A Hot Sense of Deja Vu

So, yesterday, I started to write a blog about how hot it was and how thankful I was to have air conditioning. Then I thought that would be a bit repetitive because I’ve blogged rather a lot about the heat lately.

I wrote my blog about my book instead.

This time, last year, my air conditioner died. I blogged about that quite a lot because it was one of the hotter parts of the year and I was not happy.

Well, lo and behold, my air conditioner must have sensed the anniversary of its death and subsequent resurrection because it died again last night.

I blame myself. Yesterday, it was very hot. We had a heat index of 106 degrees. When I got home from work, I wanted to water the garden with the hose. However, since I accidentally bought one of those sprinklers that goes forward and back, I end up watering part of the lawn as well. When I looked at the lawn, I realized it was quite long and it would attract even more pesky bugs when wet than it did already.

So, I mowed the lawn. My rationalization for this was that even though it was rather hot and very humid, it would be ok because I could go inside and refresh with a cold drink in the lovely cool air conditioning.

Silly Captain Monkeypants! What was I thinking!!

The first time I went inside between mowing the front lawn and the back, the air was working just fine. I went back outside. Once I was done mowing, I came inside but was rather hot and tired so it felt fine in the living room.

Then I went outside, took out the rubbish, watered the front garden and noticed that my air conditioner outside was not working. That wasn’t anything to worry about because I have the thermostat on auto so it kicks on and off depending on how the temperature needs to be regulated.

Then I went inside and noticed the air conditioning sounded like it was on. My air conditioner is old and thusly, very noisy. You know when it’s on. At this point, I suddenly realized it wasn’t as cool as it should have been. My heart sunk a little and I trudged outside. Sure enough, the outside fan was not turning and the air conditioner had stopped working.

Panicked, I pulled off the side of the unit and hit the ‘reset’ button the way the repairman had shown me last year. The compressor hummed but nothing else happened. I left it a little while and then hit the reset button again. The compressor tried to work but then it stopped.

Naturally, while I was doing all this activity, I was outside in the heat and got hot. Air conditioning would have been lovely. Alas, it was not to be. I called the repair company and left a message on their emergency line. Call me a baby but with that kind of heat index, air conditioning is almost vital. At least to me.

Someone from the company called me back and said they’d get someone out the next day. I was told it could be any time so I planned on going to work and running home when I was given an estimated time of arrival.

In the meantime, the pups and I spent an increasingly uncomfortable evening trying to stay cool. I put the fans in the windows but when there’s only hot air to blow around, it doesn’t provide much relief.

The dogs blamed me. I got glares and stares all night as they very obviously ‘sighed’ and attempted to sprawl on the lino floor which was cooler than the sofa and carpet.

We didn’t sleep much last night. It was too hot. I knew it would be. Just as I was getting ready for work, the lovely AC repairman called. He was on his way. It was the same nice man from last year. He was at my house by 8:10 a.m. and by 8:15 a.m., I knew what the problem was. The capacitor had blown. Apparently, that reset button I had actually saved me because it stopped the air conditioner from overheating and dying forever. While he was there, he replaced something else that he said would probably cause a problem fairly soon. I trusted Mr. Air Conditioning Fix It Man so I let him fix it.

The whole thing was done in less than an hour and a half. When I left for work, the house was cooling down and when I got home, it was blissfully cool.

The pups are happier now. So am I. I know that we humans are spoiled nowadays. Even thirty years ago, air conditioning was a luxury. I wonder how people survived. Then again, I think that temperatures are hotter these days than they used to be because of that whole greenhouse effect thing so maybe they didn’t need it.

Either way, I have it and I’m grateful for every bit of cool air that circulates my way. I think the pups are too. At least they’re not glaring any more.

Happy Friday!

Bad Days Made Better by Good Food....

So, the saga of the air conditioning continues.

Alas.

Today, I woke up, feeling rather warm considering that I'd set the thermostat to 74 degrees in an attempt to keep the house cool after yesterday morning's failure of the AC and the afternoon's success in getting it started again.

I got up with a heavy heart. I let the dogs out and looked over at my air conditioning unit which sits on the side of the house. It wasn't running. Again.

More to my chagrin, I discovered the carpet around the furnace which contains the evaporation and blower system for the AC was absolutely soaked. What I'd thought was a roof leak a few weeks ago must have been a minor furnace leak. Now I have a major one.

Naturally, I was not happy. I've now had the air conditioning fix-it-man come twice to my house only to tell me that my air conditioning unit was not working because it was old. He didn't do anything to look at the furnace; he just showed me the magic switch to hit when the system tripped itself off.

