June 11, 2021
Dear Everyone:
Among other things, I decided that this was the year to replace the
water heater.
I looked up the “average” lifecycle for a water heater.
The consensus was “6 to 13 years”.
Moreover the advice was, “If you’ve had that heater for over 12
years, you are on borrowed time.”
Well, heaven knows I’ve been on borrowed time for quite a while in other
regards, so let’s not push our luck.
And, in fact, since I’ve lived here for just over 12 years, and
the water heater was here before I was, it seemed like a good idea to
replace it.
Also, I’ve had good luck with the service I’ve used so far for things
like replacing the central heat and air, so I contacted them.
They were quite pleased to send out a technician to “consult” on
the matter.
He came on Tuesday. He
actually found a date somewhere on the existing heater that read 2004,
so it was even older than we thought.
He consulted his computer tablet and came up with a replacement
that they had in stock.
Furthermore, they had an opening to install it the next day (yesterday).
Right on time, a couple of technicians showed up.
They happily hopped in and out of the hallway closet that houses
the water heater and central heat and air.
Pulled the old tank out and replaced it with a lovely new one.
Here in earthquake-prone California, water heaters are required to be
strapped to the wall to keep them from falling over.
Occasionally, I would hear the loud grinding of a power drill.
I found out later that they were dissatisfied with the strapping
from the original tank and anchored some 2X4’s to the wall studs and
strapped the new heater in nice and snug.
It’s not going anywhere.
So now I have a shiny new water heater that’s good for the next decade.
In other news…
As stated before, I have no attic, no basement, no garage.
All of that superfluous stuff that usually lands in those places
finds its way into the “Catchall Room”.
Also known as the Really Big Closet.
In the last few weeks, I’ve been doing some “spring cleaning”.
Finding things that I really
don’t need, have no room for, and “where the heck did that come from”?
On the Plus Side, I have occasionally found some forgotten
“treasure” of which I had lost track.
In the course of all this activity, I have made numerous trips out to
the dumpster and the recycle bin.
I have also left some quite useable items in the corner of the
dumpster enclosure in case anyone else wanted them.
In due course, a few hours at most, they were all “adopted” and
went to new homes.
All this while, I started to favor my left knee.
After years of making the left side do most of the work because I
had osteoarthritis in my right hip, it only seemed fair.
I even mentioned to my Primary Care Physician (PCP) last month
that the left knee was starting to give me some “twinges” especially
during my morning Physical Therapy (PT) exercises.
Then, last Thursday, all hell broke loose.
Suddenly, the left knee was sending out Major Pain Alerts.
In other words, it hurt like hell.
I even called my PCP to try to make an appointment.
It turned out that she was going to be out of the office all next
(this) week, but had an opening that morning, if I could get there in
time.
It was a case of Drop Everything and Drive Like a Bat out of Hell, but I
made it in time.
She prodded a bit here and there around the knee, and I said, “Ouch!” at
various times. Then she sent
me down the hall for an X-Ray and gave me a referral to an orthopedic
specialist the following Monday.
By the time I got to the Orthopedist on Monday, I was on crutches.
Really. Found a pair
at CVS that even fit someone less than 5’4”.
The Orthopedist looked at the X-Ray, consulted with the radiologist and
pronounced that I now have arthritis in my left knee and the trouble was
caused by an “Arthritic Flare Up”.
No kidding.
She also recommended that I “consider” getting a walker.
A walker! I knew I
was old, but now I’m decrepit, too.
Sigh.
Nevertheless, the walker has helped considerably.
Also some Over The Counter (OTC, as in non-prescription) pain
medications, the use of ice packs and elevating-while-resting have
proved beneficial. As of
this morning, the Pain Scale has gone down from “Screaming Red!” to
merely “Whimpering Yellow”.
Love, as always,
Pete
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