Home Maintenance

The garage too, is an integral part of a home. When I got home from a short, 100-mile ride in the foothills, I parked my bike and proceeded to enter the house. Bang! Uh-oh, something happened in the garage, and I was hoping that it wasn't any of my bikes falling over due to whatever reasons that might cause this. I scanned the garage, but could not see anything out of place. Bikes standing and intact. The roof did not cave in. I pressed the button to the garage door opener, but it would only lift the door a few inches and then drop it back down. I tried to override the opener and lift the rollup door manually, but found that it may require superhuman strength to do so. What the? On closer inspection, I isolated the problem: the tension spring mounted above the garage door opening had snapped in half. So, my bikes were imprisoned in my own garage.

I got on the internet and discovered that there were businesses which offered 24/7 service for garage repairs. I left a voicemail, but since it was late Friday night, I tried again on Saturday morning. They eventually got someone out and had the parts replaced and installed, which wasn't a cheap proposition. But, this spring had a lifetime guarantee (come to think of it, the one that broke came with the house, and I wonder now if it too had a lifetime guarantee?).

Oh the incidental expenses of home ownership... I'm sure there's more to come.

The Middle

I'll say it again, 2008 has been an expensive year and it isn't even half over yet. My bike. Home. Bike and bike again. And I'm sure more home is lurking in the shadows. But, I am in the middle... yes I'm feeling the $ hit, but there are many who are struggling with much worse. And there are those who are enjoying their luxuries.

We are in the middle.

As to your health, there are those healthier, and those who are less fortunate. Those who are thinner, taller, prettier, funnier, smarter... in contrast to those who are fatter, shorter, more plain, somber, slower. No pity, no envy. The middle.

Such is the harmony of the yin and the yang.

The Heat Is On

The heat is on for me to pony up some funds to cover an unexpected expense. My central heating went out a few months ago, and I have procrastinated this long, staying warm with blankies, cuddling up with my boys at my feet, and portable area heaters.

The culprit was worn bearings on the fan of the motor assembly, but the technician also provided a routine check on the health of my central heat and A/C. He asked if I would mind climbing up onto the roof (yes, it is a rooftop unit) to look at something. He pointed out the metal heating elements and the two areas on either side where they were split (like tin shears taking to a tin sheet). Ouch.

His analogy of the consequences is that of putting my mouth around a car's exhaust... yup, nothing like a dose of carbon monoxide (CO) while I'm staying warm.

The irony is that a couple of months ago I purchased a CO detector on sale and stuck in a 9V battery I had lying around. A few weeks later it was chirping all loud as hell, so I yanked the battery and figured it for needing replacement. Which, by the way, I hadn't done. There's a moral here, that perhaps I should take heed to what that alarm was trying to tell me, but back to the HVAC unit.

It's gonna cost me, and cost me big. A crane is going to hoist the old unit down and the new one up. This for the comfort of keeping warm on 30 degree days, and staying cool on those days that hit above the century mark. That's a big OUCH!

Rains::Pours

Looks like I will be segueing into the new year with a sackload of expenses and errands. My Cruiser has been off the road since before Halloween, and now the tally has come in: fix the rear differential, replace rear tire and brake pads, replace a fork seal and perform a 72,000 mile service (change oils, fluids and filters; valve adjustments; other inspections). My brake rotors will eventually need replacing, hopefully not until toward the end of 2008.

My truck is overdue for some service, not that I drive it much (until recently, now taking round-trips to the light rail station which amounts to under 10 miles). It will need the fluids changed, some free recall items squared away and perhaps lube and air filter inspection. I did manage to replace a headlight bulb by myself!

My boys are due for their annual checkup. I need to respond to a semi-annual dental reminder. My central heating went out several days ago, and fortunately I've survived the coldness with portable space heaters.

And now if this doesn't beat all: I have some LED lights strung up under my gazebo's canvas canopy, but about half the lights are out. I think I put them up over the summer. I also have some colored LED lights strung around the arch of a metal arbor/bench in my backyard for a bit of holiday spirit, and wouldn't you know, half the string is not lit. By coincidence, half the power in my house went out a couple of nights ago. Although the circuit-breaker switches all seemed to be on, I flipped them off/on again and everything came back on. There must be some correlation here however little sense this makes... LEDs are supposed to last 10x longer than standard bulbs. Would sure be nice if all my expenses would cost only half as much!

Happy New Year!