Jun. 01, 2002 ~ Hot and cold
It's been a wacky week. On Monday our water heater went out. Said water heater was only about 3 years old, so we were rather annoyed to find water all over the carpet. To add insult to injury, while we were at the hardware store, buying a new water heater, our air conditioner died. Hah! Is this a conspiracy or what? Actually, the AC and the water heater live in the same closet, and the leaking water had affected the AC. Everything's all fixed now, more or less.
Yesterday my hairdresser mentioned how much she just loves, loves, LOVES her tankless water heater. Say what? She tried to explain the concept, but she had to speak very slowly and use small words, because my brain just wasn't getting it. She showed me a picture of the water heater (she and her husband had built a new home, and had photos of every room in the house, during construction and after completion), and it is so tiny. Less than 2 feet in length, just a few inches wide... not much to it. It even mounts on the wall, so she has all that nice closet space for storage. Anyway, it's too late for us, but we will definitely give this some thought, the next time we need to purchase a new one.
The thing (get ready, this is the hard part) has no tank, hence the name, "tankless water heater." Uh huh. It heats water as you're using it, instantaneously, and in theory you never run out. She said it's worked great for her, that even when she had lots of houseguests, they could take one shower right after another and the water was always hot.
The things are pricey (I looked them up online), but they do save money on your utility bills, and you have no tank to leak and ruin your carpet!
Okay, okay, so enough already. I was just so amazed to hear about this. Have YOU ever heard of such a thing? Am I the last one to know?
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Our sick calf has defied all odds and is still with us. I gave him his last shot of antibiotics the other day. He's now too big and strong for me to wrestle with him. On Tuesday, he struggled so much that the needle actually separated from the syringe. It didn't break, but it could have, and I knew then that enough was enough. Did I mention that I had to straddle him to give him the shots? As in... practically sit on him. Grip him with my legs, hold him with one arm, and try to give him the shot while he tried to escape. He loved me, in the very beginning. He was actually confused about who his "real" mother was. I was the bottle mommy, and he thought I was wonderful. But when his health improved and he could nurse from the cow, his loyalties shifted. Oh, that's a good thing. It only hurt my feelings a LITTLE bit. He used to come to me, but now he sees me coming and he gets up and runs just as fast as he can. I used to carry nice, nourishing bottles, but now I have those nasty needles, and he has decided that I'm evil, someone to be feared.
I credit Susan with his recovery. She diagnosed the problem, prescribed treatment and medication, and asks about him every day. She wanted me to give him a hug for her, but THAT is not likely to happen!
He's only two weeks old, so I guess his situation is still iffy. Things could go either way. But I've relaxed a bit and no longer worry so much about him. Now when I go out to check on him, I expect him to still be alive.
His name is Roscoe, or maybe Rocky. Or possibly Butch. He needs a macho-type name, don't you think? Yesterday, Rocky/Roscoe/Butch's name was Poophead. Poor little guy... Remember those old movies when somebody gets hit with a pie in the face, and all you can see is their eyes, peering out of all that messy stuff? Well, it was kinda like that, only it was a... cow pie. Major poopage. You could see his eyes and his little ears and that was it. Everything else was covered with cow poop. While I was watering the garden I kept hoping that he would get close enough for me to spray him with the hose, but no such luck. At any rate, he's clean today, thank goodness.
Husband is out there with the cows now. He's got the tractor going, and is getting ready to right the feed trough. Silly old bull knocked it over -- he got a little carried away when he was courting one of the ladies. Husband will hook chains to the trough and pull it upright. We hope there's no damage.
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