I Should Have Seen It Coming

I posted earlier about having my truck hitting 100K and having my mechanic go bumper to bumper on it. It was expensive, but nothing else was pressing monitarily, so I went ahead.

Sunday night while watching the Raiders go for the best record in the league (I'll enjoy it while I can), just before half time, the wife informs me there is no hot water. I drag my butt out of the recliner and go out and down into our little cellar and as I get about halfway down the stairs, I can see that there is about 1 1/2 inches of water. Yep, the water heater had decided to go.

Search the net for prices and decided to go with an on-demand tankless model and off to Home Depot.

My local Home Depot is Fort Home Depot. It has an 8 foot high wrought iron fence all around the parking lot. Besieging the ramparts are about 40 "hispanics" waving and whistling at every car that turns onto the access road.

Inside I located my heater about 8 foot up on a shelf, with a sign that says "Please ask for Assistance when getting items from these selves", so I look for assistance. No orange bibbed people within sight. After 20 minutes one wanders buy, but "Sorry, I'm in hardware", another comes by, "Sorry I'm in garden, but I'll page plumbing". Another 10 minutes go by, so it's up to the register to find a floor manager. I tell the cashier that I'm prepared to spend around $750...or not.

That managed to get some service and I was actually out of the store in just over an hour. Any trip to Home Depot I usually figure 2 hour minimum.

Driving out of the parking lot, I look across the main boulevard at the "Employment Center" that was set up to keep the day laborers out of peoples yard and costs the city $100,000/year to operate, is deserted. Not a person even on that side of the street. Boy that was a surprise...HA!

Now I get to do the fun part, sweating pipe and threading a gas line to the heater. I'm am serious about the fun part, I love to plumb. I'm sure there will be a trip or two to the local hardware store for some minor things needed, but I expect that for every job. I'll let you know how the project turns out.