No Hot Water - Wednesday, May 26, 2010

For the second day in a row we have had no hot water. Taking cold showers is not what I call fun. Monday night when we returned from FHE with the seniors, we had no water at all. For reasons unknown to us, sometimes the water pumps in the basement of our apartment building go out or stop pumping for a period of time. Usually by morning all is restored and we have water. Sometimes the water in the bathroom is a little brownish until it runs a while, but at least it is a hot shower.

Yesterday when we got up we had cold water, but nothing from the hot water faucet. While trying to decide if I should heat up some water on the stove and take a sponge bath, Rich said he used to take cold showers all the time on his mission in Mexico. The trick is to breathe out not in when the cold water first hits. Oh Great!! How did I get in this mess? By saying, "I'll go where you want me to go . . . ." Well, it was the shortest shower on record, but I did it.

So when we got home last night from the Argyles, the hot water still wasn't on. Grrr! We, then, checked with our neighbors and they all had hot water. What??? We tried to call Lucila, the gal in charge, but she wasn't home, so Rich left a message. We went to bed not confident that it would be restored by morning.

I had to wash my hair this morning and was NOT going to do it in cold water, so I heated up pans of water on the stove and leaned over the tub to wash my hair using warm water. Then, I took a big pan of hot water into the shower with me to use in rinsing off the suds.

Even with this detour in our morning routine, we still made it to work at 9:00. Shortly after arriving, Lucila returned Rich's call and asked if the pilot light was out on our hot water heater which gives us hot water on demand. Coincidentally, right as we were walking out the door, Rich did notice that the pilot light was not on, but didn't have time to investigate how to relight it. Lucila said that if the pilot light is out, there would be no water coming out of the hot water faucet. You've got to be kidding!!!! Now how is that related, we wondered! We can see that the water would not get hot without the pilot light on and igniting the flame, but one would think that water would still come out of the faucet. We were stunned!! But, that's how it works-- no flame, no water. So two days of cold showers could have been avoided if we would have had that piece of information. We live and learn!

Most of my day at work was devoted to medical matters. Yes, there were a few calls that had to be resolved by the doctor, but I had to record a lot of information and then email a brief summary of the calls I had received during the month to Sister Argyle. It took forever!

Elder Kroff worked on a variety of financial matters and went to the bank, while our office elders kept busy doing what they do. President Argyle was with us today as he had some interviews with some missionaries, so there was more activity than usual with people coming and going. My Distribution Center order has been delivered and is sitting in unopened boxes waiting for me to put the things on the shelves. I just haven't had time yet, maybe tomorrow.

At the end of the day I was ready to go home, but was involved with this email to Sister Argyle and had to stay until this project was finished. Rich went on ahead of me, and it took me another hour to finish.

I got home at 6:00 and fixed Ravioli with sauce, and a tossed salad for dinner. It was heavenly washing the dishes in hot water.

I washed some clothes, ironed some shirts, talked with Susanne and Thale on skype, and worked on yesterday's journal entry. I am behind due to nighttime activities that get us home late.

We are excited for our hot showers tomorrow morning.