13C to 18C

It’s essentially been 3 days with no heat.  Oh we’ve had space heaters running, and there’s hot water etc.  But we’re only warm, where we’re at.  Move to another room in the house, you’re cold.

The house gets no colder than 13C and no warmer than 18C.

Noon today is “fix” time.  I’m living for noon.

But I’m already noticing health effects from this stint of unreliable and inconsistent heat.  I’m stressed over the cost of the fix, and worried if this is the beginning of the end of the furnace and over the next year, part after part will fail, ending with a massive loan to get a new furnace.  This is keeping me awake at night.

The house is a lot dryer with space heaters, my daughter’s cold has gotten worse, the cough deepened, and I feel my sinuses drying out. 

I have a lot of muscle tension from being cold and just holding myself together, physically.

I’m snuggled under blankets on the couch, not moving, unable to contemplate going outside for a walk, where it’s even colder.  I just want to hide under the blankies.

Yet we know there is an end to all of this, we know that eventually it will get fixed.  We have resources, we have friends offering us warm beds, and thank goodness January is behaving more like November, so we don’t have high winds and blizzards pulling heat out of the house.

Yet so many families do not have a light at the end of the tunnel.  The oil tank sits empty, the furnace quiet due to lack of fuel.

They suffer in silence because if people found out, those with children might be turned in to Children’s Aid Society for “failing to provide”.  Poverty, not bad parenting becomes a CAS issue.  They would call us for help, but we have no funds to help.

I know I’m lucky, and I know we’ve helped so many already, but so many more need help.

If you can help, click the Canada Helps button, or this link, and you can make a difference, no donation is too small, it all helps.