You don't need to take time to answer this
e-mail, or for that matter, even to read it,
but a simple unscripted  email "reply" would
reassure Mommy and me that you are reasonably
well, and would save you the trouble of
telephoning if you have other things on your mind.

Our telephone conversation last night left me
with the concern that you might have found my
circumstantial account of the telephone repair
a bit tedious, but were kind and polite enough
not to say so. Perhaps e-mail is a medium more
appropriate for such communications, inasmuch as,
distinct from not listening, not reading would
require no explanation, no apology.

With today's repair I addressed the economics
of fuel oil consumption. Because the system was
originally designed to pre-heat hot water for 
baths, laundry, etc., the oil burner here,
as you know, was wired to maintain the antifreeze
in the boiler between 140 and 180 degrees F.
all of the time, summer and winter, whether
the house is occupied and heated above 55 degrees
or not. Some years ago, I shut off the oil burner
for the entire winter, the floors buckling in
an unseemly manner as a result. The swelling
has since largely subsided; but I concluded that
leaving the house totally unheated all winter is
probably not a good idea. On the other hand,
keeping the anti-freeze at 140 degrees when
the outside temperature is above freezing is
wasteful of oil, particularly at today's high
prices.  So this afternoon I did, what I should
have done fourteen years ago: I relocated the
oil pump/ oil ignition circuits from a site proximal
to the thermostat relay to a site distal to that
relay, so that now the oil burner is not activated
until the living room thermostat registers 50 degrees;
a change which might reduce the fuel oil consumption
of the unoccupied house as much as 70% or 80% for
the winter. I have placed new legible lables on all
splices and modified the circuit diagram to show the
changes, so that potential repairs should not be too
much of a problem.

My email to Leah should speak for itself, except
to note that for epistolary effect I exaggerated
my forgetfulness. I don't think it is anything
to worry about. Remarkable to me is the circumstance
that I seem to have no difficulty in remembering my
lapses of memory.