Hot, hot, hot

You might think that I'm referring to the early summer weather we've been having around here lately, but you'd be wrong. We woke up this morning and discovered that we had no hot water in the house. Eno had to leave for work so he couldn't look into it for very long. Neither of us is very handy so I figured I might have just a much luck as he would.

So, I started reading online and discovered that the pilot light might be out on the water heater. Lo and behold, I could see no light in there! Yay - problem diagnosed.

Now, I'm TERRIFIED of messing with anything related to the Natural Gas that comes into the house. If one of the dogs farts, I'm convinced there's a gas leak. So, the idea of re-lighting the pilot light on the water heater was daunting to say the least. I was just not going to do it.

However, you have to realize that I haven't showered since Wednesday. That's right folks, Wednesday was the last time I cleaned myself of the oil, dirt, and spit up that is showered on me throughout the day. That smell is me (not a gas leak). As you can now understand, getting hot water today was a priority.

Enter Thomas, our resident handyman-friend. If it's broken, he can fix it and make it work better all using only a Phillips screwdriver and some duct tape. Eno asked him to call me to see if he could help.

We confirmed that the pilot light was indeed out and he said all I had to do was follow the instructions on the heater to light it. Um yeah. I could just read the headlines now, "YOUNG MOTHER BLOWS UP HOUSE; EPILEPTIC DOG SURVIVES BLAST". But, with his encouragement, I proceeded.

Our water heater apparently is slightly ghetto in that it does not have its own igniter. It requires that you light a match to light the gas (and blow up the house, in my mind). After getting the only lighter in the house, and with complete trepidation, I pushed the button and ignited the pilot light. With each move, I waited to hear the roar of a giant fireball beginning to ravish our house.

But...

All I heard was silence. No fireball. No gassy smell. House still in tact. After an hour or so, we even had hot water. Woot!

I still haven't showered though.