Furnaces, Frustration, & Finding Blessings

So...my first challenge in blogging is, well, blogging! That is, actually sitting down at the computer and writing. It's been a week since my first entry. I've thought about writing several times since, but never when I could get to it. And when I could have done it, other tasks consumed my time. But I'm here now, so I will blog.

Events of the past two weeks have caused me to count some basic blessings. Last October we got a new (and expensive) outdoor wood furnace, which we have been having problems with. These problems result in heat, but not very warm heat (I do not like to be cold in my own house), hot water that is not hot, but barely luke warm (I love a hot bath every night, as hot as I can stand it), and high water use to fill the "bladder" of the furnace every day, when it should need filling only occasionally (which taxes our well and our water treatment system). Now where we live, March is a long way from warm weather. We're looking at about three more months of needing to heat the house. Thus, problems with our heating system call for immediate attention. So far, the distributor that installed our furnace has not been very prompt in coming to check it out and fix it; in fact no one has come, even after two weeks of phone calls.

So what blessings does this major inconvenience cause me to count? Hot running water on demand, for one. There are millions of people the world over who can't imagine having that. Another blessing is consistent, dependable heat that I don't have to fuss with. Many folks don't have that. Less obvious blessings are the financial wherewithal to purchase such a system, my husband's health that enables him to cut wood and fire the furnace, and the practice I'm getting at controlling my temper and being a polite customer when I speak with the distributor. And then there's the challenge of not allowing all this to steal my peace and ruin my day. It's hard to "look on the bright side" of a situation like this; the truth is it makes me quite angry. But buried among all the inconvenience and frustration are some drops of the sweet life. It's up to me to find them.