Ugh. The water heater broke yesterday, prompting an emergency run to Home Depot.

$630 and 24 hours later, I'm still sans hot water. I called Home Depot. It took 75 minutes to get a hold of someone. Turns out they forgot to call the installer yesterday. I was tempted to cancel the order and go get one from Lowe's and install it myself, but I wasn't sure that it would fit into my CR-V and apparently both the manufacturer and the county frown on non-professional installations (the former by making it difficult to make warranty claims, the latter by sending an inspector to your house).

I am quite annoyed by the county's $15 water heater permit. If this were a disposal or environmental impact fee, I could understand; but, no, I'm paying the installer for disposal of the old heater separately. If the county ran the water, sewer, or gas systems, I could also understand; they're somewhat responsible for making sure that I don't incorrectly hook up a utility line and cause a dangerous situation. But, no; this is purely a "we're going to tax this because we can" tax. Kind of like the city of Pittsburgh and its 50% (!) parking tax.

I did manage a bath by taking the largest pots I had, including and especially the 5 gallon stew pot, and running pots of hot water upstairs to the bath. Baths are always a good thing. Never pass up the opportunity to take a nice bath.