And now for the furnace

Home update time. Our next major house project came in the form of our furnace. Our house actually has 2 furnaces and 2 central air units. One set heats/cools the old part of the house and the other set heats/cools the back part of the house -- the addition put on in the 1950s. While I was in FL for a conference last week, Ken discovered that our back furnace had quit working. Not that we really noticed it though for 2 reasons: 1) the weather hasn't been that cold lately, and 2) we generally keep the house relatively cool anyway. It's just the two of us after all and we don't care.

We thought about calling a furnace repair person/business to come check it out, but that last time we had to do that, we had a negative and very costly experience. Forget that!  After our whole front porch steps incident last summer, we've decided to only bring someone on for a house project if they have been recommended by someone we trust. So I sent out an email asking for our local friends and family to give us some ideas of people that would recommend for things like the furnace, roofing, plumbing, etc. -- general home owner-type service personnel.

Ken's brother Tom -- an electrician and handyman of sorts -- offered to come over and check out our furnace.  It turns out that it was going to be a pretty simple fix. I guess (and I spare you all the details because, well, frankly, I wasn't paying attention) that the igniter had burned out. Tom told where he could get a part and then explained how to fix it. Ken ran by the parts store on his way home from work today, got it, and came home to install. I kid you not, it took him probably 2 or 3 minutes total and it was done and working!  We've now got the back room set at a balmy 62 degrees (it was only 60 without the furnace working). What a relief!  The whole project only cost about $32! Awesome!  Mucho thanks to brother Tom!