It’s nice and toasty in my condo now, but a little while ago it was an icebox. It has to be the coldest day and night in clear memory, and I had to have the doors open for two hours at dusk. The local plumber was here, changing out my hot water heater. It’s dead and gone.

I’ve known for a while that it wasn’t working well. I would run out of hot water in about 8 minutes when showering. But I was really hoping that it was just a fouled up heating element — something that my Dad, with his electrical skills, could fix. But when my shower lasted only about 3 minutes this morning, I knew the old can was critical.

Depending on who you ask, a water heater can be expected to last, on average 6-10 years. The plumber said I should plan on replacing this new one in 7 years. But that was right after he hauled out an old one was that was installed in 1985. I kid you not; 3 times the expected lifespan. Of course, it was rusty and crusty and ready to give out and flood the whole place. Seriously, I think I dodged a bullet on this deal.

This post had a point – besides simply yammering about my overheated evening in my house in the big deep freeze – but I’ve lost track of it. Sorry. Maybe something about running hot and cold. Y’all keep bundled up out there.