Not being a completely stupid Monkeypants, I did ask him if he knew why it kept tripping but all I got was a shrug and, "I don't know. These things happen." I wasn't happy but he wasn't about to tell me more so I had to trust him.

So, this morning, I was a wee bit angry with him. Since my furnace was leaking quite a bit of water, clearly something was wrong with my system. I ended up calling the company who originally installed it and used to do serving on it for the lady who sold me this house. I found their number in the large amount of paperwork she left me. When I spoke to them, the man was a little brusque but as soon as I told him the switch was tripping AND the water was coming out, he said, 'sounds like you need a service. You've probably got a clog." I told him I'd had someone else look at it and he didn't think anything was wrong with it and the man paused for a minute and then said, "he didn't clean it for you?????" in a clearly surprised tone. Nope, he didn't clean it. Seems like he just wanted to sell me a new system and be on his way.

So, tomorrow morning, I have to stay home from work AGAIN to wait for another AC man to come take a look at my system. While I normally like the chance to not go to work, it's starting to get annoying that I'm using my precious PTO to take care of a problem that should have at least been acknowledged the first time I stayed home from work. If the repairman tomorrow does find a clog, you better believe I'm calling that first company and demanding a refund.

On the plus side, it rained almost all day which meant that it didn't get nearly as hot as usual. It's pretty humid but without the accompanying wall of heat, it's tolerable. The puppies and I have the fans going and it's not that uncomfortable. I'm hoping I say that when I try to go to sleep tonight.

The problem is when it's muggy in the house, it's hard to get too motivated to do much. I really need to clean but the house just feels messy, no matter how much I clean. I want to write but, again, my office is stuff and it's hard to work anywhere.

Rather than be a complete sloth, I decided to cook a nice dinner tonight. That usually cheers me up. I decided to try making spiced Moroccan veal patties with a cilantro-lime chutney accompanied by roasted red potatoes and zucchini. Yes, I've been watching far too much Top Chef.

It turned out nicely, I have to say. I didn't have to turn the oven on because I cooked the potatoes in the toaster oven. The veal patties were just seared in a saute pan and the chutney was cold. It was pretty delicious and a nice way to console myself about my stupid air conditioning woes.

I've never made veal before in any way, shape or form. I used to be opposed to it because, you know, it's baby cow. I know my sister who's a vegetarian would be a bit cross at the idea of it. Yet since my taste buds have become more adventurous, I'm a lot more open to what I eat. And I hate to admit it but baby cow is pretty tasty. It's juicier and slightly richer than beef. Yes, PETA, you can start insulting me now.

Speaking of PETA, (and on a random tangent), I heard once again last week how evil KFC was and how they abuse their chickens. They do cruel things like boil them alive and breed mutant chickens. At least according to PETA, Pam Anderson and the internet. Since I found this to be something that seemed a little, well, silly, I did some research. As I suspected, KFC doesn't have chicken farms. Nope. They don't have huge death camps for chickens in which they're abused, tortured and killed. Like many restaurants, KFC relies on local chicken farmers in areas where they have their restaurants to provide the meat. So unless all these farmers have a secret underground Chicken Torture Centre, I'm having a hard time believing those propaganda videos. I do believe there is chicken cruelty out there. I just don't think it's really KFC's fault. Also, I greatly enjoy KFC's coleslaw, biscuits and sometimes, when it's not too greasy, their original recipe chicken so my research was, I admit, a way of self-justification about why I continue to go there. Not that I go there very often but it's nice to be somewhat guilt-free when I go there.

But, I digress. Long story short, a bad day can always be made better with good food. My evening was greatly improved by my dinner. Of course, having two very sweet little puppies doesn't hurt, either. They've been much cuddlier since their spaying and it's rather nice to have their warm fuzzy bodies curled up next to me in the evenings.

At least when the AC works. Ah well, tomorrow's another day and another air conditioning repairman.

I'll keep you posted.

Happy Wednesday!

You Don't Know What You've Got....Until It's Gone...

So, it’s come to my attention after now whining in my last two blogs about my lack of air conditioning that I may be a wee bit spoiled.

After all, when I was growing up in the UK, we didn’t have air conditioning. I don’t think I even remember knowing what air conditioning was. During the English summer, in my area at least, we would have a few really hot days in the summer where it went up over 80. Of course, being a little island, that means it was 80 degrees with a lot of humidity. Mostly, though, summer days weren’t intolerable. We expected it to be warm but not too hot, most of the time, at least. Since we moved to the U.S., it seems global warming has affected the UK and they do have a lot more heat over there. My relatives and British friends are always talking about how hot it gets. I’m not sure what the status of air conditioning is over in the UK but I venture to guess it’s still not as prominent over there as it is here in the U.S.

