Recently I was watching this daily TV program……….
OK! OK! I was watching Oprah…….
And, as part of said program, which was called “Friday – LIVE” they had James Taylor featured and scheduled to sing some of his hits, as selected by audience members.
I was very interested in how they were going to make the segue from the first part of the program, which included having the sex talk with young children. Let’s say the transition was awkward at best; crude and stumbling at worse.
Sweet Baby James came out on stage, picked up that familiar old guitar, sat down on a common tall stool and began to perform. I don’t recall the exact order of the hits he sang but soon he was into “You’ve got a friend” singing it as only he can. It took me back, to a time in my life when songs were simply songs, seeping into my consciousness as background noise because my mind was too busy and not focused enough on what was around me to pay close attention. I must have heard thousands of repeats of James Taylor’s biggest hits over that period of time when he was at the top of the charts, and I came to know and love his work.
There I was, listening to the lyrics and curious as to how I could have missed their meaning as I listened so many times before.
It must have been the fact that we were nearing the Easter time of year and in the back of my mind, I was thinking about what Easter means to me. I often wonder what motivates song writers to write the words they do. What was going on in their life? What was their muse? James Taylor has never struck me a particularly “spiritual” kind of person; but what do I know about the private world of James Taylor? The Lord Jesus could have been his savior as well as my own and perhaps he was feeling a bit lonely at that moment in his life.
Anyway, here’s what I heard. Hey! Jesus could have written these lyrics and was singing them to me right then:
When you’re down and troubled and you need a helping hand and nothing, nothing is going right.
Close your eyes and think of me and soon I will be there, to brighten up even your darkest nights.
If the sky above you should turn dark and full of clouds and that old north wind begins to blow.
Keep your head together and call my name out loud and soon, I will be knocking upon your door.
Then, there’s the chorus:
You just call out my name and you know wherever I am; I’ll come running to see you again.
Winter, spring, summer or fall; all you have to do is call
And I’ll be there….Yeah, Yeah, Yeah….You’ve got a friend
Hey, ain’t it good to know that you’ve got a friend?
People can be so cold.
They’ll hurt you and desert you.
Well, they’ll take your soul if you let them.
But…don’t you let them!
So today, if you are the kind of person who even gives a thought as to what Easter means, repeat the lyrics of James Taylor’s song to yourself and see if it doesn’t bring a little peace to your soul.
For our 38th wedding anniversary, Maureen and I deicded to take in a movie, some lunch and some shopping since we would already be at the local mall.
We agreed on "KNOWING" as the best choice, not that there was much out there that had even the most remote possibility of being a better pick.
We only "Liked" the movie when all was over. I suppose our taste in movies is in question.
By the way; I hope the world doesn't really end like that but I suppose it could.
That's all from down here. Go and see it if you want to know what we discovered.
It all started innocently enough; we called for service on our heat pump because to myself, it seemed that the outside unit was running much longer than “normal.” The term “NORMAL” is subject to my personal interpretation of the habits of our homes specific unit.
The seasonal temperatures for our area had begun to warm, so based on that fact alone, more running time for our heat pump was definitely NOT required. Maureen also hinted that our last utility bill was higher than we are accustomed to during the winter months. She’s the financial wizard for our little family group so who am I to question her conclusion?
It’s a curse I have learned to live with, but I KNOW a lot about heating and cooling because Uncle Sam provided me with considerable training in the area. He thought it might provide me with the skills needed to acquire a good job after he was through with me. I won’t stand for some service guy coming to our home and trying to razzle-dazzle me with all his knowledge, talking to me like I’m some rookie about the subject.
The service man who responded to our call for service hadn’t much more than put on his little protective foot covers when he made the mistake of asking me where the “furnace” was located.
I informed him that we didn’t have a furnace; we have a heat pump and air handler combination. That clued him in on the fact that this old man knows what he’s talking about.
I was his shadow as he went about his business on the pretense that he might have a question at any moment he might need an answer for. He removed the squirrel cage blower access cover and whistled. “Found a bad problem…did you” I asked?
“MOLD!” He responded. “See for yourself” he added, as he stepped back out of the way. I took a look and sure enough, there was several spots which looked like the fungi I’ve seen on the bark of certain dead trees out in the woods. That was followed by more information about the problems mold can cause for the dwellers of our home than anyone ever expected. He asked for a mop bucket, some bleach, rubber gloves and a scrubbing sponge. I went to get all that, returned and he set about cleaning the mess up. He talked continuously while he worked about how badly we needed our system’s ductwork cleaned. I accepted the fact that he may be correct. It hasn’t been cleaned in over twenty years.
From there he went outside to check the heat pump. I gave him some time to get set up and going through his routine. Went outside to check with his progress. Asked him if he found any problems. He indicated that he didn’t like the manifold readings he was getting, which to him indicated that the compressor was starting to fail and could go out completely just anytime. The overall charge condition was GOOD so that couldn’t be the reason it runs on for so long. When all was said and done, in his opinion, it was time to consider replacing the whole thing.
Maureen and I talked about and decided that a ten year old system just might be going bad and that we should do something about it before the summer heat begins, certainly before winter gets here.
We asked the people who sent the service guy over to send us someone to talk to about replacement. Of course, they did that gladly and quickly. He came and went, leaving us with a sour taste in our mouth and considerable pain in my hip on the side where I normally carry a wallet. The last time that same company replaced our entire unit, it cost between three and four thousand dollars and we got a new electric water heater included in that price. This time the estimate started out at more than eleven thousand dollars for the basic unit combo. ELEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS! Are they kidding? And with that, the whole stressful process of searching out the best deal available today began.
We did our due diligence, making appointments and researching possible vendors reputation and products on the Internet and BBB. Maureen was working everyday so it landed in my lap to be at home and talk to the perspective company’s sales reps. I hated every minute of it. I had folders for each one, filled with the usual info sheets. When Maureen came home each day we sat down and talked about the most recent sales visit. As fate would have it, Maureen always had a question that I hadn’t thought of when the guy was here, so I had to call them the next day and ask the question.
We got four estimates. The eleven thousand bid went in the reject pile. The cheapest brand vendor’s bid joined the pile because their reputation was so bad, we would be nuts to consider it. We narrowed down to two offers and then the real work began. We tried to convince one another that the one we each thought we should go with was the right one. Each of us had our just reasons for picking whom we picked we thought. Today, April 3rd is our wedding anniversary. We’ve been wed for 38 years. How time flies when you are having fun. We do not need any sources of friction or controversy in our married life, yet here it is.
From here on in, does it really matter who gets the job? Maureen has the financial mind set in these kind of matters. I rely on rational thinking and logic, filtering all that through my many years of experience and accumulated knowledge pertaining to the area of heating and cooling. Usually, Maureen would focus on price and go from there…BUT THIS TIME she forsook the cost and went with reputation period. How does a product vendor gain a reputation? Usually, it depends on how much advertising an individual has been exposed to over their lifetime and who hasn’t heard more than once along the way, “It’s hard to stop a trane?!”
SO, that’s where things stand right now.
I’m going with American Standard because the price in right and my Uncle Steve worked for them for most of his life and personally, I liked the way the owner sold his product and service.
She’s got Trane on the brain and I may have a hard time swaying her off the track she’s on. I would think six or seven hundred dollars would have canceled out all that advertising brain washing. I’ve been wrong before and it probably won’t be the last time.
Wish me luck!
