Ma is seventy-eight. She is also the primary care giver for Dad, 84. Dad has an attention span of about 30 minutes. I help Ma stay in the home they raised their kids in from the next town over. It ain’t easy and it ain’t simple.
A contractor was hired to replace an aging oil heating system in this suburban house. With my knowledge I could have done it for two thousand and this guy came in at a little more than six thousand. I didn’t really have the time and it was fall putting a real timeline on things.
A new “energy efficient” boiler was installed. In compliance with enviornmental concerns the old oil tank was also replaced with a new one. The price of oil being what it is the old oil was pumped out of the old oil tank and transferred into the new oil tank.
Two weeks later the “Fire Pigs” were called to the house because smoke had filled up in the basement. I was not home at the time. The term “Pigs” does come from my demographic of the late sixties and early seventies relating to the Vietnam War and the counter culture of the times toward authority figures. The “Fire Pigs” in this case ventilated the house, shut down the oil burner and then told Ma to go to a hotel and “That guy better have pulled a permit”. At the time it was below freezing.
I have to attibute that attitude to this Homeboy Security assholianism. Every government agency operates in a “law enforcement” capacity. These guys are firemen. They know trades. They know who could fix a misfiring oil burner gun, but no, they would rather eject a 78 year old and a dimentia 84 year old from their home of thirty years. No helpful small town suggestion of calling Joe’s Oil Burner Service, just a prescribed “hazardous” device “lock out” according to “acceptable protocols”.
In the morning I finally go hold of the company and they dispatched a technician who cleaned the constricted passages of this new “energy efficient” system. Any misfire of the gun rapidly clogs up the system, the “old” oil was pumped into the “new” tank.
Well, OK, but then please research Beede Oil in Plaistow NH.
Ya, just like the Iraqi who had his car crushed recently by the US Army for “looting wood”, the Homeboy Security attitude is winning the heart and mind of this 52 year old native born Boy Scout American.
The story actually continues with the Satan inspired behavior of the insurance company. Depending upon interest I may continue the series.
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but a friend of mine who claims to be clean…who appears clean…and who has paid his ‘debt’ to society (all of his adult offenses are drug-related) was struggling to find a job…and claims that, due to ‘homeland security issues’, his juvvy file has been opened, and appears on any background checks potential employers run on him, basically making him unemployable (he does construction and fix-it type work, and can’t get bonded).
im not sure if this is true, as he is was a loooong time user and pretty much knows every manipulative trick in the book….but he wasnt asking me for anything..seemed to take full responsibility for his past…etc… i’d be way more suspicious if he were using this as an excuse to ask me for something.
i hope your parents are ok…having a house full of smoke can be verrrry scary…
like when she grew up:
Isn’t it a crying shame…
I’m SO tired of no-one taking pride in their work anymore… of people doing as little as possible, just enough to get by… of how things are never done well anymore…
we live in a world filled with half-assed people doing half-assed work with half-assed equiptment… who believe they are entitled to Bling!
Mom needs to start saying ASAP “You’ll have to speak with my child, Lasthorseman, who makes all my business descisions.”
Whether that is true or not, it will give her time to discuss it with you, not be rushed into anything. This will put more of a burden on you, but also more of the descision making.
Good Luck, I’ll be happy to discuss this, having recently been through it.
is it’s a minefield from refinancing, healthcare, home repair,and your ‘personal’ information. As a small business owner even the city screws you. I think it started in the 80’s and progressed and was refined by the Clintons. Were on our own folks and it’s like Billy Goats gruff you have to keep throwing money at the trolls, lurking around under your bridge. As my neighbor a realtor, said after royally screwing his in laws on a dicey deal, “it’s a dog eat dog world, they didn’t know how to play the game, not my problem”