Learning to roll with the punches and enjoying the smaller things in life.

Oh the things that happen when you least expect them! I have a shiney new heating and air conditioning system! Completely new from the outside unit to the inside unit...and shiney, too.  During the first week in August (of course AFTER paying all the monthly bills) I noticed that although the AC was blowing, the air was not very cold and it got warmer as the day went on.  The tech took one look inside and said, "oh my, it's frozen all the way to the inside unit." He then said that although we had already gone 24 hours with out air conditioning, they wouldn't be able to do an install until the next day. We knew we'd made it one night, what's one more? Weeellllll, when the blower is turned off, one more night can be the very definition of hell on earth.  The inside of the house was 99 degrees with the windows open and all the fans running.  I was able to sleep fitfully, only by sleeping on top of the bed linens and covering my body with wet washcloths and allowing the fan to blow across the wet fabric.  Yes, it was a long night.

But the next day? The installation crew was amazing! They were kind, friendly, had an understanding of how very frayed my nerves were with no sleep and they worked to get that sucker installed in one day. And the difference has been wonderful! Do you know the fan unit will actually turn off when the interior reaches the preset temperature? I don't think the poor fan on the old unit had cut off since I moved in.

The down side is that I had to pay a lot of money when I least expected it. The up side is that now the most expensive single item in the house has gone bad, I know it won't happen again for about 20 years.  The new unit, being much more energy efficient, should pay for itself each month with the reduction in electricity bill.

Last night I was raking the yard and I realized the a/c fan was off and it was really quiet in the neighborhood. I heard the funniest little pitty-pat and took a few minutes to realize that I could actually HEAR the squirrels running down the telephone lines behind the house.  This is a stunning realization for someone who has spent the better part of the last 10-15 years living on either a highway or an extremely busy 6-lane street.  I stood there a minute, with one hand on my hip and the other holding the rake, until the realization of little pink feet crossed my mind when I started laughing loudly. No worries, the neighbors are pretty sure I'm already crazy, this was just verification for them.