Personal

I’m not saying I’m happy to get my latest power bill, but it certainly looks a lot better than the past couple of months! It’s about half of what it usually is because I’ve made a serious effort to cut it down. My house has two 2½ ton heat pumps, plus a “mini-split” wall unit that heats/cools the media room. I have set the thermostats to let it get as cold as 62 degrees Fahrenheit at night, and 68 during the day, and just leave the wall unit turned off. It gets colder than I like it, but I’m liking this much lower power bill much better!

I also unplugged the upright freezer since we hardly use it these days, and unplugged the mini-fridge in the master bedroom. Nearly all the light bulbs are compact fluorescent except for the recessed lights. I suppose I could turn off some of these computers (normally two are running plus a laptop and the PS3), but I don’t think they play that big of a part. I think the next thing will be to install a timer on the water heater. Maybe if I put up a clothesline instead of using the electric dryer we could get it down below 1500 kWh for a month… ?

MMmmm… reasonable power bill. That would be nice.

EDIT: Funny — saw the black Google page today for the Earth Hour thing. Looks like I’m already doing my part.

Not my Yellow Dog Linux — that’s running fine — but my little 3.5 pound chihuahua has a broken leg.

Somehow the little guy managed to fall off the deck behind my house. It was only about 5 feet down to the sand, but that is still about 10 times his height (not counting the big ears). When I got to him his front left leg was bent at a 90 degree angle!

We got him to the vet’s office quickly and they were able to put his leg in a temporary splint, telling us to come back in a few days for additional x-rays. Now we have the x-rays, but things are not looking good!

We’re told this is going to require surgery to set the bones properly, and apparently that will cost around $1,200 - $1,500 and require a 1-2 day stay at the hospital. Not to mention all the extra care at home. Worse yet, the place doesn’t offer any sort of payment program and they basically require the full amount up front.

My special the-chihuahua-has-broken-his-leg emergency cash reserve was already short of paying the bill at the Vet’s office, much less covering a $1,500 payment to the animal hospital. But what are we to do — we’ve had the dog less than a year now and he’s like part of the family. I’m sure I’ll be able to pull some strings, put off some other bills, etc. to cover it, but its beginning to make me wonder if we don’t need to get some sort of health insurance for the dog.

Here, if a person is injured they can at least get basic care in the emergency room regardless of their ability to pay. Animals don’t enjoy the same luxury, though. I hear stories of people being given the choice of paying for treatment up front or having their pet “put to sleep.” If it was the cat, now that would be different, but this is man’s best friend I’m talking about! And daughter’s best friend, wife’s best friend …

So we have an appointment scheduled for surgery. Hopefully things will go smoothly with that.