTF!?!?! If I believed in karma, I would be of the opinion that I really pissed someone off in a former life. Plumber-dude immediately shut down both the new hot water tank and the furnace... in December... on the frozen flatland.
Two days and five furnace specialists later, the problem/mystery was solved. It turns out that one of the downstairs units in our building had the furnace replaced, and the asshat who did it managed to hook that furnace up to our chimney (again I say, WTF!?). He then ran an exhaust hose from that furnace, through our chimney to the roof, and then capped it, effectively blocking the path for our furnace exhaust. Our furnace was venting into the wall between our unit and the one next door. Sounds like a great idea, huh? The particularly fun bit was when the owner of the unit with the furnace in question decided to drag her feet for half a day before she would come and let the furnace guys into her unit to check it out (her exact words to my Beloved were "how do you know it's coming from my unit? What proof do you have?").
Travels with a Toddler
Two days after the whole furnace fiasco, we were heading out to fly to K-town to spend the holidays with my family. Ginny has flown before, and she did well, sleeping through the whole journey. This time, no such luck. Plus it wasn't a direct flight... we had to fly through Vancouver, so add an extra hour to our flying time. Less than 15 minutes into the flight, she somehow managed to wet through her diaper, onesie, jeans and my shirt (she hasn't had a major leak like that since she was in cloth diapers!). I wasn't prepared for it, and we had no change of clothes for her in the diaper bag. So, I got to sit on a plane with a very wet, very fussy baby soaking me.
Then, on the descent into Vancouver, Ginny started to have some issues. And when I say some, I mean major issues. She became 'that' baby on the plane. The one every traveler dreads. The screaming, snotty, pee-soaked, red in the face baby. Oh, and did I mention that I really had to pee? The Halfling 2.0 decided that would be a good time to line dance on my bladder. And we had to change planes... kind of. We had to get off the plane in Vancouver, with all our carry ons and a very upset baby, only to get right back on it 10 minutes later. The only upside was that I had a moment to go pee.
The flight from Vancouver to K-town was considerably quieter (thank you Tyl.enol), but that was the last quiet time we got for a while. Apparently, Ginny is going through a phase where change is a very bad thing. Sleeping in a strange play pen, in a strange room, sharing said room with Mommy and Daddy... all added up to very little sleep for 10 days. Other than that, it was a great trip, and I'm glad we went. The flight home was much less traumatic, and significantly shorter as we had a direct flight. Ginny didn't sleep on the plane, but we weren't even out of the airport parking lot before she was out cold. She slept for the two hour drive from Big City to the South to our little city.
I'm now in that post-trip recovery mode. I'm feeling like I'm coming down with a bit of a cold. I've unpacked two out of three suitcases, and hopefully tomorrow I will have the energy to do the third suitcase and start to take down all our Christmas decorations.
Oh yeah, and I have a little thing called an ultrasound tomorrow afternoon! Yippee!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Hobbit-ish Potpurri: End of Summer Edition
Good Evening Humble Readers! Some long weekend randomness for you...
Something might seem kind of odd, but it's really rather cool. Early this year, Dad C had spent a big chunk of change on some new hearing aids. One of the granddaughters (she's now in her early 20's) was born with only 10% hearing in one ear. I don't know all the whys and wherefores as to why nothing has been done for her hearing up to this point, but something has been done now. Mom C made arrangements with Dad's audiologist and now my Beloved's niece is the proud owner of a top of the line hearing aid. It only took an hour or so to reset it for her needs, and now she has perfect hearing.
***********
Is there anything more gratifying than a shiny clean kitchen?
***********
Remember those bugs I told you all about the other day? The ones that had no respect for personal space? Well, they left their marks. I'm covered in bug bites... in not nice places. (ok, not THERE... get your minds out of the gutter!) But, yes, I was wearing a skirt. *sigh*
***********
I'm off from work tomorow, so I'm going to tackle the bathroom. Including the frightening abyss that is the cupboard under the sink. And I'm going to fix that dang toilet! How's that for motivation?
