And the Winner is...

Gus! (and Johnny) will be installing a new boiler. There will be no permits, no contract, not even a handshake. Just cash changing hands. I became convinced Johnny knew more about high-efficiency boilers than any of the plumbing and mechanical outfits around. One of them claimed the manufacturers inflate the wholesale price to eat up the Income Tax Energy Credit, but that just tells me he jacked up his markup and installation charge for that same reason. Gus rattled off some mental calculations to convince me it was not cost efficient to install a high efficiency water heater, and so we save more money by replacing our 21-year old water heater with a conventional unit. And while scoping out the boiler, we noticed a pool of water under the water heater so that became number-one priority. Gus sent me down to Home Depot to get a cheap 40-gallon GE unit. He's so controlling. I broke rank by getting a 50-gallon Energy Star. The worker tried to convince me Energy Star means you get the Energy Tax Credit. I knew he was wrong (it just means it should save on your energy cost according to the government) but I got it anyway. The salesperson at Sears made the same misrepresentation. People are so full of it. When Gus comes today to help me with the installation, he's going to charge me more for deviating from his orders. Fair enough. We'll need a few piping modifications to get this big boy installed.

If you're not in the mood yet, this will jump start Christmas for you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

SQUIRREL SENTRIES