Done, and done.

I'm considerably happier than that cat looks.

Plumber dude came out this afternoon. It took him four (4) hours to do the code upgrades and install the heater. (Part of this was because Lowe's apparently gave him a part that was the wrong size...he said, "I told them 1/2" and they gave me 3/4." Durr. So he had to drive over there and get the right part.)

But - Hot Water. Mine. (And unlike some of the greedy LOLcats, I'll say that I hope Hot Water, Yours. too.)

Oh, I have ALREADY showered and washed my hair. And the hot water was like the hot water I had of old - so hot I had to turn on the cold tap to make it cool enough to tolerate. So hot that it made me turn red. I had forgotten how HOT hot water is supposed to be. Kind of like the frog being boiled, only in reverse, over the past year the hotness of my hot water had slowly declined - and because it was slow, I didn't notice it.

I am looking forward to many hot baths come winter.

And now I am washing up the old "junk" towels (but which are still too useful to throw away) that the plumber-dude used when he had problems draining the old tank. (He did sweep up and mop up after himself, that was good). I'm hoping to at least have time tonight to do one load of "real" laundry before I totally collapse from tiredness.