Is it time to cry…yet?

I haven’t had a gas range since I lived at home…before college…a long time ago.

I don’t like gas…it scares me.

About ten days ago, the gas range went kaput.

It just stopped working.

I had been using all four burners and then turned them all off for about twenty minutes.

When I returned to start them up again…nada.

It was a teaching day for S, so he couldn’t come home to help figure out what was wrong.

Have I mentioned I’m afraid of gas?

I called the gas company… to make sure we had paid our bill…but couldn’t get through.

I turned up the heat and the hot water, both gas appliances, just to be sure. They both worked just fine. So it wasn’t the gas bill.

With S on the other end of the phone, I sniffed around, checked the fuse box and breaker, looked at the plug in the cabinet underneath the range…again, nada.

I called around for an appliance company (very limited here in small town Laramie) but it was 5:30 on a Friday afternoon.

So...after another 30 minutes, I gave it another go. It worked!

I decided to have an appliance guy come in anyway. He thinks it’s the modulator, which I guess is part of the electric component on the appliance.

When all is said and done, it’s going to cost somewhere between $150 and $200.

Fine. We can deal.

This morning around 10:30, the doorbell rang.

We don’t know many people well enough to have them ring our doorbell at 10:30 am on a Sunday morning.

It was a good Samaritan, telling me that our sprinkler system broke and that water was gushing all over the front of the house.

Just prior to the doorbell, I was running around the house trying to figure out…what the heck was that “vent-like” noise in the first floor guest bathroom!

And not 40 minutes early, S told me, “We can’t have the dishwasher---or the washing machine---running and take a shower. There’s not enough water pressure.” Strange...this a new home.

It hadn’t occurred to me…neither machine was on!

Since S is really under the weather, I ran out and managed to turn off the water, which was indeed gushing all over the place. In fact, there was a deep puddle just under the windowsill.

I’m not sure what happened, except that something obviously froze last night.

Last week I made an appointment---for next week---to have the sprinkler system blown out (there are 12 stations), which obviously isn't soon enough!

I had done what they told me and had turned the system to “off,” which may have helped to prevent an even worse scenario.

But who knew that it was going to get this cold, this soon! Certainly I did not.

We’ve never had a sprinkler system and so I wasn't sure what to do, except to call a local friend---our former realtor---who helped walk me through what to look for.

Nice guy!

And I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things (good or bad) don't come in threes!

May the force be with you…