Yippee Me, I Assembled Wheels on New Heater

American style central heating/cooling is very rare in Israel. It certainly wasn't anything we planned when designing and building our house, thirty-five plus years ago. To be honest, a good part of the year we need neither. That's especially since I chose to build on the east of the neighborhood, used some principles of passive solar heating, besides investing in double walls and windows.

Because of the way the house had been designed and built it has always been relatively easy to heat and cool, but in recent years, when I've spent a lot of time sitting in the den at the computer, I've needed heat in winter. I began using old electric radiators, which had been on their "last legs." Finally I really needed a new heater for the den. Buying one seemed so complicated. We don't have a car, and carrying one onto buses is beyond my capabilities.

I asked a neighbor to take me down to the Shiloh Industrial Zone, where there's a big store that sells all sorts of household/building machinery and supplies. We bought some of the new kitchen tiles there, too. I bought a garden hose, clothesline and a few other items in the past. Yes, they sell electric radiators but didn't have the small size I wanted for the den.

I've been kvetching about the cold den on facebook, and a different neighbor told me to go to the nearby grocery store. I took his advice and bought a small electric radiator. I waited outside until someone came by who could take me and my precious purchases home.

Then I excitedly removed the radiator from the box and discovered that we'd have to assemble the wheels. The instructions were sans a diagram. There was just a simple sentence telling us to "use the included screws."

Duh!? There weren't any ordinary screws there. There were just two pieces of metal with wheels on each and two curved metal things with a sort of screw at one end. When I came home from the Jerusalem "Big Blue" Lions exciting tough win against Petach Tikva, I had been hoping that the radiator would be ready for use, but it wasn't.

I examined all the parts and turned the heater over. Then I figured out where one of the two-wheel pieces went, but not how to attach it. When I come back from games and other exciting events, I'm a bit (OK very) hyper. I tried to relax at the computer, but my mind was spinning in lots of directions. Before going to sleep, after 1am, I decided to take a good look at what we had. I figured out where the second wheel piece went but not how to attach it at all. Then I looks at those curved metal things, convinced they had some purpose.

Suddenly, I realized that they were to be hooked around the radiator and put through holes in the wheel pieces. And that little butterfly was to tighten, screw it in.

Yes, I was right, and as tired as I was I couldn't wait until morning to get the heater all assembled.

I'm very proud to say that I did it, and I didn't even cheat by googling for instructions.

Afterwards, I was so excited that I needed a sleeping pill or I never would have succeeded in falling asleep.

Look! Here's the radiator heater heating the den. Thank Gd for gifting me with a bit of mechanical talent.