Our Pioneer Days

If you live in Alberta you understand cold.  This past week was one of those that makes you re-examine why it is you live here.  Low minus 20's to 30's with wind chills almost to minus 50.  But let's be honest, anything past minus 20 with or without windchill is just ridiculous.  I promise, snow stays frozen just fine at minus 10.  However, I'm not in charge of the weather.

It all started last Tuesday.  Cliff went to start a bath for the kids and came back saying there was no hot water.  We shrugged it off since I had been doing laundry ALL day and the dishwasher was running etc.  But the next morning when Cliff went to take a shower and there still wasn't any hot water we knew there was a problem.  I got the kids who needed to go to school out the door and then settled in to wait for Cliff to fix the problem.  This kind of thing is so out of my area of expertise. Usually when I try to help I just make it worse of get in the way.  After a few phone calls and trying of suggestions we were in the waiting period.  I was laying in bed (stupid head cold) when I noticed that the furnace was making a funny noise.  I asked Cliff if he heard that and he agreed that I wasn't hearing things.  Turns out we were hearing our fan motor seize.  Yep, special isn't it?  Considering the wind chill that morning was -44!!!! 

So, there we were with no heat and no hot water.  I immediately started doing a mental survey of our heat resources in the house and took action.  First - hoodies and socks for kids not in school.  We already had space heater in the kids rooms so I turned them up a little.  Then I turned the oven on in the kitchen and the electric fire place in the living room and counted my blessings that we still had electricity!  I was all ready to crawl back into bed and be miserable, but instead I chose to get dressed and get on with my day. 

A friend of Cliff's from work came out and looked things over with Cliff - he thought it was our thermostat that had gone on the water tank and helped Cliff locate one - in Edmonton.  Sigh.  So we knew we had to wait and would be boiling water for a couple of days.  Thankfully, the heater was an easier fix and the motor we needed was actually available here in Sylvan.  A couple hours after it quit Cliff had the new one installed and we had full heat again!  We were really grateful for that.  Although our makeshift sources were doing a pretty good job I didn't want to test it over night!

We discovered that my two big 12 quart pots and a couple of smaller pots full of boiling water combined with some cold water could make a decent bath for the kids and a passable one for us.  It wasn't enjoyable but it did get us clean.  We had multiple offers from great friends to come and shower at their homes, but I figured by the time I packed everything/one up and drove etc it was just as easy to boil water and put up with a bath for a couple of days.

The part came in, Cliff replaced it and we waited with baited breath while dreaming of a shower...and it didn't work.  On to plan B.  Replace the elements.  Did you know that hot water tanks have two of them?  I didn't before this.  And did you know that to replace them you have to drain your hot water tank?  Yep, didn't know that one either.  And did you know that we couldn't find the elements we needed and had to order them as well?!????  Yeah, I was doing some deep breathing for awhile, but concluded that it could be worse and tried to carry on as best as I could. 
   ****Side note:  I would have made a REALLY crappy pioneer, and I now understand completely why people bathed so infrequently and sponge baths were the rage before indoor plumbing.  And yes, I have been camping.  But you expect it then. Not so much in a house with taps!  I digress!

Saturday Cliff sent me a text saying he had found elements!  Ahhhhh!  (That was the angels singing in case you were wondering).  The ones we had ordered weren't going to be here until today (Monday). 
After borrowing a hose that wasn't frozen (cold in Alberta remember?) and hooking it up we waited for the tank to drain. 
  ***Side note #2:  We live in a small house. With no basement.  The hot water tank is located behind a panel in our bedroom closet.  Special.  So no cement floor with a drain.  Hence, the hose from the tank to the bathtub. 

Continuing on....Water started trickling veerrrryyy slowly.  And after hours and hours of waiting we finally resorted to pot brigading to get the water lower than the last element.  It took forever and then the process of putting in the new ones, filling the tank, etc...we finally had hot water again around 2 AM. 

I take a lot for granted!  But I am so thankful for a husband who is willing to learn to fix things he hasn't done before, and for my working furnace and hot water again.  And yes, I really enjoyed that shower Sunday morning!