You know how yesterday I was longing for the lake?

Ran up to the lakehouse yesterday to check in on the house and make sure all was well.  Turns out...all was NOT as well as it could be. The first indication that things might be a little rough came as we arrived.  There was between 2 and 3 feet of snow in the driveway and the front yard.  The trek in was the TRUE definition of trudging. Especially for the King/2.0.  While he was attempting to stay within his Dad’s footsteps, at certain points he ended up waist deep.

Thankfully, Mrs. Oz had brought a shovel with them…the deck to enter the house was no better with approximately 2.5 feet of snow between us and the door.  Needless to say…we were cold when we walked into the house.

And it only got colder.

It seems the pilot light on the furnace had gone out  some point and the house was sitting at a balmy 30 degrees. Yup. Pipes were frozen, the toilets were blocks of ice, and when Mr. Oz first relit the furnace it cycled several times before the pilot light went out again. On went the stove (gas) burners and oven, a fire was quickly lit in the fireplace, and Mr. Oz again refired the furnace.  This time – victory. But we knew that we would have to get an HVAC guy out to figure out why the furnace was having some difficulties.  Mr. Oz was NOT going to leave Mrs. Oz up there alone, so he decided to stay overnight and nurse the furnace if necessary. Mrs. Oz and the King headed home taking the only vehicle. 

 

(Here is a quick pic Mrs. Oz took from the car as she and the King pulled away.  Note the deer tracks heading towards the pine tree.  Note the barely visible roof stack – no not the tall pipe at the edge of the roof…the small square. Note the snow that remained on the deck even AFTER a path was cleared.

 

Let's just say that we were very very very very lucky.  Mr. Oz brought all of the systems back online. There was only 1 pipe casualty (the water softener), and everything dethawed appropriately. The furnace stayed on throughout the night!

Today, a snow plow came and plowed out the drive enabling the HVAC guy to reach the house where he noted that the stack needs to be lengthened as likely lost air return and doused the pilot light based on the 18” of snow load on the roof. A new thermocoupler (that was getting ready to give up the ghost), and we are back in business. (Well, we will still need to snowrake the roof …).

Just for final grins….here is a picture taken through the back Sliding Doorwall.  Yeah…you can’t see the deck…BUT…you can see the snow…up against the window.  Not kidding. That mound of snow at the bottom of the picture? Yeah, that is up against the window.