"Death by Chocolate"

"Death by chocolate. Is that the one?" I asked Ms. Ché yesterday as we munched on the chocolate cake that I baked. She laughed and nodded "yes," and said, "Mmm. Mmm. Mmm." 

Every now and then, I bake a cake for a treat. Spice cake or carrot cake are my favorites, but Ms. Ché is fondest of chocolate by far and with the ganache frosting I put on it, she's just about in heaven. Makes me happy to see her so pleased.

She's been cooped up writing quite a bit since I've been home from the hospital, but she also does all the shopping, fetching water, feeding the cats, and so on. For the first couple of weeks I was back, she also did all the cooking and washing up. I could see her aging before my eyes and I felt terrible I couldn't do more to help myself. Physical therapy at least got me back on my feet and walking -- slowly and carefully -- but it took a while to get back into a useful routine. It's so frustrating when I can't do much even though I can get around (the house).  

So far, I haven't been doing so well outside the house. Even going outside at our own place has been infrequent. I've tried things. Cleaning up in the yard, moving various things around, thinking about planting veg and flowers once "winter" is over.

"Winter." Huh. We haven't really had one. Oh, there have been some cold days and overnights, hard freezes, and more to come. But there's been very little snow, maybe an inch total so far, most of which is gone by the next day. There's been rain instead, sometimes quite a lot, flooding the streets -- temporarily -- and making much mud. For the ten winters or so we've lived here permanently, this is very unusual, all but unheard of. Warm-ish days, close to or over 60 degrees, have come many times this "winter." I've remarked to friends that this has been much more like winter in California than what we're used to in New Mexico. Global warming, right? 

Well, I don't know. I suppose it could be. It might be just a wintery fluke, too. A one off. Usually, even in drought years, we have a fair amount of snow -- one to three feet -- over the course of a winter, no rain, and temps in the lowish double or single digits with occasional below zero readings that play havoc with the pipes. Yes, one or more frozen pipes is practically guaranteed every winter. 

This year, we had one overnight at close to zero (maybe 2 degrees?) and a drain pipe froze which has happened before due to a "dig" that the plumbers did to run a proper drain from the laundry room. The refill actually exposed a prior drain line from the kitchen and every time we've tried to bury it again, critters -- skunks and others -- dig it up. So, if the temp outside is low enough, it freezes, meaning we can't drain water from the kitchen or laundry except by bucket until it unfreezes, which is usually the next day, except once, it took a week. It took that long because temps never got above freezing outside. Despite much sunshine!

We can't fix it without spending around $4,000 -- which right now is not feasible. I'm still paying medical debt from treatments and hospitalization, although it's not nearly as much as I thought it would be. I expected something in the $3,000-$7,000 range but no. It so far is less than $2,000, not counting medications which can sometimes run to several hundred a month, though that's on the decline as I cut back on the number of drugs I'm taking. (Yay). No, the major expense right now is dental treatment which seems to be climbing into the stratosphere.

I've discovered my dental insurance is practically worthless. Of course, that's what many people discover when they need extensive dental repair and treatment. There are so many limitations, especially when a lot of work has to be done, and despite really high premiums -- I think mine is nearly doubling this year -- the coverage is actually declining. If all you need is cleaning and occasional filling, I guess it's OK, but I'm in late stage extraction and dentures and stuff, rebuilding jaw bones, all sorts of stuff, all of which costs a lot and is not fully covered or even partially in some cases. It's expensive. 

So that's the priority expense right now. 

Well, that and a new furnace. Oh, that. We figure it will cost about $2,500-$3,000 to replace the old one. Not that much, really, considering what people pay these days for new furnaces. Ours died a couple of days ago. It may be repairable, but it will fail again soon enough, so we may as well get a new one.

On the other hand, maybe we won't replace it but bite the bullet and do what I've thought of for years: get a mini-split system. 

Well, an update: I asked Ms. Ché to buy a new thermostat as a test. It seemed to me the problem was likely an old and bad thermostat, though the heater is pretty old too. She found one at the lumber store the next town over, and I installed it. Nothing happened. The furnace did not go on, and I thought the thermostat wasn't the problem. The next day I was about to re-install the old one when suddenly, the fire went on. Well, how about that?

The house heated to the set temperature and then the furnace went off. So it has been ever since. It works fine. Better than ever. I don't know why the new thermostat didn't seem to work at first. But if it now works and there's no need for a new furnace yet, so be it. As Ms Ché said, ¨We're blessed, you know?"

That's a much deeper sentiment than I want to go into in this post, but yes. 

So it was time to bake some gingerbread. Then chocolate. And not take it for granted. Or anything else.