My mother was born on April 3rd in 1907. 
Happy Birthday Mom!
Miracles happen.
I last used my Stihl chainsaw in October, an MS 250; the MS stands for “Motorsäge, German for chainsaw. That makes no sense to me.
Friday was sunny so I put the saw in the sun for an hour and then it started just as it is supposed to do. This might have been the easiest time in years.
I just cut some stuff laying in the shed – about ½ hour – but have several dead trees to drop and other odd & large pieces of things I need to work on. New wood needs to “season” (dry) for 18 months or longer.
I had the Heat Pump serviced. It is working fine but it was installed in 2002. The average use by date is about 15 years with 20 years considered excellent. So, what’s the problem?
Parts may not be available for old models and the refrigerant it uses is now banned, while it may or may not be available at a high cost. If it fails at an inappropriate time (what wouldn’t be?), getting it fixed or a new one installed could be a long wait. Why spend a lot to fix one past its usage date when new ones are more efficient. And like truck tires I bought last fall, the longer I wait the less use I will get out of the new model.
Additionally, there are discounts and maybe grants I might get from several sources. Possibilities include a couple levels of government, the utility district, and the manufacture. Sometime this next week I will go to EBRG and consult with the boss of the local company that does the service. I need to pay the recent bill, too. The current unit is a Trane but there is no longer an EBRG outlet. The folks I now deal with install Lennox. These are also sold through COSTCO. I spoke with the sales rep there on Saturday and learned Costco provides a perk of $15%.
Decision time: wait for the 23-year-old unit to fail or install a more efficient and subsidized one now. 
Nights are still cool although the days are nice. From the EBRG area snow is still visible on the surrounding hills at about 5,000 feet. Mount Stuart (NW at 9,415 ft) and Rainier (SW at 14,410) are bright white and can be seen from my area. It is still cold at those altitudes.
And speaking of temperatures:
… an April Fool’s joke I saw had the President signing an executive order renaming the Fahrenheit scale as AmeriTemp.
Having learned about temperature scales in the 1960s, we used Fahrenheit and also learned Centigrade. At some point the latter got renamed as Celsius. There is also the Kelvin scale. AmeriTemp it is!
I find the image-making possibilities impressive as is the one shown here. [The original shows the president seated in the Oval Office.]
In honor of my mother’s birthday, I bought a fancy cake at COSTCO.
It’s cake time!
Keeping Track
on the Naneum Fan
John H.