Home Improvements and Vail Bound

So how much is a water heater worth?  Would you believe $1700?  That number just about floored us as well as that is how much a local contractor was paid to replace a failed gas water heater and bring the vent, platform, and gas fittings up to code.  If we had to pay all that ourselves, we would probably be heating water on the stove!

Our New--and Very Expensive Water Heater

As we mentioned in our previous post, we have a home warranty and they are reimbursing all but about $350 of the total costs.  We decided to down size the leaking 75 gallon water heater and replace it with a 50 gallon unit, as it saved money in the short and long run.  Better to not have to keep an extra 25 gallons of water hot all the time for just the two of us.

Garden Shed/Shop Door Hung

Neil has continued to make some progress on the garden shed; getting the sliding door hung and the lock in place so we can keep our "stuff" locked up when we are not here.  The sliding door took a lot more effort to hang than Neil though, and he had to continue to improvise everything to get it to work, but he is pretty close to being done with everything except the roof and painting.  He is hoping that he can get some help to finish it in September.

Shop Door Detail - Getting Close!

The weather here continues to be sunny, dry--and today--too darn hot.  Ninety degrees in September is hard for us to get used to.  Tonight, we went with Gordon and Sandy Kelly to Gresham Elks Club and a Good Sam RV Club monthly meeting.

We are Good Sam members, but are not sure if we are ready to get active with the club quite yet.  They are some great people, and we may try a couple of camping trips before we decide.  

Friday we will spend getting the house ready for company, mowing lawns, and packing suitcases for our trip to Vail, Colorado and the US Forest Service Reunion there.  It is a heck of a deal when you have to go to 9,000 feet elevation to escape the Oregon heat!  

We return after about a week and have family visiting for a couple of days afterwards--we are really looking forward to that.  We hope you are enjoying a good September where ever you are.  

Thanks for visiting--let us know how you are doing!

Neil and Pamela