: Glad to hear you will be back at home soon. As for me, I have not been
: paddling lately. Have been trying to work on my book but mother nature,
: rotten buildings, an abcessed tooth, a malfunctioning furnace, an old car
: and too many dates have all conspired to seriously detract me from my
: literary efforts.

: Job #1: Last month a good sized chunk of the ceiling in my rental house fell
: down during a rain storm. Seems the roof had leaked enough to soak the old
: plaster and lathe enough to cause it to bulge down and finally fall. I
: always wondered why the ceiling bulged down when I first moved in, have
: never seen that before. I had to reshingle the roof. While I was working
: on the roof I decided not to remove the old rotten cedar shakes. My foot
: almost went though certain sections of the roof and I figured that if I
: removed them then I'd have to rebuild the roof. I left them. Check. Done.

: Job #2: Last winter my little 1982 Toyota Tercel never really did get warm
: coz the heater core was blocked up and the vent controls were jammed due
: to corrosion. I had take dash the apart after getting a rebuilt heater
: core(ca-ching $$$), figure out where new heater core goes, install, try to
: remember where all the cables connect, repair a loose power source
: connection for stereo while down there and hope to hell it all works.
: Check. Done with only 7 screws left over.

: Job #3: go to the dentist to discover why my jaw hurts so much even though
: there are no apparent cavities. Turns out that I need a root canal. I
: spent my birthday (October 27) stoned on Tylenol 3's and taking the dash
: of the Toyota apart. I go in for the root canal in two weeks. No check
: yet.

: Job #5: My antideluvian dinosaur of a furnace (ancient gravity
: type)mysteriously stopped working two weeks ago. I froze my duff for a
: week (weather turned cold that week) while I used my severely limited time
: to sort out why it wasn't working. I bought a new thermostat and installed
: it. The furnce fired up fine. Next day it stopped working again.
: Reconnected thermostat - nothing! I decided to check the wiring - no
: power, so I replaced the wiring. No effect! I figured that the gas control
: must be F$*#@d so I spoke with my landlord about getting the part
: replaced. To test it I connected the wires sans the thermostat to see if
: the furnace turned on. BooF...she fired up immediately. Ok, the gas
: control is fine. Must be the new thermostat. It has a stupid chip in it
: that must have been fried some how. I bypassed the thermostatic control
: and now turn the furnace on by attaching the wires manually to close the
: circuit. I'm going to buy a punch button and control it manually for the
: winter. Check. Done.

: Job #5: Since becoming divorced, I have been inundated with women who want to
: show me some love. I also happen to work afternoon shift and they all work
: day shift, so you can guess how little time I have to do repairs and such,
: not to mention writing. Interestingly enough, women love kayakers,
: especially the ones who go out into the wilderness and then write about
: the adventures. You know, as a single man, spending the weekends alone
: isn't high on my list of things to do - I have a rubber arm so I date
: often enough (every weekend no less). What activity suffers as a result:
: the writing. The dating won't stop for obvious reasons so I will have to
: get everything else fixed to make time for writing. No checks - ongoing
: effort.

: I am positive that there are other things I could have mentioned, like the
: night heron s&g I want to start building this winter. I have had the plans
: for a year but have not had the time to get them out of the tube and
: imprinted onto the plywood. This winter I have high hopes that I can work
: on it during those long dark winter weekend days. I have till April to get
: it done, I am going to India for one month in April. I hope my car
: survives the winter.

: Robert N(o time) Pruden

Hi Robert,
About that first #5, the furnace one, . Put a timer on the circuit. You can set it to fire the furnace at any time you want or need. And you wouldn't lose any time pushing a button.

On #2, photo any wiring before you dismantle anything, much easier afterwards. Though the 7 spare screws thing still happens.

Enjoy India when you get there.

Mike Savge
South West Cork