Ah, so the batteries ran out. Well, Father bought a huge stash of AA batteries, so I replaced them. But the thermostat still didn't work. Oh, no. The thermostat we have is just a programmable one. It also has been there as far as I can remember. It's been so long since it's been replaced, it makes sense that the damn thing just conked out.
Unfortunately, I suddenly realized I was in the lurch. You can't really go without a thermostat, can you? Well, I should take that back; if it were not too long ago, when the temperature was below freezing all day, not having the ability to heat the house with the help of a thermostat would be dangerous. But we are, thankfully, having a mild (if not necessarily a heat) wave with temps punching into the fifties most days this week. I have been told that you don't want to let the ambient temperature of the house drop below 60 degrees. That would happen if it were below freezing, but probably not now when it's much warmer than that.
That would give me time. To do what ... well, that's what I have been doing the next couple hours. I ran into a YouTube video whereby you could hack the furnace on using this special two-way wire that does the work of a thermostat, including stopping when it reaches a certain temp. But my main concern, obviously, is getting a new thermostat. I tried looking for the exact type of thermostat, but that thing is damn old, so it's not in stock at any hardware store. It's plentiful online, but that obviously would take time to get shipped, and as much as I think the house could survive without regular heat because of the milder temps, I don't know how long I want to tempt that.
Unfortunately, the thermostats that I could just go and buy are way, way different from the one that's in the house now. First of all, I see these smart thermostats and they are way too smart for me. Then, as I fell further down the rabbit hole of learning about the world of thermostats, I saw that the wiring pattern behind the thermostat is very, very important to note and even take a photo of. Each brand and maybe even each model of thermostat will or might have a different configuration of the ends of the wires being plugged into its socket. Moreover, the configuration of how the sockets are arranged vary by brand and even by model. So if I bought one of these things off the shelf, I would have to unscrew the wires, unscrew the mounting plate, put the new mounting plate in (while making sure it's level), then carefully matching up the wires to its socket in the new configuration. And I'm supposed to make sure the HVAC is completely unplugged while I do this, and I don't know how the hell to do that. I was going to just wing it and do this intricate wiring work without shutting the power off to the HVAC. Hey, I'm a big boy now, right?
Ultimately, though, I decided I was too chickenshit to do that. My dumb ass was sure to get electrocuted. And then I went on Amazon, saw this particular brand of thermostat, and then saw that magic word: "Prime." If I sign up -- and, of course, it's only a free trial! -- I can get this same brand of thermostat delivered in two days. I think the house can go without heat for two days in this weather, right? So I signed up to get it this Friday. I just have to remember to cancel Amazon Prime in 30 days because Amazon is the devil. I just had to dance with him because otherwise I would have no heat.
With that bought ... well, why don't I try new batteries in the old thermostat again? There are plenty down there, and maybe I just got two bad ones or something. So I took that old thermostat downstairs, found two other "new" batteries, put them in ... and the display was back on. Jesus fucking Christ, did I pick two new batteries that just didn't fucking work? Or is this thermostat being so flighty that it just decided to work then and there?
So I have heat now, and it seems to be working fine. I thought about cancelling delivery of the new/old thermostat and Amazon Prime. But remembering how panicked I was, I'm keeping it. This is a prime example where it's smart to have a back-up. Of course, I have to remember that I have a back-up thermometer. If this one conks out for real, there's a good chance I will forget I bought a replacement. Where would I even put this one once it comes in? Well, that's not the worst problem to have.
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I told you at the start of this blog post that I was not in a good frame of mind. That's because of the car. I'm scaring myself into thinking it's way too low on oil. I have checked, or tried to check, the level a few times over the past week or so, but the goddamn thing is so hard to read. I have a dipstick that has a plastic orange end. It's hard to read when there's clear, new oil, and it's also a bitch to decipher because it seemingly has oil above the full dot and below the empty dot, and then it's completely drenched in oil on one side of the dipstick but completely dry on the other.
I checked the oil level before driving out of downtown after the Wolves Game. The dipstick was how I described it above, and it wasn't the first time it looked like this. So is my car completely tapped out of oil? I can't believe that; I got an oil change about 2 1/2 months ago, and I don't think it's leaking oil. And what if I have overfilled it, which is something I am scared as hell I have done if I fully believe what I saw on my dipstick these past few times, acted as if my engine was empty, but got suckered because it was in fact full, or even more than full?
I am in a bind. Or, I have put myself in a bind of my own delusions. I have blog posted before that I might be scaring myself into thinking I am about to do catastrophic damage to my car by doing and/or not doing something when the best thing I could do is just chill and drive. Maybe that's the case here, and I should just relax ... no, fuck no, I need to take this into the dealership. Maybe they can figure out how much oil is in my car without charging me for an oil change, or something. And then they can teach me how to fuckin' read the oil level on their shitty dipstick.
And I am changing my mind on that, maybe. I am leaning toward putting in just a little more oil. Maybe that'll be the thing that finally gives me the results I want to see on the dipstick. But what if I overfill it? I've seen so many fucking disaster films. Man, why do I have a car? Why do I even drive? It's just one more burden you're placing on yourself.
Deep breaths, trying to take deep breaths. ...
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