Not My Week

This has not been my week. Tuesday night our furnace decided to act up. It would try to ignite and we would get flame for a bit then die down. We got back from class and is was only 58 degrees in the house. First I had to find the papers for the furnace and air conditioner that we had installed about 4 years ago, then I called the number for the company that installed it. Our furnace is still under warranty for parts. I get a recording advising me that an after hours service call to a home is $175. Well we can wait until regular hours on Wednesday, just put an extra blanket on the bed.

Woke up Wednesday morning and the furnace is working just fine, heating up the house like it's supposed to. Still called the heating company anyway, wanted to have the furnace checked out before Thursday because we are supposed to get below zero temperatures. Sure didn't want to furnace to die then. Got ahold of the company and they would send a guy down in the afternoon. Worked for me because Jennifer was off anyway so she would be home to let the service guy in and I would be right home. He got to the house at 2:00. He called me on my phone to let me know that he was leaving Billings at 1:00 before the roads got too bad.

He checked out the furnace, did some cleaning, checked all the drains and the filter. Over time the flame sensor gets a carbon build up on it. Said all furnaces do, so he cleaned that and it was working fine. He stayed for a bit to make sure. Then he had to go out and get his paperwork. I had my checkbook ready.

My checkbook is $246 lighter. He charged me $74 for the 1 hour labor, the rest was mileage to and from Billings and that was $172. I got my receipt and off he went. He wasn't even there for a full hour, about 40 minutes. It still cost me an hour of vacation. We are toasty warm now.

Yesterday while we were at McDonald's during our lunch hour, my car was run into by a teenage driver. My car was legally parked and we were inside. The guy who was parked next to me came up to us and asked of the silver car was ours, because some girls just hit it. Sure enough, have a good sized dent on my back bumper. I went outside to talk to the girl, surprised that she didn't take off.

She was writing down all her information and was going to leave it on my windshield. She was looking for her insurance information by the time I got outside. She kept apologizing and said that she would pay for any damages. Her car started sliding and she couldn't stop. It was too cold to be standing outside writing all the information down, so we went inside. Nobody was hurt, it's only property damage. We got all the information down and she also gave us the name of her parents, since I will be dealing with them anyway.

I called her mother to see how they wanted to handle this. In Montana the person at fault on a private property accident has the option to pay out of their own pocket for damages. I gave her mother what had happened, that her daughter hit my legally parked car. I have to get some estimates on the repair, give them a call back. Once I give them the estimate they will decide if they want insurance to pay or out of their own pocket.

I did reassure the mom that we are not mad, it's just one of those things. She said that she realizes that parking lots do get slick when they are snow covered. I also wanted to commend her daughter for staying and doing the right thing. Most kids would have panicked and taken off. I did not tell her that I have a witness though.

We have seen how the kids drive around town during their lunch hour. We have witnessed numerous near accidents in the McDonald's parking lot. Quite frankly if the girl hit my car she was driving too fast for the conditions of the road, basic rule.

I dropped Gary off at work, pretty soon he called me and said that when he told a co-worker what had happened she said "That was you". The mother was just at the check out when she got the phone call from her daughter. The mother told her daughter "this is why your dad doesn't want you going over there for lunch and you were told not to go there today because of the slick roads. We will discuss this when you get home." Now I'm not responsible for what her parents do to her when she gets home.

I know if it was my kid, they would not be driving for at least a week. That would also depend on how much the damages were. Here are a couple photos of my injured car.