Ode to the Home Warranty

Always an adventure this homeownership thing is...
We got back from a lovely family bonding weekend in Maryland to an ice cold FRIGID house. When it's colder inside your house than outside, you know you've got problems...
We thought it was cause we turned the heat down really low over the weekend and it just needed a little while to heat up. Nope, ice cold radiators. Maybe they need to be bled again? Nope, clear water coming out. Down to the basement at now 11:30pm to investigate, pilot light was on, nothing funny looking except for a dead hairy spider...huh, what could it be? With no idea, the next morning I called the company with the home warranty that came with the house, ordered us a furnace visit for $55 and waited the next day while working from home (thank god for great bosses!), the guys come around 3-3:30 (after saying they'd be there between 10am-2pm, thank you very much I could have gone into the office!). The originator of the term "plumber's crack" investigated our furnace, which I was informed is properly called a "boiler" (so then what's the boiler called? "Hot water heater!" ah, the simplicity escaped me. perhaps we just call things different names up whar ah com frum.
What did he find? Can anybody guess?
A loose plug, well now we know where to look next time. Who knew that your "boiler" needs electricity to transmit the message from the open damper to the gas jets that all's clear? On the plus side, he said if we weren't with a warranty, this trip would have cost $75. sheesh! And at least we didn't give the gas company a free ride cause if the radiators are cold, the gas isn't releasing so even if we had it up to 70 to jump start it, there was nothing coming out. whew!
In addition, he passed along some exciting news that when the previous owners replaced the boiler in 2001, while they did choose the top of the line and it ought to last us the life of the mortgage, they should have lined the chimney and that if we didn't do it soon, it was just a matter of time before it collapsed. Joy joy joy... This news from a man who doesn't do chimneys....so it seems true. You know what though, even with all the things that have popped up over the past few months, all the extra stuff that's been what a friend of mine likes to refer to as the "delayed maintenance" of older homeowners--it's all been okay, some how we've had the funds to take care of it. So I'm going to just continue trusting in HJ's reiki list and working extra hours when possible! ha ha.
You'll be happy to know though that the "hot water heater" has been successfully retaped and is snuggly wrapped in it's little silver cocoon!