Cold, Cold, Cold!

That's what it is in the house today...COLD!! Last Thursday we had a problem with the electricity. At first, I thought the computer had died. Then noticed that a light that had been on, was off. I started checking around. Some rooms had power and others didn't. Then two more rooms just seemed to slowly die.

It was totally weird. I talked to a neighbor and said I had a quandary for him to think over. Neither of us could come up with a brilliant idea. Eventually had to contact Clarke Electric Co-op to come out and do some trouble shooting. They had to call a second guy, so we might have a single service call of $125.00 or it might be $250.00. Frightens me to think about. it. It seems that an underground wire got perforated by a stone or contact with rebar. As it works out, the incoming electrical feed is triple strand, so only the part of the house being fed by the perforated strand lost power. But we can't run anything that is 220 voltage so, no heat.

With luck, today I will finish digging the new wire trench and start fishing the new wire through conduit. If my neighbor can find time to help me tonight then maybe we will have heat. He is going to come down with his tractor to pull the old wire out of the ground and out of the house. Then I will have the opening to get the new wire in. Then fish the wire through the foundation, under the floor, into the closet and then make the connection. I hope it is easier then it sounds. I hate those tiny space situations... putting your hands where you can't see. Usually nothing icky happens but my imagination certainly tortures me.

The worst is the cost. The kids helped. They always do... but they shouldn't have to. What we spent on the conduit had been earmarked for christmas. I had wanted to get Evelyn a Woody doll. I have my heart set on it. Evelyn is quite the Woody fan. Altogether there are about three presents that I need to buy. Other then that, it will probably be a home made christmas again.

It is always the money part that gets to me. That is foremost in my mind now. It didn't help that we had a bill collector from the Iowa City hospital call just minutes after the electricity went haywire. She was rather pissed off with me that we hadn't taken a loan out on our 401k. It didn't matter that we don't have a 401k. She told me that EVERYONE has some sort of retirement account and EVERYONE can take loans out against them. This rather mean woman left me with some pretty intense anger, that I can't seem to shake. Iowa City will now be the last ones in line for getting paid off. As far as that goes, I really don't feel like paying anybody anything until I can get my grand daughter her Woody doll. Screw them all.

It isn't just cold, cold, cold in the house... I'm feeling pretty damn cold in the regions of my heart as well.

Louie