Very sandcatty markings! And super plush!

Today's latest news is that I have to replace my 275 gallon fuel oil tank sooner rather than later. It's over 50 years old and nicely rusted at the bottom.

Sarah had her original and the fuel company informed her they would not refill it again in 2013. But she was able to swap to gas, which iirc, isn't an option In your area. Be forewarned, it's noisy as fuck. Wait, is yours in the basement or outside? Originally, ours were in the basement room under the porch. They had to deconstruct in place to remove.

And you aren't kidding about the cleanup issues. An oil company once delivered to Brian's house. Key points: he doesn't have a tank, he's on gas. Needless to say, it cost the company tens of thousands of dollars and who knows what in fines to remediate his basement and house. They had to rent him a place for 3 months or something.

Today was another complete clusterfuck. I might've thrown a stack of postits across the room in a meeting. Anger issues, I'm learning them. And I need my expansion tank drained.

All this talk about tanks--I realize that my hot water tank is probably 20 years old, and should be replaced, since I'm not planning to move. And then I thought about a tankless water heater. Except I'm more worried about wasting water than about wasting energy right now, and the tankless ones waste more water while you wait for it to heat up. So.

Is the night before Valentine's a bad time to try to go out to dinner with a friend? Erps.

I like the looks of that cat! I was thinking about looking at cats tomorrow, but then my mother asked me to go to the mall with her, so maybe not. Or maybe on the way home!

In my very recent experience, the night before Valentine's is a fine night to go out to dinner with a friend!

Your mom should come to with!

Yeah, I don't think she would go for that.

Is the night before Valentine's a bad time to try to go out to dinner with a friend?

I wouldn't think so.

the tankless ones waste more water while you wait for it to heat up.

Oh really? I have been idly thinking about going tankless when I replace mine (not anytime soon, knock on wood). My parents did, or maybe partially? Maybe they just added a tankless heater to the kitchen. In any case, it ends up being way better for them because before the hot water had to get from the tank in the garage through many feet of dirt and/or concrete to get to the kitchen sink and naturally lost a LOT of heat in the process - now the wait for the water to heat up is way shorter so save both water and energy.

I should probably just insulate my pipes. I know that needs doing.

Y'all are making me glad that I am unlikely to ever be in a position to either buy or sell a house in this lifetime.

Me too.

I do, however, want ALL THE CATS, thanks to Anne's link.

Timelies all!

At the open filk at Boskone.

I love owning a house. Even the onerous stuff. Like I should really go check the boiler pressure now that it's running and maybe bleed a radiator because it is running high (due to full expansion tank) and the pressure relief valve is doing its job, but that means a puddle but I'm catted.