Something might seem kind of odd, but it's really rather cool. Early this year, Dad C had spent a big chunk of change on some new hearing aids. One of the granddaughters (she's now in her early 20's) was born with only 10% hearing in one ear. I don't know all the whys and wherefores as to why nothing has been done for her hearing up to this point, but something has been done now. Mom C made arrangements with Dad's audiologist and now my Beloved's niece is the proud owner of a top of the line hearing aid. It only took an hour or so to reset it for her needs, and now she has perfect hearing.
***********
Is there anything more gratifying than a shiny clean kitchen?
***********
Remember those bugs I told you all about the other day? The ones that had no respect for personal space? Well, they left their marks. I'm covered in bug bites... in not nice places. (ok, not THERE... get your minds out of the gutter!) But, yes, I was wearing a skirt. *sigh*
***********
I'm off from work tomorow, so I'm going to tackle the bathroom. Including the frightening abyss that is the cupboard under the sink. And I'm going to fix that dang toilet! How's that for motivation?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Hobbit-ish Potpurri: Roadtrip Rant
Good Morning Humble Readers...
First up, I want to say thank you for all the support yesterday. It means a great deal to know that there are others out there who understand that these days are challenging, but need to be commemorated. Thank you for all your kind words, prayers, and virtual hugs. They really helped me get through the day.
***********
Yesterday's gong show of epic proportions actually started on Monday night, when I got home from work to find Lake Linoleum in my kitchen. After pulling everything out from under the sink we discovered that the cold water line to the sink was leaking pretty badly. Of course everything under the sink was wet and nasty... cardboard boxes that the garbage bags come in disintigrating as we tried to move them. The plumber is here now, and I'm sure I won't get out of this one for less than $150.
***********
Sleep was in short supply on Monday night, so needless to say I was fairly grumpy yesterday morning. When my Beloved knocked the towel rack off the wall in the bathroom, AGAIN I was more than a little perturbed. I love the man, but he certainly isn't a handy man, so before I took my shower I had to deal with the pain in the butt (the towel rack, not my Beloved).
***********
Due to some poor planning and lack of attention to detail on my part, I had to make a spur of the moment mad dash to Calgary to go to the Passport office. Driving almost two hours just to deal with downtown Calgary traffic, a half hour trying to find parking, to spend a whopping ten minutes in the office going over my application. That's beyond irritating. My passport will be here in two weeks, thank the Lord.
***********
I knew vaguely where the passport office was, as I had been there once before 8 or 9 years ago. I typed "passport canada" into our GPS, expecting to get the address and directions. The silly thing came up with the passport office in Edmonton, and then the one in Regina (that's in Saskatchewan). Nothing for Calgary. Piece of crap gadget. Thank heaven for smart phones.
***********
There is a new shopping mall on the north side of Calgary. I thought, after my frustration at the passport office I would treat myself to a little retail therapy. I'm still looking for the perfect purse for our trip, and I wanted to see the new store from my store's chain that is an anchor for the new mall. I finally get out of the downtown core, almost out of the city, find the correct turn off, and make my way toward the mall... only to get into the parking lot and see signs that it opens to the public today. I was one day too early! Grrr
***********
The rest of the trip home was a challenge. I was in a foul mood, and I thought that some loud music would help. I was bouncing back and forth between a couple of country stations and a top 40 station. While on one of the country stations I heard a song that put me over the edge. I don't know the title, and I didn't recognize the artist, but there was a line about how the singer was so thankful for the son his wife had given him. I started bawling and it didn't stop for more than an hour. I'm just thankful that highway 2 is pretty much a straight shot from Calgary to Red Deer.
***********
One other thing from yesterday that would have been just a minor irritation on any other day... I wanted to listen to a book on cd while I on the road. I grabbed the right cd before I left the house, but when I put it in the car stereo it wouldn't play. I was so pissed that I almost chucked the cd out the window.
Really, it's almost laughable now. Almost. Today is another day, and once the plumber leaves I will be able to maybe do something with my day. I will be back later with my Show & Tell post...