In fact, my very first memory of arriving in the U.S. was in August. When we got off the plane, we were met with a wall of heat that seemed so thick, it was difficult to breathe. When we went into the airport, it was freezing. The air felt…weird. It took me a while to get used to air conditioning though it didn’t take too long for me to appreciate it. The house we moved into was an old farmhouse and it didn’t have air conditioning. In the summer, we sweated and roasted and would find ways to cool down- going to shopping malls, going to the pool, etc. The nights were hot and sticky. I would lie in my room, too hot to sleep and listen to the honk of the Canadian geese that were swimming in our neighbours ponds over the road. I remember those nights well. There was the sound of cicadas, of crickets, of the odd bird chirping, all intertwined with the honking of those geese.

When the sun rose and we’d get up the next morning, I remember getting up earlier than I did during less hot days. The mornings were cooler and I’d go outside to appreciate the fresher air than was in the house. As the day went on, the heat increased but there gets to a point in the house where it can’t get that much hotter- it’s just plain…hot.

After a few years of this, my dad caved and bought one of those window air conditioners. We’d gather in the living room where it was situated and breathe a sigh of relief. It did little for the hot nights, particularly for my sister, brother and I who all slept upstairs, but it was a pleasant relief in the evenings before bed.

Naturally, after I went to college, my parents had central air installed. For the summers I was home, it was a nice change from the hot nights. They also moved my bedroom downstairs and I could no longer hear the sound of the honking geese, nor any other night sounds since I now slept with the windows closed.

Ironically, nowadays, when I visit my parents, I stay in my first room- the upstairs one. The air conditioning sort of reaches up there but doesn’t keep it too cool so I use a fan. I also sleep with the window open and get to hear the sounds of the summer night again. I like that.

What my point comes down to is that I managed to survive years without air conditioning. Nowadays, if it breaks, I have a little whine and moan and act like it’s the end of the world. Granted, it did go out at the worst time- the night prior to taking the puppies in to get spayed and two days after when it was important to keep the pups comfortable- but…still. I acted like a prima donna, like it was my divine right to have working air conditioning.
Of course, my whining was probably influenced by the fact that I was covered with a layer of sweat, had two panting puppies at my feet and only warm, sultry air flowing through the house with no cooling, comfortable breeze to make it tolerable.

I’m obviously conflicted. I know it’s possible to live without air conditioning but since I’ve experienced life without it- both recently and in the past- I don’t want to live without it. This of course makes me sound a bit like an awful human being- after all, lots of people don’t have AC- the starving children in Africa, the third world countries and lots of people in Europe.

In my guilt at feeling like a spoiled whiner, I did some searching on the internet about how people lived without air conditioning. I came across a blog post by a lady who offered tips based on how she lives without air conditioning. She wants to save the money it costs over a summer to run the AC. Her tips included making sure you don’t go into any place that has AC: You don’t know what you’re missing until you experience it. Also, she doesn’t cook indoors but grills out every day, using picnic-style foods to feed her family. Also, the coolest room in the house is the living room so she and her kids camp out in the living room over the summer months.

Now, while I salute her attempts to save a few dollars, I can’t help wonder how her kids feel. My guess is that they go to their friends a lot. They can’t have much company in their house because they obviously have a bit of a muddle in their living room due to the ‘campout’ situation. Also, as a guest, it can’t be too comfortable in a humid, hot house. Also, while I’m quite fond of grilled foods, I couldn’t eat them everyday. There’s only so many sandwiches and salads you can eat before you start wanting a nice, non-grilled, homecooked meal

My guess is that when they get older, that lady’s kids are going to be the ones who crank their air conditioning up so it’s only 60 degrees in their houses. I’ve met a few of these people and when you find yourself wishing for winter woolies while visiting them in August…you know they HAD to have grown up without AC.

I suppose my point is that, as humans, once you get used to something, it’s hard to lose it. It can be a relationship, a pair of comfy socks, Cost Plus World Market (at least in this area), a chocolate bar you were craving, only to discover it’s a melted, inedible mess….the list is endless.

You just don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Especially when it’s air conditioning.
Happy Tuesday!

In Which I Decided to Divorce Walmart...

I have to say, my weekend started better than it ended.

On Friday evening, I had once-more working air conditioning and two rather subdued but healthy puppies back from the vet after their spay. I decided that this would be a weekend of just staying at home, relaxing and keeping an eye on the puppies.

