Whistle While They Fret-Mental Preparedness In Action

Kendall and Sue · December 3, 2014 at 7:05 pm

Hi, Kellene. It is a good
Hi, Kellene. It is a good thing you were on the first floor incase you needed to “jump”.
Here is another story of attitude from this November.
Our furnace died. Well, actually the heat exchanger died. No local carrier in our small town, the part needed to be ordered. It would take “10 days” since it was over the Thanksgiving Holiday. When it was sent – in pieces, it was not complete.
Fortunately we have a Hearthstone wood stove, the electricity was working, and the furnace’s fan was functional. By turning on the fan, we were able to circulate the warmth from the wood-stove through more of the house. We slept in the “hearth-room” with our sleeping bags, and put an electric heater in the bathroom. There was enough cooking and baking in the kitchen on the opposite side of the house to add the additional heat we needed. Temperatures outside fluctuated from 40F one day to 8F below zero on another, but most of the time it was around 6 degrees. With the furnace fan circulating air, the rest of the house, which we had closed off, dropped to 50 degrees F and held. We were chilly, but comfortable bundled up in our woolens.
Upon the initial visit, the (only local) repairman was apologizing for needing to order a part from a company he did not service. We said, “No problem, we have a wood stove.” He called a week later to say he expected the part soon, but it was the Thanksgiving Weekend and he had other emergency repairs to do. Could we wait? Again, “No problem. We have a wood stove.” [Cooking our Thanksgiving dinner, and adding the heat of our 14 guests, brought the hearth-room and kitchen to 80 degrees.]
The parts came in, but not all of them, so my husband offered to drive the 100 miles round-trip to get them. When the repairman returned, he found out that my husband’s trip had been for naught. The supplier had given up parts for a different model; they were the wrong size. The company then had the parts couriered to us. No problem, we have a wood stove? Right? But, now with the furnace completely out of commission we were missing that whole house fan for two nights. The warm air from the wood-stove could not be circulated and now the outside temperatures fell to below zero. Parts of the house dropped to 42 degrees. We had now been without furnace heat for two weeks.
Here is the attitude part: We added clothing – wool, slept near the wood stove; gathered more wood from our forest and split it for immediate use. (We have several cords stored, but with the colder temperatures we were burning more and wanted to stay ahead before deep snows fell.)
During the final furnace assembly, my husband gave the repairman a slice of warm bread fresh from the oven. When the repairman came up from the basement to discuss the completed repair, furnace set-up and incorrect vent positions, he was given more homemade bread with homemade jam, along with a couple of freshly baked cookies. We then sent him on his way with the newly opened jar of our wild raspberry jam.
Missing parts over a holiday season? Things happen. Since we kept saying, “No problem. We have a wood stove,” that attitude helped the repairman with his scheduling. When our time came, he worked diligently to make our situation right. You could say that was his job. But, since there was no haranguing or finger pointing, he is going to fight with the furnace maker to pay for the extra labor involved. At 75 and 65 years of age, every little thing helps.

Attitude matters. My husband thanked me this morning, the first day of heat after two weeks, about being such a good sport. “Why,” I asked? We do what we must. It was an adventure. We learned a lot about how to manage without heat. The time was used to come up with plans for how to keep the house warm in the future.
A positive-attitude always pays off.