First up, I want to say thank you for all the support yesterday. It means a great deal to know that there are others out there who understand that these days are challenging, but need to be commemorated. Thank you for all your kind words, prayers, and virtual hugs. They really helped me get through the day.
***********
Yesterday's gong show of epic proportions actually started on Monday night, when I got home from work to find Lake Linoleum in my kitchen. After pulling everything out from under the sink we discovered that the cold water line to the sink was leaking pretty badly. Of course everything under the sink was wet and nasty... cardboard boxes that the garbage bags come in disintigrating as we tried to move them. The plumber is here now, and I'm sure I won't get out of this one for less than $150.
***********
Sleep was in short supply on Monday night, so needless to say I was fairly grumpy yesterday morning. When my Beloved knocked the towel rack off the wall in the bathroom, AGAIN I was more than a little perturbed. I love the man, but he certainly isn't a handy man, so before I took my shower I had to deal with the pain in the butt (the towel rack, not my Beloved).
***********
Due to some poor planning and lack of attention to detail on my part, I had to make a spur of the moment mad dash to Calgary to go to the Passport office. Driving almost two hours just to deal with downtown Calgary traffic, a half hour trying to find parking, to spend a whopping ten minutes in the office going over my application. That's beyond irritating. My passport will be here in two weeks, thank the Lord.
***********
I knew vaguely where the passport office was, as I had been there once before 8 or 9 years ago. I typed "passport canada" into our GPS, expecting to get the address and directions. The silly thing came up with the passport office in Edmonton, and then the one in Regina (that's in Saskatchewan). Nothing for Calgary. Piece of crap gadget. Thank heaven for smart phones.
***********
There is a new shopping mall on the north side of Calgary. I thought, after my frustration at the passport office I would treat myself to a little retail therapy. I'm still looking for the perfect purse for our trip, and I wanted to see the new store from my store's chain that is an anchor for the new mall. I finally get out of the downtown core, almost out of the city, find the correct turn off, and make my way toward the mall... only to get into the parking lot and see signs that it opens to the public today. I was one day too early! Grrr
***********
The rest of the trip home was a challenge. I was in a foul mood, and I thought that some loud music would help. I was bouncing back and forth between a couple of country stations and a top 40 station. While on one of the country stations I heard a song that put me over the edge. I don't know the title, and I didn't recognize the artist, but there was a line about how the singer was so thankful for the son his wife had given him. I started bawling and it didn't stop for more than an hour. I'm just thankful that highway 2 is pretty much a straight shot from Calgary to Red Deer.
***********
One other thing from yesterday that would have been just a minor irritation on any other day... I wanted to listen to a book on cd while I on the road. I grabbed the right cd before I left the house, but when I put it in the car stereo it wouldn't play. I was so pissed that I almost chucked the cd out the window.
Really, it's almost laughable now. Almost. Today is another day, and once the plumber leaves I will be able to maybe do something with my day. I will be back later with my Show & Tell post...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
I Did It!
Hey there humble readers!
I have an announcement... I did it! I overcame my fear of the drill! If you recall from this post, I have been procrastinating on some home repairs because I was just a titch afraid of screwing things up. Well, yesterday I bit the bullet and started doing some basic stuff.
I bolted the bookcases to the wall. No more leaning towers of books! And I put up the curtains in the kitchen! Curtain rod, brackets, and tie-backs.
There's still a fair bit on my list, but I'm feeling good about what I've gotten done. And I only stripped one screw!
Small steps...
I have an announcement... I did it! I overcame my fear of the drill! If you recall from this post, I have been procrastinating on some home repairs because I was just a titch afraid of screwing things up. Well, yesterday I bit the bullet and started doing some basic stuff.
I bolted the bookcases to the wall. No more leaning towers of books! And I put up the curtains in the kitchen! Curtain rod, brackets, and tie-backs.
There's still a fair bit on my list, but I'm feeling good about what I've gotten done. And I only stripped one screw!
Small steps...
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