New water heater

On Saturday, my parents breezed into town and helped me install my new water heater. I played the role of general contractor and my dad and brother played sub-contractors.

Preparation
A few days prior to the installation, and three hours away, my dad took care of buying the right pipes and other piping miscellany. I just took a few measurements and a few photos and e-mailed them to him. Then, he worked his magic and showed up with the correct pipes and tools in hand.

Day of Installation
Once we drained the old water heater, it was out of the basement in minutes. When my dad and brother went to carry my new water heater into the basement, I made the unpleasant discovery that it was dented. In multiple spots. At that point, my mind locked down and I could not figure out how I should proceed, suggesting I may be completely hopeless in a real crisis.

Someone told me to call Lowe's to remedy the situation, so that is exactly what I did. And thank goodness too. I was able to get half my money back without even so much as one little argument!

After that minor crisis, the water heater went in no sweat (we did have to make one quick run to Ace, but it was no biggie). To top it all off, my parents hauled my old water heater back with them to dump at a local junk pile. So, no haul away charges for me! I owe my parents big time.

Before.
Old water heater - scorched and sad

During.
My dad - doing something important

After.
The new, improved and slightly dented water heater

Leafy

Care to guess what kind of plant this is? Hint: It's big and green and leafy.

Give up? It's a poinsettia! As in that quintessential Christmastime plant. While my humble poinsettia finally kicked the bucket after a valiant attempt at a post-holiday life, this one, which belongs to my brother's fiance, has flourished. I was in charge of watching it for a week while they went out of town. I think it died a little under my care.

Poinsettia. It's not just for Christmas anymore.

Sweet View. Street View.

Let me preface this post, by saying, "YAY!" I thought it would take a long, long time to be deemed worthy enough for Google Maps' Street View. But really, it didn't take that long at all. Yay!

My, what a sweet little home that is. As viewed from the Google person's car, from the street, from my computer.