Dennis comes in the back house door. “Grammie . . . where are you?” Chances are in a 720 square foot home, I am not far away. “Put a jacket on, I have something to show you and be careful the cement to the garage is all ice.”

Lordy, lordy, there was a brand new furnace that the Watson boys had delivered for hook up, sometime this week. It may have a few bumps and bruises on the housing, but the internal components are new, thus a great deal for us. The old furnace that has been in the garage since 1998 was a cast off at that time from a fellow that installed a new furnace in his home. The new gas furnace will be more energy efficient. We spend a lot of time in the porch over the winter . . . it wards off cabin fever. There are times when one might think that the Popsicle stand on Stauffer Avenue has to be escaped from, the porch is there for a different point of view of the world.

We were very surprised how small this new furnace is. Dennis had noticed there have been times when the old furnace was not trustworthy. We are way too old to be at the mercy of a crisis. We have Koi that need to be kept comfortable, not to mention the kittens and cat. We do have our priorities in check.

We are kind of hoping that the tick list has run its course and the next thing that may need replacing is just a light bulb.