I have occasionally featured Mrs Widds and her exceptional baking skills on my blog as ‘Mrs Widds Bakes’ – prime examples of which can be found by doing a search for Mrs Widds Bakes, where you will find such gems as THIS.
Due to her expanding skill-set she is now also our resident Fixer-Upper.
But first … on a personal note, I was promised snow the other night. It didn’t happen. I am … disappointed.
For those new to my blog one of my little, quirks, lets call them, is an (‘over’, some might say) enthusiasm for snow. It’s in my genes.
I was born in the northern hemisphere, (in a little town called Rochford, in the county of Essex, England) but for reasons that were never adequately explained to me, my parents chose to emigrate to Australia when I was 2. Had I been able to voice an opinion at the time I would’ve voted for the alternative destination, Canada.
The ways of one’s parents are inexplicable.
It took me 42 years but I did manage to get here (Canada) by 2004. Having been so long deprived of snow I have since discovered a deep well of (insanity, some might say) joy when the fluffy white stuff falls from the sky. …
… back to Mrs Widds and her evisceration-ing.
Out little cottage used to have a real fireplace but a previous tenant used the flagstone hearth as a base for his firewood splitting endeavours. Needless-to-say the owner wasn’t at all impressed with the mess he left behind and removed the fireplace.
Mrs Widds and I grew up (separated by the Pacific Ocean) with fireplaces, so we decided to use the old fake-it-’til-you-make-it principle, and, as all our power here on Widder Island is sourced from electricity, we bought ourselves this fabulous electric fan heater.
Although you can’t really see it at all in this hasty photo, the flickering light is rather lovely to stare into on a cold winter’s eve whilst sipping one’s chai-latte
Then a few years later, it suddenly died!
Wailing and gnashing of teeth was heard across the land!
Then it started again.
Great rejoicing was heard, you guessed it, across the land.
Then it died again.
… deathly silence …
All was not lost however, because Mrs Widds, fresh from her triumphant carburetor replacement on the generator. (which can be found HERE – you have to scroll down a bit, and HERE) swung into action.
I on the other hand, retired to my computer with chai-latte in hand and proceeded to work on my ‘How to become a YouTube video-making Mavern’ (not real name) course for our Wunder-Lusters adventures next year.
Meanwhile, appropriate tools were sought, and with a few sub-sonic mutters, Mrs Widds reduced our faithful heater to it’s component parts …
Upside-down, back-to-front, and eviscerated
… and isolated the miscreant …
Corrosion of the miscreant-y kind
It turns out one can’t just replace these tiny wires by themselves, or even with the plate they’re connected to, no one has to buy the whole assembly.
Some reassembly will be required . The bit at the front is the heating element and the round thingy at the back is the fan
The upside is that Amazon carries many of these gizmos that are slightly less powerful and fairly cheap, (and probably will fit, probably) but to get one exactly the same as this we have to pay pretty much double the price.
We are currently quandary-ing the odds, and consulting the bank balance … will update soon.
Widdershins Worlds 
Brava, Mrs. Widds! You’ve got me believing that maybe I can do that, too, should the situation arise.
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She said, ‘Thank you very much’. 😀 … I reckon you could too, you’re very handy. Mostly it’s a question of having patience and the right tools … and YouTube videos. There’s a video to fix just about anything on there! 😀
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You had me at the baking but more than that is even better we love vintage pieces glad you guys are working on fixing that up
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A baker and a handywoman! can’t get much better than that! 😀
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Agreed
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I’m sure you will sort it out Mrs Widds a very capable duo
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Indeed she is! 😀
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Never give up on what unorthodox methods can sort 😉 Living in a modern flat with no fireplace…and no space for a fake one… really bugs me.
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I miss having a real fireplace too. There’s nothing like it.
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I was very surprised to see a small Strowger-type telephone exchange inside the heater. Just there in case you call for more heat, I suppose. 🙂
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Bwhahaha! Bloody brilliant! … I had to look it up on the googleator …
Yes indeed the was a Strowager inside that connected us to an old red telephone booth in the middle of the Saddleworth Moor, in Greater Manchester … very odd lass whose trousers were a bit too short answered … and now we’re floating somewhere beyond the Kuiper Belt heading for Canis Minor. Request a care package of tea and crumpets at your best time.
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Although, it might be cheaper to find another bargain fire?
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Possibly, but where’s the fun in that? 😀 … Thankfully the cost of buying another unit like this is far more than even the more expensive replacement part. 🙂
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In that case…
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Reblogged this on anita dawes and jaye marie.
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Your pretend fire is more impressive than our pretend one. There is nothing real about our house – the fireplace is fake, there is no chimney. The double cooker is not an Aga and even I am not real.
Strangely my parents nearly emigrated to Canada when I was a baby and I do like snow. Somehow we ended up in Australia when I was eleven, having been rejected by New Zealand.
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Love the not-real-ness list! 😀
Apparently NZ was an option for my parents too. I suspect there was some sort of ‘deal’ whereby they could choose which colony they’d prefer. 😀
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You have a treasure there. She will prevail.
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I certainly do ,,, and I have no doubts she will. 🙂
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Great story and thanks for the laughs – about snow. I’m a big fan of snow and in the Pacific NW, it’s touch and go. Thus, the slightest flake or lingering film is a source of joy. Sorry to hear about the heater. Very resourceful to even attempt to fix it. I hope a new one is warming up your holiday soon.
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We don’t really lack for heating, it’s just that this one has personality. 🙂
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Very funny and inspiring. My hubby takes everything and anything apart when it stops working and usually gets it going again. He’s repaired our elliptical trainer about 15 times. It’s about 16 years old! Obviously, it’s not just a guy’s domain, but I have proven to be less than incompetent with stuff like that. Right brain/left brain? 🙂
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In Mrs Widds case I think it’s more about how ticked off she gets that it had the temerity to break down in the first place! 😀
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She’s right to be ticked off! Especially for things with built-in obsolescence.
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And then they make it damn-near impossible to fix it yourself as well. No wonder we’re drowning in junk.
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I hope your probably turns into a success.
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Us too. 🙂
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[…] However, on one memorable day towards the end of 2019 our heater broke and Mrs Widds put her culinary skills to a darker, more nefarious pastime – evisceration! […]
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