HAVE A LITTLE FAITH

I know I told you that our gas water heater went out this summer and we had our neighbor down the street (who is also the maintenance person around here) install a new heater. In order to do so, of course he had to turn off the gas. He asked if I had anything upstairs such as a range or clothes dryer run by gas and I said no, they were all electric except the fireplace and I had the gas to it turned off for the summer.

While installing the water heater, he had to reroute the gas line just slightly and after he was finished, the new heater operated as it should and all was well.

Since we had a slight gas leak last year at the furnace that was detected by the furnace man, we had it looked at by the gas company and repaired the same day it was detected so I am always in the sniffing-out of natural gas odors mode. Yeah, I know natural gas has no odor but the foul-smelling crap the gas companies add to it before distribution sure does!

This morning, the temperature outside was in the low 40’s and about 58 degrees in the condo. I stood it for as long as I could and to my chagrin, had to turn on the furnace. Before I did, all kinds of thoughts went through this lame brain of mine: Did our man remember to relight the pilot on the furnace? Were there any gas leaks that I had not detected with my natural gas crap added smell detecting nose? Would everything go KA-BOOM when I flipped the switch? .  . yada, yada, yada.

Anyway, I walked up to the thermostat, put my finger on the switch, held my breath, shut my eyes and turned her on. No ka-boom, thank goodness or I wouldn’t be writing this.

Pretty soon, blessed warmth was wafting through the condo and I thought to myself: Have a little faith, Goat; have a little faith.