I opened the rental cabin early this year for a young family from Delaware, and it seems like a disaster situation.

Before they got here tonight I went over to check on the heat, and it was cold in there - the pilot had gone out. Relighting it means crawling under the house and lying in the dirt striking match after match until the pilot will stay lit. This is the second time it's gone out since we lit it last week, so I'm worried that the thermocouple is going bad.

It's cold and rainy, coming down steadily so I was all ready to get muddy under the house, but it was pretty dry. I'm praying the furnace keeps working while they're here.

They get here just about dusk, and I have to tell them that not only do we not have cell phone signals here, the bathtub faucet is dripping, but if they line up the purple Sharpie mark on the faucet pointing upwards, it seems to drip less. Last year Mr. Tbend said he couldn't fix it until this spring before we started the water in the house, and then he couldn't fix it, so put it back together, and went back to Las Vegas. After he's gone, I go over there, and it's not a drip, it's like a steady trickle. I finally jiggled it around and it slowed down quite a bit. He claims it wasn't that bad when he left it. I don't know if he could have fixed it given more time (he had to hurry back for bowling), or if it was beyond him and he didn't want to say.

But I had to tell the guests about it right after I told them to call me if the heat goes out and I'll come over and light the pilot.

Last but not least, I had to tell them they can't leave food out on the counter or on top of the refrigerator. There is plastic bin on top of the refrigerator for protective storage, and the upper kitchen cabinets are safe, and inside the refrigerator. Last year someone had a bag of chips on top of the fridge and the mouse climbed the wall and got into them. And then someone else put a bag of chips inside the oven, same result.

We didn't even get into the strange fake fireplace. In this weather, a fire would be really nice. Monday I have some appointments in town so I'm going to buy a fire pit for outside, but that's not going to do much if it's raining.

Let's all cross our fingers that nothing else goes wrong, and the things that are wrong don't get any worse. And the weather warms up.

And I'm calling a plumber after they leave.