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Oct. 7th, 2015
Fun coal memories
Oct. 7th, 2015 07:36 amWhen I was 6, we moved to North Carolina and into what was then a huge house to me but was, actually, pretty medium sized. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, kitchen, living room, den and playroom. It was older. Probably built in the 20s.
And it was heated by a coal furnace. Last night I caught a bit of This Old House where they were explaining what having a coal furnace meant on a day to day basis and all of a sudden, I remembered when I was 6.
Our basement was really just a hole carved from rock. There was a little window in the corner and periodically a truck would back up to that little window and dump a load of coal through it. We kids thought coal day was pretty exciting. Black rocks about the size of my 6 year old fist just pouring into the basement. That whole basement was covered in black coal dust. It was a mess. We were not allowed to play down there at all. But, of course, we would sneak down there every once in a while and get caught every time because there was no way not to get covered in black dust.
To get heat, someone had to go down there and get a shovel full of those coal rocks and shovel them into the hot oven. This had to be done a couple of times a day. And if the fire was allowed to go out, it was a major major PIA to get it going again.
Daddy was, of course, the coal dealing person when he was home BUT, he was not home a lot. His job had him traveling all over the country much of the time (my Mom used to say he traveled 8 days out of 7). And so it was my Mom who had to shovel that shit down in the filthy basement to keep us warm.
As I think back on this now, I am just amazed.
I think it was the third winter we were in the house that the coal furnace died. Completely. Never to live again. It was really cold. I remember Daddy was not out of town. And it was Christmas. And it was cold and we had no heat.
But to us kids - I was 8, my sister 7 and my brother 4. It was a marvelous, wonderful adventure.
we had a formal living room that we were rarely allowed into. But it had a fireplace so Daddy kept a fire going and we got to sleep in there!! All of us together on blanket pallets. It was so fun.
At mealtime, Mom would cook the meal and then turn on the oven and pull down the oven door and put 3 stools around it and we would use the oven door for our dining table in front of the warmth of the oven.
I honestly don't remember how long this went on. It was probably not more than a day or two but oh what a fun day or two.
Then some men came and replaced the coal furnace with an oil one and we never saw the coal truck again and we could go down in the basement any time we wanted. There was still a lot of coal dust but you could at least go down there and not come up black.
Zillow says that that house is now 6 bedrooms and 4.5 baths and more than 5,000 square feet. Ove the years, a room was added onto the back and the screened in side poach was made a room and I'm guessing that coal covered hole in the rock is now a fully finished basement.
And those people who live there probably have no clue what magic used to be there.
And it was heated by a coal furnace. Last night I caught a bit of This Old House where they were explaining what having a coal furnace meant on a day to day basis and all of a sudden, I remembered when I was 6.
Our basement was really just a hole carved from rock. There was a little window in the corner and periodically a truck would back up to that little window and dump a load of coal through it. We kids thought coal day was pretty exciting. Black rocks about the size of my 6 year old fist just pouring into the basement. That whole basement was covered in black coal dust. It was a mess. We were not allowed to play down there at all. But, of course, we would sneak down there every once in a while and get caught every time because there was no way not to get covered in black dust.
To get heat, someone had to go down there and get a shovel full of those coal rocks and shovel them into the hot oven. This had to be done a couple of times a day. And if the fire was allowed to go out, it was a major major PIA to get it going again.
Daddy was, of course, the coal dealing person when he was home BUT, he was not home a lot. His job had him traveling all over the country much of the time (my Mom used to say he traveled 8 days out of 7). And so it was my Mom who had to shovel that shit down in the filthy basement to keep us warm.
As I think back on this now, I am just amazed.
I think it was the third winter we were in the house that the coal furnace died. Completely. Never to live again. It was really cold. I remember Daddy was not out of town. And it was Christmas. And it was cold and we had no heat.
But to us kids - I was 8, my sister 7 and my brother 4. It was a marvelous, wonderful adventure.
we had a formal living room that we were rarely allowed into. But it had a fireplace so Daddy kept a fire going and we got to sleep in there!! All of us together on blanket pallets. It was so fun.
At mealtime, Mom would cook the meal and then turn on the oven and pull down the oven door and put 3 stools around it and we would use the oven door for our dining table in front of the warmth of the oven.
I honestly don't remember how long this went on. It was probably not more than a day or two but oh what a fun day or two.
Then some men came and replaced the coal furnace with an oil one and we never saw the coal truck again and we could go down in the basement any time we wanted. There was still a lot of coal dust but you could at least go down there and not come up black.
Zillow says that that house is now 6 bedrooms and 4.5 baths and more than 5,000 square feet. Ove the years, a room was added onto the back and the screened in side poach was made a room and I'm guessing that coal covered hole in the rock is now a fully finished basement.
And those people who live there probably have no clue what magic used to be there.
Being in hot water = good thing
Oct. 7th, 2015 11:13 amLast night, at the condo home owners meeting, one of the board members asked about the water heater reminder and that reminded me. Our water heaters were put installed originally in 1991. So about 2003 and 4, some of them started to fail and long about 2006 there was a major push to get everyone to replace theirs with new.
I easily remembered when mine was replaced - 2005. It was part of the condo redo. The designer got it done for me. I found emails with her telling me it came with a lifetime guarantee. ??? I'm fairly sure i have no paperwork to back that up. I'm pretty sure it was a Home Depot purchase. The info off of it says it is a GE model they no longer make with a 12 year warranty. I have only 2 places that could house any paperwork if I have it. Checking those places today is on my to do list today.
