Panic in the morning

We were just about to be finished with breakfast yesterday morning when I noticed that it felt a bit chilly in the room although Benno had cranked up the heat before sitting down. I thought it strange because the thermostat showed we were in heating mode. After placing my hand over one of the outlets on the floor I announced, “There is no air coming out of the duct!” Benno almost spilled his coffee and choked on his last piece of bread at this news. I hate to be ‘Mrs. Bad News’, especially so early in the morning, but this discovery warranted urgent action.

After closer inspection of the furnace, while still clad in his pajamas, Benno thought it wise to give our local Heating and Air Mechanic, who also installed our unit, a call. Of course we were not the only ones begging to immediately send a technician to fix a not working furnace, while the outside temps were still well below the freezing mark.  We were promised someone would show up after 1 p.m.

 

That little black round thing above the motor was the culprit

Lutch, the man, he knows everything about furnaces

Almost on the dot the owner, Luciano (Lutch) Pannunzio, came to the rescue. He tested and searched for the defect and then discovered that the pressure switch for the exhaust air of our gas furnace was defect. He managed to temporary by pass it so that the furnace could work for the time being, but he needed to drive all the way to Windsor to get us a new switch and promised he would be back late afternoon and to fix it properly so we wouldn’t be without heat for the night or the coming weekend.  

 

True to his word, he showed up later on and replaced the defective unit with the new pressure switch. In the meantime Benno had turned on the furnace and an electric heater to “Toasty Warm” in our travel trailer as a stand-by in case we would be out of luck with our home furnace.  It helped that we had a wonderful sunny day and the warm rays shining through our windows warmed the house and kept us cozy.

 

Our neighbours tree as it stood until today

Today we are spectators behind our front windows. Our neighbors across the street hired a professional crew to cut down a large Cottonwood tree behind their house, which had been a nuisance for them for a long while.

Here are some facts. Cottonwood trees are native to North America, are fast growing, and adding about 3 feet every year. Most Cottonwoods grow to about 65 feet tall. This one is 120 feet tall as per the information from the guys cutting it.

The branches tend to be weak, so lots of falling branches on windy days.

They also have aggressively, shallow growing roots that can cause problems to sewer systems, building foundations or paved areas.

Cottonwood trees can be either male or female. This one is a female tree and produces pollen in the springtime and in the summer produces seeds with cottony tufts that shed all over the place making it look like it has snowed but its a sticky mess that can drift around in the neighborhood. 

 

 

The tree cutters arrived with a boom track that turned out not to be tall enough to reach the top branches. A while later more equipment showed up. The Genie S-85 XC telescopic boom lift had a working height of 91 feet (I looked that up) and with that boom they managed to cap all the branches and the treetop. 

 

You don't want this tree hitting your house, right?

It was an all day event and by late afternoon the tree trunk came down. As it hit the ground our house shook.  I had a quick look at the felled tree and while the stump was being cut to ground level. What a massive tree.

I presume it will take a few more days to cut and transport the stem as well as all the cleanup. But that is all I'm going to document.

Hoping everyone will have a great weekend and thanks for dropping by again.