Saturday was nice. The only thing I had to do was go grocery shopping and so I went to Kroger and Walmart to get that done.

I've decided that it's time for me to officially divorce Walmart, by the way. Back when Walmart was just...Walmart- before it became Walmart Super Center- Walmart was fun. It was a little messy but it felt comfortable. The prices were lower and it was fun to go there and see what they had.

I enjoyed my relationship with Walmart. Truth-be-told, when I first moved to California, one of my favourite things to do when I came home was go to Walmart because they're a little harder to find in L.A.

Then, as time passed, Walmart stopped being so convenient, their prices went up...and then they remodeled. Their stores now have a warehouse feel and it's just not appealing- well, not to me, at least.

Every time I go in Walmart, I walk around, annoyed that they don't have what I'm looking for. When they do have it, I usually get a choice of the Walmart generic brand and the most expensive name brand. There's not much inbetween. I find myself more and more leaving Walmart, disgusted at how, once again, the store has failed me and rather than continue shopping for other things I need, I'd rather go to Kroger to do my shopping.

Thus, the bloom is now off the rose. As of Saturday when i still believed Walmart had lower prices on some stuff and carried things I couldn't necessarily find at Kroger...I'm officially ending the relationship with Walmart. We had our good times. We had fun together. But as we've grown older, we've become strangers. If it were really a marriage, this would probably be the stage where I'd lie in bed with my husband and start envisioning mean things I could do to him. If you've ever read Roald Dahl's book, The Twits- that's how I'm feeling towards Walmart. It's about a horrible husband and wife who try to do the cruelest things they can think of to each other because they dislike each other. At least, that's the way I remember it.

Anyway, I'm fed up of going to Walmart, hopeful that I'll get everything on my shopping list and finding that I'm always having to compromise or, worse, do without. So, bye Walmart- if I have to go into your walls, I'll be cordial but I don't expect anything anymore and I'd prefer that we remain strangers. It's not me...it's you.

So, aside from Walmart and Kroger- a store which continues to meet my expectations- I spent much of the day with the puppies. I had to do a bit of stern mothering when they tried to play like they normally did but, for the most part, I kept them calm.

Of course, the Dog Whisperer didn't help much with that. Ironically, I'd run into him at the vets. This was not too much of a coincidence since I got the referral for the vet from Wife of Dog Whisperer. However, this means that Dog Whisperer was fully away my pups had just been spayed and that maybe, just maybe, they would want a bit of peace. Or, at the very least, I might want them to have a little peace.

Alas, this was not meant to be since he let his yappy beasts out every single time I went out with the puppies. Now, normally, I leave the back door open a crack to let the puppies go in and out how they want. While it doesn't excuse the barking of Dog Whisperer's pets, it means that by allowing the puppies to run freely and knowing that their mere presence sets off the yaps, I do have a little responsibility there. Not much, but a little.

Of course, if I had my way about it and wanted to be completely mean, I'd be honest and say that yes, my puppies make his dogs bark but, really, his dogs shouldn't be barking like that in the first place. What is interesting is that on one of my recent vet visits, I tactfully asked the vet for suggestions on how to handle it. I figured that since she was their vet too, she knew they were yappy and may have some suggestions. She suggested a privacy fence and said it would go a long way to, "alleviate the tension that exists between you and your neighbours."

Now, call me paranoid but well, since I hadn't expressed any tension but merely asked for advice, I can't help but wonder if Dog Whisperer has mentioned some tension. Given that he no longer makes any effort whatsoever to control his dogs' barking, I can't help but wonder. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt but, well, I'm finding it hard. Also, now I've realized how pricey a privacy fence is to build (over $1000), I'm finding it hard to feel like I should be the one to construct the fence.

Back to my original point- he let the dogs out every single time I was out with the girls. We went out once every couple of hours. Most of the day, the girl's slept. It's not that hard to look over and see if someone's in the yard next door before you let the dogs out. I do it all the time with the yappy beasts. I did it on Saturday, as a matter of fact so I knew when it would be a good time to take the girls out so they didn't start running around because of the barking next door. All my efforts to make sure the coast was clear went out the window when he let his dogs out anyway.

What made it worse was he came to fence to encourage my puppies to run and play. The puppies didn't know any better. They were probably sore and a little tired from their surgery but their first instinct is to be a puppy, not lie down and relax.

