Bills

I began writing a blog post on Tuesday, and now it's Thursday, and I never posted it because I never finished it, but here it is. If you experience déjà-vu while reading it, it's because I complained about a couple of these items back in December.

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I have a room on the end of my house that I call "the room on the end of my house." Just kidding. I call it the den. It has a sliding glass patio door on the back side. I can slide the door open and go down two steps and I'm on the ground. 

One day recently I was in a hurry and I grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. The handle broke in my hand. The door handle was solid metal, but by looking at it I could tell it was made of something that my mechanic father called (derisively) "monkey metal." I think he called it that because it was junk metal—it lacked strength. It broke easily under stress. Still, it was a solid metal door handle and I wouldn't have guessed that I could break it with one hand. And I wasn't even trying to break it, but... 

I bought a new inside door handle for the door. But installing the handle required removing the outside handle, so I did that. As I was attempting to re-install the outside handle, a small metal part about the size of a small postage stamp fell, bounced off the step I was standing on, and then fell into the grass beside the step.

I spent an hour pulling up grass and looking for that piece of metal. I ended up with a 3x3 foot section of bare ground, and still I could not find the little piece of metal. So I couldn't reassemble the door handle. The door is old and replacement parts are no longer available. So the decision was made for me—I had no choice but to buy another sliding glass door.

I went to Home Depot yesterday and selected a door. There are a plethora of options for sliding patio doors. The door color and whether to get interior blinds were the options to which I gave the most thought. I decided on the ever-popular white doors with no interior blinds. The final cost will be around $1500. 

After the new door is installed, I'll need a new curtain. The current curtain is just shot from years of use and sliding on the carpet. And I might need a new curtain rod. 

I had two dental appointments today; one for cleaning and one for filling ($340). I have three more appointments in April and one more in May. I need three more fillings and two crowns. The crowns are $1000 each and the prep visits are $340 per crown. The fillings are partly a consequence of not going to the dentist during Covid. I've never had dental insurance—not ever, so there's no discount for me.

I also need to replace the garage door opener. It was hit by lightning and the electronics burned out. I've been operating the garage door by pulling on a cord that I attached to a relay inside the opener. And while I'm at it, I also need to replace the garage door. And then, I need to replace the roof on the garage, which is fifty years old. That's a long time for shingles to last. And the two wind turbines on the garage roof have ceased operating. They've been spinning in the wind for fifty years and their bearings have failed.

After the home repairs, I should probably buy a car. My Jeep Grand Cherokee is 28 years old. It has only 105,000 miles and it still runs well, but I feel it's not as reliable as I would like. Also, a few items inside the Jeep have quit working. The radio can't switch to FM, but I never turn it on so that's not a big deal. There is a Vehicle Information Center on the dashboard that failed years ago. I disconnected it because it kept beeping, warning me that the driver's door was open when it was not. The key fob quit working. And when I lock or unlock the doors using the driver's door switch, the right front door lock often does not operate. These are all small things but expensive to get fixed. If I get another vehicle, it will be used (pre-owned, as they say today) and I'll be looking at spending $20 thousand or more for a used SUV.

I've got to get the boiler in the basement serviced, which cost $470 the last time it was serviced.  And I have to fill the heating oil tank with #2 heating oil, which cost $4.34/gallon when I filled the tank at the beginning of this heating season. The boiler uses about 400 to 600 gallons of oil per heating season.

And has anyone noticed what's happened to the PRICE of FOOD?! Ay, chihuahua!

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I just had to get that off my chest. I feel better now. It's Thursday afternoon. I'll try to do better on my next post.