Rheemed

 

Not as long as you might think.  They don't make 'em like they used to.

The first water heater in our home lasted almost 50 years.  The one that replaced it is barely two years old, and it is down for the second time.  We are waiting for FedEx to deliver a new control valve to get it back up and running.

The symptom is no pilot light. Typically, this would be caused by a defective thermocouple, but in our case the Rheem customer service rep admits that there was a design flaw in the valve itself, and the valve had to be redesigned.

Thermocouples have been around since the 1940s - the patent was applied for in 1941 - and they have been used in water heaters almost as long.  Why they felt the need to redesign something that has worked that well for that long in beyond my comprehension.

It brings to mind the old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Just A Thought

 

Photo I D

 

You ought to have to have a photo I D to vote.  There are those who disagree, but they are misguided at best. 

Yesterday's unsuccessful attempt by Senate Democrats to pass a national voting rights bill reminded me of something that happened in November of 2011.  The terrorist attacks on the WTC and the Pentagon had just happened a couple months previously and airport security was disorganized but intense.  Larry Baker and I had been to a Ricoh trainers' conference in Florida and were boarding a flight in Ft Lauderdale on our way home.  Larry had won a mini-Leatherman at the conference and had it confiscated at the gate - that two-inch blade was obviously a weapon.

I thought I was home free.  Then, as we prepared to board the plane, I was pulled aside and taken to another room.  My boarding pass read COUCH ROBERTA and they didn't believe that was my name.  It took two armed guards and a supervisor to finally decide that yes, my middle name was Allen, my middle initial was A and the boarding pass printer probably should have added a space after the T.  I was the last person on the plane, getting on just as the flight attendant was closing the door. 

My first act when I got to the office on Monday was to call American Express and have them drop my middle name from my profile.

Might As Well Be ....

 

Two out of three of our Saucer Magnolias are blooming.  It is a couple months early, but they are.

It makes me hope that we're in for an early spring - emphasis on hope - much as I dislike cold weather, I can't really believe we could skip winter entirely.

Still - - -

We also have Azaleas beginning to bloom.

In Your Dreams

 Got an email from my sister this morning.  It said:

> Had a dream last night that defies my interpretation. It was of you

> and Honey getting married at a special skiing venue. All the guests

> were seated at tables, and then you and Honey each skied down the

> slope between the tables and to the altar. Honey came first, and

> naturally she was a very polite and reasoned skier who greeted people

> along the way. You were spraying snow on the guests as you went by

> laughing and slaloming from one side to the other. It was quite interesting.

I replied that I had only been on skis once, and that was on the golf course at Tartan Park, the 3M country club in St Paul, Mn.  Honey has never been on skis in her life.

I am not sure what the dream was supposed to represent, but I guess dreams don't have to make sense.

Rain

 

The local weather wizards told us it was going to rain yesterday.  They just didn't come anywhere near on the amount - guessing about two inches along the coast and less elsewhere.  Oh, and they didn't say a darn thing about tornadoes.

Actual rainfall totals were much heavier north of I-10.  

Our rain gauge maxxes out at six inches and it was full to overflowing while five miles north of us the Plum Grove Fire Department spent the night doing high water rescues.  

There were numerous small tornadoes from Humble to Kenefick.  Nothing huge, but big enough to do damage.

All in all, it made for an interesting 24 hours.

Ripley

 

Ripley impressed the trainer at puppy school this week, but here at home the house training is still hit or miss - mostly miss.

He actually asked to go out yesterday. He did his thing and was praised for being such a good boy.  A half hour later, he had gone on the rug.

It's been twenty years since we had a puppy (puppies) in the house, but we don't remember it being this much of a challenge.

Summing Up 2021

 

The Big Drop

 The local weather gurus have been warning us for a week, and for once they were right. After a balmy New Year's Day at the Boggy Thicket, the bottom dropped out overnight.

Yesterday at this time (2:50 p.m.) the temperature was 82⁰ and today it is 37⁰ with a wind-chill factor that make it feel like the upper 20s.

Looks like we'll have the first freeze of the year tonight.

New Year

 Happy New Year. 

I'm not sure we are not going to have a major money crisis this year, but I'm holding out hope that this will be a better year than the last one, or the one before that,