Needless to say, I made sure we went inside and I told the Dog Whisperer it would be better if the girls didn't get too excited. He did what he usually did- gave me a blank look and stood up. He doesn't talk much to me. Sometimes I wonder if he can't understand what I'm saying because he rarely responds to my questions or comments. It's a bit odd.

So, all in all, Saturday wasn't bad. It was nice and lazy.

Then I woke up on Sunday and realized my air conditioner wasn't working. Again. The technician on Friday had told me my 'high pressure switch had reset itself.' He reset it for me and it started working. He didn't know why it reset itself. This time, it seems to be the same problem.

It's not as hot as it was the last time the air conditioning broke but it's still hot. The worst part is trying to keep the puppies cool. I'm really hoping that the air conditioning repair company doesn't try to charge me for a second visit because really, I called them to fix it in the first place. Since they didn't really fix anything, I think that deserves another visit for free...right?

So, all in all, I decided that today was going to be a lazy day. I've done very little but watch Spain beat the Netherlands in the World Cup final match. I've been watching episodes of Top Chef and I've been making sure the puppies stay cool and not too hot. I think sometimes, when life doesn't go the way you plan or the way you want, it's best to just sit back and relax rather than stress about it. Or, at least stress while you're doing something fun.

I'm really hoping that someone will come and fix the air conditioner tomorrow but, in the meantime, we're in for another hot night.

If this continues, I might have to change my name to Captain Crankypants.

I apologize for being crotchety. I blame the heat. And the Dog Whisperer.

Happy Monday!

Dear Weather: Please Cool Down!

Last night, the weather reports said that today was likely to be the hottest day of the year so far. When I got up, my house was warm but not hot. Outside, at 6:10 a.m., it was already 72 degrees.
When I came home for lunch, I noticed that the house was beyond warm...it was hot. My air conditioning unit sounded like it was still running. Upon investigation, however, I discovered that, naturally, on the hottest day of the year so far, my outside air conditioning had stopped working. After some research on the internet this afternoon at work, I found out a few things I could try on the off-chance it was something minor.

So, when I got home, I checked to see if the circuit had tripped. Alas, it hadn't. I checked the circuit on the air conditioner itself. I don't think it's tripped. Since the furnace was still blowing the air out, it was easy to narrow down that it was the air-conditioning unit. So, realizing I probably had a big problem, I did the best thing I could think of at the time.

I called my dad.

My dad is rather good at telling me what he thinks is the problem. In this case, he was certain that my air conditioner was out of Freon and needed to be recharged. This would warrant a call to an air conditioning repair company. So, I hung up and made an appointment for tomorrow.

In the meantime, my house is nothing short of hot. My thermostat only goes up to 85 degrees and the needle is on the very edge of that. The puppies are panting and I am sweating. I made an emergency trip to Lowes to buy a couple of fans but even though they're in the window, there's really only warm air to blow around since it's just as hot outside.

Still, for a while there, it looked like we were going to have a storm and so I sat outside with the puppies. The wind started to blow and a heavenly breeze started up. I cooled down, hoping this would be a storm to cool the world down.

The storm, alas, did blow over. I took a cold shower but I'm still hot. I keep giving the puppies ice to chew but they're still hot. I think unless we have a lovely cooling storm, it's going to be a hot, sticky night in the Monkeypants household.

To top it all off, the puppies are getting spayed tomorrow. I'm a little nervous about this even though I had a neurotic-pet-parent consult with the vet last week and she assured me it would be a routine procedure and she'd take care of my puppies. I get to drop them off before work and pick them up afterwards. I'm hoping they'll be fine but since I'm neurotic and a worrier to begin with, the worst case scenerios keep popping into my mind.

I was hoping to have a nice relaxing evening with them but it's a little hard to relax when the mere act of sitting still and doing very little makes you sweaty. Hopefully when night falls, the air will cool and it would gently waft into the living room with the aid of two box fans.

Still, it's one of the side effects of being a homeowner, I suppose. It's been an expensive couple of months what with ceiling fans needing to be replaced, leaking faucets that lead to new sinks and now having to call the air conditioning repair people. But, into every life a little rain must fall although in Sookie, Rory and my case, no literal rain is falling and I rather wish it would. Instead, a watery sun is attempting to come out which is causing more heat on top of the already baking world.

Nevertheless, tomorrow is Friday. Hopefully, the AC will be fixed by tomorrow and the puppies can rest in a cool house after what I'm sure isn't going to be a pleasant day. If not, well, we'll just continue to sweat and hope that Mr. Fox 19 Stormtracker Weather is right when he says it will cool down.

Wish us luck!

Happy Friday, have a great weekend and stay cool!