Hurricane Sandy

[tweeter]

(11-06-2012, 02:03 PM)MakersDozn Wrote: Yeah, our heating situation still is what it is, and so is Skippy the Wonder Landlord. Yesterday the heat was on nonstop, and the bedroom radiator valve kept spurting and leaking onto the carpet.

Skippy replaced the valve, and that stopped the spurting and leaking, but we didn't have any heat at all last night. He said something was wrong with the boiler. He needed to call the heating company. A couple of years ago, he had a minor stroke, which affected his ability to speak, so he dialed the number, and we/MDs spoke with the company.

The repairman came mid-morning. Turns out that there's a switch, similar to a lightswitch, at the head of the stairs going down to the basement. The heating switch is right above the lightswitch, and we think that Skippy had probably turned the heating switch off by accident.

So we have heat now. Sorry your heat situation is messed up. Hope it gets better soon.

MDs

Thank you so much for the instant replay of Heating 101. So, there's an on/off manual switch, not an automatic thermostat for your building. Wow.
Super here had said that changing valves (2) in my radiators, so that I could turn them on and off, would be a very big job (?), entailing turning off the boiler to the entire building. You have any feedback on this? Thing is on a thermostat. (Couldn't they turn it way down for maybe the 1/2 hr. (?) the repair would take?)

[Elizabethn]

*grumble* And now it's snowing here today. Nothing is sticking yet, but I'm sure it will. GROWL.

[MakersDozn]

(11-07-2012, 07:58 AM)tweeter Wrote: [Super here had said that changing valves (2) in my radiators, so that I could turn them on and off, would be a very big job (?), entailing turning off the boiler to the entire building. You have any feedback on this? Thing is on a thermostat. (Couldn't they turn it way down for maybe the 1/2 hr. (?) the repair would take?)

One boiler for the entire building? Regardless, he's obligated to provide heating service that works properly. But that's just our 94 cents.

Skippy does have a thermostat, but it's contingent upon also having the on-off switch that we mentioned turned on as well. The house is a little cape that was probably built in the 1950s. We know that our kitchen hasn't been updated since then.

Now the satellite reception went out during the noreaster. Just when we were going to watch a really good baseball-related program with our father. We know that we should be grateful that we have power, but this whole thing is frustrating, to say the least.

MDs

[MakersDozn]

(11-07-2012, 01:14 PM)Elizabethn Wrote: *grumble* And now it's snowing here today. Nothing is sticking yet, but I'm sure it will. GROWL.

Sticking here. About an inch or so. Adding our grumbles to yours.

MDs

[The Warren]

Yeh, oil heaters have this switch installed so it can be easily shut off in an emergency or for repairs. It's often at the top of the basement stairs. It's red. Other types of heaters also have switch somewhere (like my gas furnace has one up next to it), but we're used to seeing the big red oil burner ones.

   

[MakersDozn]

Yeah, that's what the switch looks like. Thanks.

MDs

[MakersDozn]

So at about 12:30 we set out from our/MDs apartment with our brother (doing the driving) and our father, and we went to their house. Just as we pulled onto their block, we saw a power company truck in front of their house, and two power guys about to pack up and leave the scene. We told our brother to stop the car so that we/MDs could speak to the linemen.

"Excuse me," we said, pointing to our father's house. "That's our house. What's the status of the power?"

"The power should be on," one of the linemen said. We thanked both of them profusely, and they drove away. Meanwhile, the neigbor guy from two houses down was smiling and giving a thumbs-up, while nearby an eight-year-old girl and two women, perhaps her mother and her grandmother, smiled and waved at the linemen as they drove away.

It was about 1pm.

Relief. After almost two weeks, this mess was over. For our FOO at least.

So we and our FOO went into the house and reset the clocks and the phones while the heater kicked in. It was 60F outside, but it was 50F inside the house.

A couple of hours later, our brother drove us back to our apartment. We packed up all the stuff for him to take home, and he left. Our apartment was oddly quiet, and we could hear some of the others inside squirming about having to go back to work tomorrow after two weeks off.

Yeah, back to work. We're never gonna like doing that, but normalcy, security, consistency....we'll take it.

MDs

[tweeter]

(11-11-2012, 10:00 PM)MakersDozn Wrote: So at about 12:30 we set out from our/MDs apartment with our brother (doing the driving) and our father, and we went to their house. Just as we pulled onto their block, we saw a power company truck in front of their house, and two power guys about to pack up and leave the scene. We told our brother to stop the car so that we/MDs could speak to the linemen.

"Excuse me," we said, pointing to our father's house. "That's our house. What's the status of the power?"

"The power should be on," one of the linemen said. We thanked both of them profusely, and they drove away. Meanwhile, the neigbor guy from two houses down was smiling and giving a thumbs-up, while nearby an eight-year-old girl and two women, perhaps her mother and her grandmother, smiled and waved at the linemen as they drove away.

It was about 1pm.

Relief. After almost two weeks, this mess was over. For our FOO at least.

So we and our FOO went into the house and reset the clocks and the phones while the heater kicked in. It was 60F outside, but it was 50F inside the house.

A couple of hours later, our brother drove us back to our apartment. We packed up all the stuff for him to take home, and he left. Our apartment was oddly quiet, and we could hear some of the others inside squirming about having to go back to work tomorrow after two weeks off.

Yeah, back to work. We're never gonna like doing that, but normalcy, security, consistency....we'll take it.

MDs

Good to hear about "normalcy, security, consistency..." I haven't had much of that either, but mostly not because of the storm. I'm almost used to the urban landscaping (garbage waiting for pickup).

The lack of communication among Soc. Sec., Medicaid and Medicare has led to an official letter informing me that my SS check will be reduced. One bureaucratic mess after another. Hopefully I can see to that this morning.
Then, there's the old struggle for brand name drug approval. AARP put doc thru the wringer last time. I hope I can maintain my relationship with that doctor, the only one I have. Additional chaos. I'm getting a letter to him together. What has gone wrong? Messed up diagnosis by his colleagues (except for one).
Something (in addition to childhood history in NY) has gone wrong with my life from when I lived in California. I can't fix it. So, I'm trying to live with it.

On topic. I realize in my heart what normalcy would be for me, and that I probably will never know that happiness again. But, I found my heart, re-centered, another expression of normalcy. I have peace and despair at the same time, LOL. What is becoming the normalcy of my golden age years (yuk).

Nice to be here. Normal. Couldn't get thru to the website for a while yesterday.

Okay, off to ready myself for Soc. Sec. office. Thankfully, it's easy walking distance.

Glad your family is safe and snug at home.

tweets

[MakersDozn]

(11-15-2012, 10:08 AM)tweeter Wrote: Nice to be here. Normal. Couldn't get thru to the website for a while yesterday.

Okay, off to ready myself for Soc. Sec. office. Thankfully, it's easy walking distance.

Glad your family is safe and snug at home.

tweets

Thanks. Good luck with Soc. Sec.

BTW, the techies are looking into the tech issue that you described.

Laura and others