Well, Diann, all he said was "hook a hose up to the spigot on the bottom and drain it out."

I figure that's easy enough but it was something I'd not been doing. (Partly because the heater is in a place that is difficult to get in to.) At least it's close enough to my side door that I could just run the hose out the door.

My big worry - what woke me up at 3 am today - is that I DON'T KNOW FOR SURE WHERE THE WHOLE-HOUSE WATER CUTOFF IS. Every plumbing issue I've had before, I could find a cutoff close to the sink or toilet and shut the water off from there.

I had visions of the installers shrugging their shoulders and walking off when I told them that. (I do know where the water meter is - perhaps there's a cutoff close to that? If not, it must be under the house, and I don't go under houses...claustrophobia issues.)

So now I have something else, besides things not being up to code, to worry about.

I heated water on the stove this morning to sort-of bathe (one of the side effects of this cold is that you apparently perspire quite copiously. And also, I spent most of yesterday afternoon scrubbing areas of the kitchen/laundry room area [where the new heater will go] that I hadn't scrubbed in a while. I found a little pile of pecans behind the washer and dryer when I moved them - from when I had a mouse a couple years ago. So I had to wash up at least a little, and the 70 degree or whatever water out of the tap didn't appeal.)

It occurs to me now why so many families, even middle-class families, 100 years ago had servants - living without modern conveniences is a bigger job than I imagined. Or why the children had so many chores, if there weren't servants. It would be compounded even more if I was having to go to a well, spring, or stream and bring water back to the house from there. (I can also see why relatively few people bathed regularly in the past).