The Seahawks won! Yay! Had a good time with Mar and Gar watching the game and then we combined leftovers for another Thanksgiving dinner.

When I got home I did some more clean up, even though I had lots of help after eating there were still some dishes to be done. I started the dishwasher, washed a few of the bigger things, and watched a bit of TV.

When I went to the bathroom a while later I smelled gas. Yep, coming from the hot water heater room. The dishwasher was done so I turned the gas off to the water heater.

I went to bed a little after 11:00. I heard Courtney come home around 11:30 and heard him open the door to the hot water heater room. I got up a couple of times in the night to pee and smelled gas each time. Courtney had left that door open so it wouldn’t build up and I had left a couple of windows open so we wouldn’t be asphyxiated, but again worried about it most of what was left of the night.

As I was trying to sleep, I was thinking the problem was the new gas line under the house that Courtney had installed. I thought it had to be leaking since the gas to the hot water heater was turned off. When I finally got out of bed I turned off the gas fireplace and didn’t use the gas stove, even though the rest of the house didn’t smell like gas.

Courtney got up and the first thing he thought was that it was the line under the house. We took the stuff out of the hot water heater room again and he opened the crawlspace hatch. Nope, no rush of gas from there so it had to be the hot water heater.

Now, Darrel was very handy in a lot of things but he took after his dad in that he didn’t always read directions or do things exactly right. Earlier this year the hot water heater had died. Darrel ordered a new part from Lowe’s and installed it. I don’t remember him telling me anything about the install except that we now had hot water.

(Side note: Interestingly enough, we got 2 parts from 2 different Lowe’s warehouses but were only charged for one. I kept meaning to take the other one back but never did.)

I guess one of the gas tubes leading into the heater had black electrician tape around it and Courtney kind of remembered Darrel saying something about that part not fitting correctly. So, Darrel just taped it up and that was that. Courtney thinks that when he was trying to get the heater to restart, after turning the gas off for the stove installation, he must have jiggled it enough to make it leak much more.

Sooo, Courtney decided to install the extra new part before he went to work. Now I had asked him to wait until Saturday when he was off, but he was determined to do it and he is stubborn just like his dad.

He got the extra new part and went through a frustrating couple of hours. I did convince him to read the directions, but he is also a visual learner. He finally figured out that there was a part/piece broken off in the tube that was leaking. He then came out and told me just to buy a new one.

(Off the subject side note: I ran over to Ace Hardware to get a couple of those outside faucet covers since it was supposed to be getting into the 20’s. Thank you Marilee for asking me about this. Darrel had never, ever done anything with the outside faucets and the one on the other side of the kitchen sink had been known to freeze up but never broke! While I was there I got some new LED reel Christmas lights for outside. And then found out they had 6′ – 8′ Fresh Noble Christmas Trees for $30! I ran home and got the truck and went back and got one. So excited!)

I ended up cleaning out the storage in the hot water heater room. It was a total mess and something that had needed cleaning for quite some time. Four Goodwill bags and one garbage bag later, it was looking okay.

Courtney texted me and asked if I had bought a new heater. No, I hadn’t but went online and decided I might as well just get one and have it installed. Lowe’s has a service that could do it on Saturday.

I called to see how much it would cost for the installation. SeaTac has a regulation that you need an expansion tank on the hot water heater to keep from blowing out the city water lines. Has anyone ever heard of this happening? Me neither. Also, there was a $70 fee to the city. I was also told that the quoted price would not include anything that they ran into that needed to be corrected.

Now, this house is 60+ years old and Darrel has installed the last few hot water heaters. So, I was quite sure they would find many code violations or whatever that would add onto the installation price.

What was that price? $500! The hot water heater was just under $400! Plus the cost of the new expansion tank.

I texted Courtney and told him. He said that Vanessa’s (my BFF from grade school on up) boyfriend, Gary, had told Courtney on Thanksgiving that he would help with any of it if needed. Gary is quite the handy man and has done these kinds of things for years.

I called and he was available on Saturday morning. So, I went to bed with dirty hair and body but anticipating a new hot water heater in the morning!

Gary came over and said, ‘Well, let me take a look. It might be an easy fix.” I was like, ‘No way!’ Courtney and he started in on it.

Sure enough, he was able to get the part to drop right out! He got everything hooked up and it started on the first try. Then it died as soon as he let off the starter button. Try, try again, and again, and again. He looked around and said the exhaust wasn’t done properly. So, he fixed the exhaust and the heater started up! Hmmm, imagine that!

About an hour and a half after he arrived he was gone! Once again I am thankful for friends who are so willing to help me out. Thank you, Gary! Plus, Courtney has also been great in doing so much!

You would think I have had my share of problems this year, right? Wrong!

Tonight, I was in my recliner and it broke! I had noticed the last couple of weeks that it seemed to get stuck a bit when going up or down. Now it is stuck in a halfway position! It is probably 20 years old, so I guess it is time to buy a new one. I guess since I didn’t have to buy a hot water heater I will have to spend the money on a new recliner!

Tomorrow I am off to Oregon. Courtney and I were supposed to go this weekend but what with hot water heaters, stoves, and his getting tickets to the Sounders game tonight we couldn’t go. However, Marilee came through for me again and we are taking off in the morning.

Why? Because I commissioned a painting. When Darrel and I went on our Oregon coast trip in April, one of the hotels we stayed in had some great paintings. I had contacted the artist back then but he wasn’t available at the time. He contacted me a week or so after Darrel died and painted one that includes kind of a ‘memorial’ to Darrel.

I am quite excited to get it and also to spend some time shopping and dining in Portland with Marilee!

I will be posting about that trip soon!!

I also haven’t been doing much cooking so haven’t posted any recipes, etc. I am usually alone for dinner with Courtney’s schedule but am going to try to start cooking and posting again. Will also do some restaurant critiques on the trip!

Have a great week everyone, and go Sounders!