And my fleece order arrived early... And it is a different kind of fleece so there will need to be new Croc liners made.
And I need to walk. Maybe up to Grand Central bakery to see what their fall sandwich is. Their summer sandwich was a BLT that was wonderful. Their static menu isn't too enticing these days but when their seasonal sandwich is good, I cannot resist.
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one_raido asked in a comment on my coal entry whether I had talked to my siblings about my coal memories. This led to my sending my brother the link. I don't think he ever reads this journal any more. He had a brief pass at keeping his own a couple of years ago, but got busy. But, he logged in today to leave his side of the story which was fun and nice.
What he says he does not remember is that his imaginary friends lived in that coal bin. He had Hossenfeffer and Hossenfeffer had an army of 'mechanical mens' and they all lived down there. Hossefeffer came into the house only very occasionally but his army never did. Hossenfeffer and army were responsible for many of the misdeeds that we blamed my brother for - things that got broken, or left outside, or were messed with when they shouldn't have been. Hossenfeffer was one wrong doin' dude and his army helped him.
Ok time to go dig out paperwork. Not knowing whether I even have any is nagging at me.
I easily remembered when mine was replaced - 2005. It was part of the condo redo. The designer got it done for me. I found emails with her telling me it came with a lifetime guarantee. ??? I'm fairly sure i have no paperwork to back that up. I'm pretty sure it was a Home Depot purchase. The info off of it says it is a GE model they no longer make with a 12 year warranty. I have only 2 places that could house any paperwork if I have it. Checking those places today is on my to do list today.
And my fleece order arrived early... And it is a different kind of fleece so there will need to be new Croc liners made.
And I need to walk. Maybe up to Grand Central bakery to see what their fall sandwich is. Their summer sandwich was a BLT that was wonderful. Their static menu isn't too enticing these days but when their seasonal sandwich is good, I cannot resist.
one_raido asked in a comment on my coal entry whether I had talked to my siblings about my coal memories. This led to my sending my brother the link. I don't think he ever reads this journal any more. He had a brief pass at keeping his own a couple of years ago, but got busy. But, he logged in today to leave his side of the story which was fun and nice.What he says he does not remember is that his imaginary friends lived in that coal bin. He had Hossenfeffer and Hossenfeffer had an army of 'mechanical mens' and they all lived down there. Hossefeffer came into the house only very occasionally but his army never did. Hossenfeffer and army were responsible for many of the misdeeds that we blamed my brother for - things that got broken, or left outside, or were messed with when they shouldn't have been. Hossenfeffer was one wrong doin' dude and his army helped him.
Ok time to go dig out paperwork. Not knowing whether I even have any is nagging at me.
My foray into old papers netted me interesting stuff and success.
I actually did find all of the paper to go with the hot water heater... the purchase, the receipt, the installations docs, all of it AND it carries the information that my hot water heater has a lifetime in home warranty!!! It's not transferable to clearly they do not expect me to still live here when it fails. Haha to them! But, yeah on finding all the correct papers. Wow. I've thrown out sooo much paper over the past few years, it's amazing that this crucial bit survives.
I also found very first tax card from the county. Every year they send out a card with the current assessment for property taxes. I found the one from 1992. It's a little yellow.
But the bonus was a copy of this newspaper article/photo.
Blast from the past. And I found the link to the article.
My Condo was really, seriously builder white. Bubba was the best cat. He was born on a farm in Minnesota. He moved with me to California and then to Seattle. He finally died after many years in 1999. He was the world's greatest cat. And he majored in snuggling - anytime, anywhere, anyplace.
I actually did find all of the paper to go with the hot water heater... the purchase, the receipt, the installations docs, all of it AND it carries the information that my hot water heater has a lifetime in home warranty!!! It's not transferable to clearly they do not expect me to still live here when it fails. Haha to them! But, yeah on finding all the correct papers. Wow. I've thrown out sooo much paper over the past few years, it's amazing that this crucial bit survives.
I also found very first tax card from the county. Every year they send out a card with the current assessment for property taxes. I found the one from 1992. It's a little yellow.
But the bonus was a copy of this newspaper article/photo.
Blast from the past. And I found the link to the article.
My Condo was really, seriously builder white. Bubba was the best cat. He was born on a farm in Minnesota. He moved with me to California and then to Seattle. He finally died after many years in 1999. He was the world's greatest cat. And he majored in snuggling - anytime, anywhere, anyplace.
I ordered some fleece from Amazon (actually a third party selling on Amazon). It was cheap and I liked the colors. It took way longer than promised to get here and 3 out of the 4 pieces were the wrong kind of fleece. I could have sent it back but... it was cheap. I'll deal. The wrong kind of fleece is the kind that sheds all over everyfuckingthing. Once you get it sewn up and the seams finished off, it is ok, but getting it there is a bitch.
I made a pair of crocs liners out of it and they are fine now that they are done but yikes, seriously, a mess.
The buttons are so that the liners stay in there when my foot comes out. They do feel so wonderful to walk around in. Like little angels hugging my toes.
I also think the fleece will be ok to use for cowl/cuffs for some of my tops. And, I know not to order from them again. And it was cheap.
I made a pair of crocs liners out of it and they are fine now that they are done but yikes, seriously, a mess.
The buttons are so that the liners stay in there when my foot comes out. They do feel so wonderful to walk around in. Like little angels hugging my toes.
I also think the fleece will be ok to use for cowl/cuffs for some of my tops. And, I know not to order from them again. And it was cheap.