69
As my apartment had a cracked bathroom faucet which I decided to
replace on my own, it also had a broken 'zone control' on the
baseboard hot water heating system. The zone control allows the
thermostat to open and close the hot water flow when the space needs
more heat or less. I discovered this problem when I got home one day
in the Fall and the apartment was roasting. Changing the thermostat
didn't help and, always being one to try to figure things out myself
when possible, I found a rubber coated hand lever shut-off
valve, I was able to pull it out and stop the water flow. As I knew
that couldn't have been the way the thermostat controlled the pipes,
I searched the rest of the baseboard piping until I found the zone
control, wired up and making soft 'zzzzzzz' noises as I changed the
temperature setting, but not turning its valve when the noises came.
So it seemed clear to me it had stripped gears and the little
motor needed to be replaced.
In the meantime, as the apartment was now cold the next morning, I
discovered I could lightly move the hand lever one way or another to
slightly adjust the temperature up and down in my apartment and so I
did until it was comfortable. A few weeks later I took the
initiative to bring the broken zone motor to the largest plumbing &
heating supply warehouse in town and ask if they had a replacement.
It turned out that the motor had been discontinued and I could order
a likely replacement, but as it would be special order I'd have to
pay up front and there would be no refund if it didn't fit. I
decided to pass on that option and just used the hand lever from now
on to control the temperature of my apartment. I actually think it
worked better as thermostats turn on when it gets too cold and turn
off when it gets too hot. But with the hand valve slightly open at
all times, a constant trickle of warm water slipped through the pipes
keeping the temperature constant. I'd get up in the morning and if
it was a colder day out, I'd slightly open the valve more, if it was
a warmer day out, I'd lightly tap the valve more closed. Simple
really!
With my first Winter at the apartment, I discovered during my walks
to the grocery store and 7-Eleven that my ear studs captured the
cold and froze my little ear lobes. In the years since getting
pierced ears, I'd been having other problems with them anyhow. If I
took a stud out overnight, the hole would close-up and the stud not
fit back in, I had found a thinner stud I could still get in and use
it to pull and stretch the hole out until the original stud would
very tightly squeeze back in. Once I left a stud out for two days
and I ended up having to have the lobe repierced. For times I might
get wire ear rings, the ear ring place gave me clear plastic spacers
that I could put in the holes and then the thin wires of the ear
rings would fit inside the plastic spacers. While I never got wire
earrings, I soon learned to use the plastic spacers when I would be
out walking in Winter, rather than the studs, to keep my lobes warm.
Another problem I had been having with the studs was an allergy to
household dust. As I would live and walk in buildings, bits of dust
suspended in the air would settle on my skin. With bare skin, I had
learned to wipe the area off with a damp paper towel when I had an
itchy patch, but with the ear studs, I'd actually have to take them
out once or twice each day to rise them off, preferably with a
special fluid to clean out bits of dust and relieve the itching
around and in the holes of the lobes. I had never planned on pierced
ears being such high maintenance and I started to debate what to do
about it.
There were more after work visits with Daina to discuss club meeting
plans and upcoming Quarterly & book review segments and again
Daina asked afterwords if I'd like to join her for dinner somewhere
and this time when I gave my canned response of waiting until the
after club meeting dinner later in the month, she became upset.
''What's wrong with me?!?'' she yelled. It turned out she had been
rejected by a male coworker when she had expressed an interest in
him, on top of that she assumed my not wanting to go out to eat with
her was a sign that she was not someone to spend time with. I
assured her that it wasn't because I didn't like spending time with
her, it was simply because I
didn't have any money.
This wasn't an answer she had been expecting. And so I
explained to her my circumstances of being on a fixed disability
income due to my health and associated weight loss and how I only had
fifty dollars a month for all my out of the home expenses, of that I
saved fifteen dollars for the after club dinner and that was the only
time I would go out to eat, with the rest going for household needs.
Daina was stunned by the news, having never suspected that I was
living in the poverty range as she worked with low income families
all the time as part of her work. Also, she had just assumed I was a
natural 'bean pole' and liked being that thin. I assured her I
didn't, and while I didn't explain the main reason I had problems
getting doctors to address it, I did tell her that I had problems
finding a good doctor.
Well, to her mind that clinched it and now she insisted on
taking me out to eat, on her dime. I told her I couldn't accept that
as I could never imagine being able to pay her back, but she assured
me I didn't have to, there wouldn't be any tab I'd have to worry
about. With that assurance, I accepted and she took me to the nearby
diner a few blocks away. By the following year this would become a
two to three times a week treat.
By the turn of the year, I found my cost of living adjustment would
net me around twenty dollars extra a month. While it was less than a
five percent increase on my overall monthly income, compared to the
fifty dollars I had been using for all of my household expenses, it
was like getting a forty percent raise. Part of this became quality
of life money that I would alternate each month as either a delivery
pizza, or a new music album to add to my collection.
Life was looking up!
No comments:
Post a Comment