I asked if he expected to be in the house over winter, and dad said he hoped not.
When mom and dad moved closer to grandma, we had to get a new house. It was new to us, but it was an older house. We were two doors away from grandma, but the house was much older. I couldn’t believe how beat up it was inside, but dad said we would only stay for a couple of months, or until we could talk grandma into moving back home with us. Grandpa had passed away over the summer, and dad didn’t want grandma living alone through the winter. The first thing dad did was have an HVAC technician look at the HVAC system in the house. After a cursory inspection, the HVAC technician told dad to have fun with the furnace. I asked dad what he meant by that, and dad told me the furnace was for burning wood or coal. There was no way to use it with heating fuel, and the heat was all gravity fed. I asked if it was a safe heating system, and dad said yes. He also told me that unless you had a good source of wood, it would be a lot of work and money to keep enough wood around to heat the old house. I asked if he expected to be in the house over winter, and dad said he hoped not. He loved grandma and knew she could be stubborn, but he hoped this time she would just agree to come home with us. Dad was right about her being stubborn, but his hopes were for naught. Grandma dug her heels in, and she refused to leave. Dad had to use that natty old furnace for the entire winter, when grandma said she was ready to leave her home.