Furnace Adventures

Soup's on the stove so I'll catch up with the journal entry while we wait for it to simmer to perfection.  We watched a cooking show last night on CreateTV on PBS and the lady made a wonderful looking soup, for which I have all the ingredients!    

No journal entry yesterday - just didn't have anything to say. We stayed home because it was Black Friday and didn't want to face crowds and traffic - besides we didn't have anywhere to go!
We read, we napped, I crocheted, Rog listened to his audio book.  Those vigorous activities were interspersed with walks with Maggie.   I had a backache all day - the worst muscle spasms I've had since after my surgery.  Not sure what I did to deserve them except I remember picking Maggie up early in the morning to put her on the bed.  Just strained it, I guess, lifting her the wrong way. Today, I'm fine.   Muscle relaxers are a wonderful thing.

We had discussed packing a lunch today and heading to Red Rock Canyon and a state park in the same area.  Well, that didn't pan out.  The furnace did it's little fun and games again last night, so Rog was up and outside in the cold starting about 3am checking propane tanks.  Then, of course, he couldn't get back to sleep thinking about what was going on and how he was going to fix it.  I was awake off and on, as well, so we both were very tired this morning.  

Rog messed about a little with the furnace - as in taking the cover off and looking at the innards trying to figure out what was going on.  The problem is sporadic - it worked fine for two nights - and nothing was obvious.  This is not something he feels he can fix.  Because it is intermittent, it's hard to diagnose, but the fan turns on and we wait to hear the fire light, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. It does light immediately after turning the furnace off and back on again.  Furnace?  Ignitor? Thermostat? Propane feed? Hmmmm. 

Rog did discover in his middle of the night wanderings that one propane tank had emptied and the other had very little in it, so we went out this morning looking for a place to refill.  We found a U-Haul store about 5 miles away and filled up.  There was a restaurant across the street, so, it being noon, we stopped and ate before returning home.   We haven't been able to figure out when we used all that propane, since the leak was fixed in August.  Rog always keeps a good eye on the propane levels and when one tank goes empty he immediately fills it.  So, that's another mystery.  We're pretty sure we don't have a leak, as that issue was resolved on our summer trip. All the parts that could leak have been replaced.

Driving around North Las Vegas is very depressing.  It's a very low income neighborhood with run down homes and businesses. There are a few nice looking apartment buildings right around the base and there's a large section that is very nice base housing, but a block away it's like being in an economic disaster area.   

Again today, we spent the afternoon reading (I will include Roger's audio book in that category) and napping.  We are expecting some weather this evening and in the morning - the outside band of the storm in Northern Nevada which, as I write this, has been dropping snow up there and chains are required over Donner. We will have wind and possible rain overnight.   Let's hope the furnace works.

We are less than five miles south of the Las Vegas Speedway. Need I say more?  Apparently there are events this holiday weekend.  The planes from Nellis have taken the time off, but the race cars have filled the noise void!

Not sure what tomorrow will bring.  We are hoping to do some exploring if the weather is cooperative. 

Nevada beat UNLV today, 45-10 and the Fremont Cannon is coming home to Reno!!!!  Go WolfPack!