Still No Heat

I woke to a freezing house. Turned on all lights and turned on the oven.

Veto came on Monday, found the faulty part, said he'd be back Tuesday.

There's a wicker shelf I keep between the furnace door and my bed to keep my essential stuff on. I left it in the middle of the room, all the stuff in a basket on a table across the room.

He didn't return on Tuesday. Instead, I found notes taped to my gates, saying they'd repair heaters on Friday and Monday and that, if we weren't here for the appointments, they'd charge us for a call back!

So, I put the shelf back and put some stuff back on it.

Yesterday, I washed bed linens. I can't have piles of blankets all over this small house. I washed four loads, watered my garden and did outdoor chores while washing. I was exhausted.

About 5:30pm, after I'd gone to bed for the evening, Veto tapped on my window. Didn't ring the bell; TAPPED. I could barely hear it. Porkchop barked, or I wouldn't have known Veto was here.

Moved the shelf and the stuff.

Veto replaced the part. But he didn't put it in its original location, inside the heater housing. Instead, he PUNCHED a HOLE in the housing with a screw driver and a hammer! This, of course, could have loosened all manner of stuff, including the vent that takes carbon monoxide out of the house!

The heater turned on. Veto said a small, metal shield was missing from the heater housing, and that a backdraft was blowing in, forcing flames out onto the electrical parts and melting them. So, he jerry rigged the housing panels and added a strip of aluminum foil.

Then, he stood in my living room and made a long, personal call to his wife while I WAITED TO LET HIM OUT!

The heat is out this morning. I have to assume the pilot is spewing gas in there, and I'll have to move the shelf, open the now-screwed-on plates, and either relight it or turn it off.

My house is SO COLD! It got below freezing last night.