Heater Troubles

We were out of town all weekend. It was cold when we returned home. I thought this was no problem. I just turned the heat on in the house. Kit Kat smelled the fresh smell of heater gas. The house started heating up. Then it stopped. No air was coming out of the vents. What the heck?

I dialed up the temperature on the thermostat. The vents started blowing air. I thought we were good. Nope. It kept blowing cold air. Then I turned off the heat. The vents kept blowing cold air. I knew we were in trouble. Momoko slept downstairs because it was really cold up in our bedrooms. Little Kat cried that he wanted to use one of our portable space heaters.

Due to the cold and a long night's sleep, I got up early Monday morning. I went to work where it was warm. The kids had the day off. Momoko had to go into work to do some grading, but she did not need to wake up early. I called the heating company from work. They said they could work on our heat immediately. I ran out of the office and drove home.

The heating guy said there was a problem with the flow of water out of our heating system. That caused the safety switches to kick on and kill the heating each time we tried to turn it on. the guy thoroughly cleaned our system, and recommended we have a professional repeat the cleaning once a year. Whew.

After the heating guy left, I punched up the heat a bit until Little Kat and myself were getting cooked. Now the heat is working like a champ and the family is happy. The repair guy did not cost too much. And we are poised to keep our heating system maintained from now on.

Running Late

Momoko and Little Kat were late coming home from work yesterday. They were supposed to pick up a few groceries so Kit Kat could make baked potato soup. They were too tired to go the grocery store. That meant dinner was in trouble.

In these situations, Momoko usually wants to go out to eat. For me that requires a lot of energy. I am the one who usually has to drive. However we were out of options. We hit out favorite Mexican place. Their chili con queso was especially good last night.

There is talk of a storm coming our way this weekend. So we put gas in Momoko's car, dropped by the bank to get some cash, and stocked up on groceries. Finally we got home. We were all still tired. Momoko and I both went to bed early. That is rare for a Friday night.

Driver Fail

After work I needed to do some shopping. That's ok. There is a Walmart and Target one exit down the highway from my work. So I start driving down the highway. I must not have been concentrating. Before I knew it, I missed my exit.

It was a total fail, because after I missed my exit,
I hit a traffic jam. I thought I could just turn around at the next exit. No luck. There was a traffic jam on both sides of the highway.

After shopping I was running out of gas. I spied a gas station out of the way with 87 octane going to $2.89 a gallon. That sounded good until I started pumping the gas. The $2.89 was only valid if you bought a car wash. That's the last time I am going to that gas station.

Rocking New Penny!

I was jolted out of bed early this morning (sometime around 5 am). I just thought I had a nightmare or something but it was actually a 3.7 earthquake.

At school we did a lot of experiments, we put a peep in a vacuum (less pressure) and the thing got huge. We poured out a gas (CO2). My favorite experiment was using a dropper.

First we had to fill a test tube to the tippy top and then add drops of water. How many drops do you think we were able to get on the top? Next we took an old and new penny (tail side) and added drops until they spilled over. How many drops do you think we added?

Answers will be posted after in comments.

Trouble Filling Up

Coming home from work, I noticed my gas tank heading towards empty. So I stopped by the gas station to fill up. Some cat approached me and said he was out of gas, and out of money. He asked if I had any change.

I took one look at his car and figured something was not right. He was driving a new Nissan 350Z which costs $30,000 at the minimum. This is not somebody who should have money problem. I told the guy I had no change. What I meant was that I had no change for him. You got to be cautious in this day and age.

Leaving the gas station, I had to wait for the light to turn green before making a left turn. There was a car in front of me. As we made the turn, the car in front of me slowed down to a crawl. I wondered why he was doing this. We had the green light. Then I saw it. A truck coming in the opposite direction had jumped the median and was coming straight for the guy. We both dodged the truck and went by him without incident. Yikes.

The Big Drive

Now that Kit Kat has her learner's permit, she needs some practice driving. I told her we would go take a drive today. The destination was her friend's house. Kit Kat's friend lives about 3 miles from us.

To start I had Kit Kat ride in my passenger seat. We took a test drive where I was behind the wheel. At each point I described what I was doing, especially with my foot on the gas and break. Then I drove us back home.

Kit Kat and I switched positions. She did not want to do such a lengthy drive. But me and Momoko decided we would push Kit Kat a bit to help her learn to drive. I tried to schedule our ride during the time of day that is not busy. However a bunch of cars showed up anyway.

Kit Kat was able to manage the car while I gave her specific directions on when to break and turn. I had to remind her to put on her turning signals. Once we got to Kit Kat's friend's street, some other car got behind us and was impatient. We took our time and the car eventually pulled in a driveway. It was difficult for Kit Kat to drive home since there is one treacherous left turn. It is hard to see traffic there. We made it home safely. When asked whether she wanted to attempt the same trek again right away, Kit Kat was sure she needed a rest from the ordeal.

Cat and Mouse

Little Kat got me a nice pair of grippy gloves for Christmas. I put them out in the shed before visiting Grannie Cat. When we got back from our trip, I found that a mouse had chewed up the right glove. It was totally useless now. Time for Black Cat's revenge.

I got some delicious cheese and baited a trap. However this was a smart mouse. He ate the cheese without springing the trap. So I got a bigger piece of cheese and moved the trap slightly. This morning I found that the trap got him. Poor little guy. I don't mind him hiding in my shed. But don't eat up my new gloves.

My old truck seems to have tires that lost a lot of air this winter. One tire seemed flat. I went to Citgo to fill up the tires with air. Luckily I have a digital tire pressure reader. All four tires got filled to proper inflation. Then I tried to get some gas. The pumps were out of service. I drove to Exxon and found their pumps out of service too. I thought something might be going on. And I was forced to go fill up at the Evil Shell. Let's hope their gas does not kill my truck.

Early Fatigue

It was still light out when I got home. Since it is going to rain for the next couple days, I thought it was time to cut the grass. Normally I zip right through our big lawn. But today I found that I had to take a number of breaks.

I just ran out of gas (not the lawnmower). This might be caused by me being out of shape. That is all the more reason to get outside and do some yard work.

For a month or so I had been neglecting to cut the one side of the yard in the back. I took a peek at it today. There was some seriously high grass. I had to cut that too. Now I am broken.