Frightening Things
I’m feeling rather spent today, and since I just learned that thousands of people in the midwest are lacking electricity thanks to an ice storm, I thought I’d repost an entry that highlights something I’m especially grateful for – heat.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Remember how the basement used to be a really freaky spot when you were a kid? Well, I’m all grown up now and still find our basement to be scary, especially because our friends refer to it as The Blair Witch Basement, which doesn’t really help. Anyways, what terrifies me the most is this beast…
It’s our boiler, or the contraption that heats our house. Let’s try an experiement and see if it looks less threatening from a different angle…
No, not so much. Wanna know what makes it especially horrifying? That grayish-white stuff all around it is asbestos. We’ve been told there’s no need to worry about the asbestos unless it turns into a powder we can inhale or we decide to start gnawing on it for some reason.
The boiler is original to the house, which means it’s been heating this home since about 1913. It used to be coal fed (the coal shoot is the second door from the top). We had an inspector look at it when we were buying the house and he assured us it’s in great shape for its age, although it’s not very efficient, and might last another 8 years. That was 4 years ago. So, replacing this ancient piece of equipment is definitely part of the remodeling plan. In the mean time, I just really hope it chooses to keep working. Keep your fingers crossed.
Wow! And what’s scarier still — to me anyway — is that I RECOGNIZED THE COAL DOOR! (I grew up in a house that was heated with coal until 1978. More than once, I crawled through the coal bin (after it was defunct) when I had locked myself out. 🙂
That is scary!