Oh, hello! We had quite a week here. The big news is…. our AC died.
Now, if you don’t live in Florida I’m not sure you can appreciate the scope of this tragedy. Floridians take their AC very seriously. At my daughter’s band concert in Tallahassee, the conductor started by acknowledging everyone who made the camp possible, and he said “The first person I’d like to thank is the man or woman who invented air conditioning.”
AC is so crucial to us, we just call it “air.” Put the air on! Turn the air down! I’m pretty sure you couldn’t live here without AC (air.)
We had been noticing that our unit was struggling to keep up with the record breaking heat. But other people said the same thing, so we were a little concerned, but trying to be hopeful that all was okay. But on Sunday, we realized we were roasting, looked at the thermostat (which was set at 75) and saw that it was 87 degrees in the house. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
After several brilliant and high-tech attempts to fix it (let’s turn it off and turn it back on! Maybe it will start working again when it gets dark!) we had to face the sad facts. We opened the windows, turned on all the fans, and put in a call to our AC people.
They came bright and early Monday morning, gave us the bad news- several major parts had to be replaced- and said they would be back THE NEXT DAY to fix it. Sob.
I could go into all the gory details about how uncomfortable those days were, but let’s just fast forward to Tuesday night: the AC was fixed, we were several thousand dollars poorer, and the whole sad saga was over.
In other news, my daughter’s septum piercing is healing up well, in spite of the fact that she keeps moving it around. The guy who did the piercing told her not to play with it, because it would take longer to heal. It’s very hard to resist though, because she says it’s like a “built-in fidget toy.” Yes, a built-in fidget toy, IN HER NOSE. Gee, I wonder why I was opposed to this. Anyway, after six weeks she’ll be able to change the jewelry, and she’s looking forward to getting spikes. ARRRRRRRRG!
Lastly, my “summer of reading” seems to have evolved (devolved?) into the “summer of Orson Scott Card.” I finished Xenocide, looked at my stack of library books, thought “who am I fooling?” and picked up the next in the Ender series, Children of the Mind. I had to return Hello Beautiful to the library unread, but that’s okay- I can read it later.
How’a your summer going? Is your AC working???
What are you reading now?
29 Responses
Nooooooooo! I do not thrive in the heat so this is my nightmare! So glad you got your a/c up and running.
I am so afraid our air conditioning unit will die now that we are trying to sell our house. 😬
Ha ha… let’s hope it can hold out for a couple more months : )
We used to spend some time in Naples, FL. Once our AC stopped working and it was unbearable. And that was December! I hate to think about what you had to endure during a heat wave in summer!
Glad you got it fixed!
Our lives have become so dependent on electricity and appliances… I sometimes envy our great-grandparents who lived simpler (albeit more uncomfortable) lives.
Yes, our great-grandparents were apparently much tougher than we are! And btw, our whole summer is one long heat wave. Sigh.
I don’t know whether to say “sorry about the thousands of dollars” or “isn’t it amazing what thousands of dollars can do?” Grrr.
I’m a terrible fidgeter and scab-picker, so I am sure that your daughter is taking a much more mature approach to the healing phase than I would;-)
Is it bad that I don’t remember the name of the book I just started? The writing is good but it’s about a group of friends and the POV changes with each chapter and I can’t keep anyone straight. Give me ATGIB any day!
Ha, yes I’m looking forward to the next five chapters!
i like that point of view- it’s amazing what a few thousand dollars can do! I’m going to shift my thinking on this.
Ug, no AC in Florida; that is brutal! I feel like home repairs are also always a thousand bucks (or more!) and so I will try to wait to call someone forever, as I know that once I call them, I will be a lot poorer. However, no AC is a no go in your neck of the woods. I once went without a hot water heater for a week and although I am a hardy camper and am used to cold water, after about 2 cold showers and having to heat water on the stove for dishes, I was ready to fork up the $1000 bucks! It’s still painful though.
Ha, yes I would think “I can live without hot water!” but after a few days I would be forking over the big bucks as well. What can you do?
Oh nooooooo, I know how brutal having no A/C can be! We rely on it here too in AZ and it’s unbearable if it goes out. Fortunately my apartment A/C has been handling the extremely hot temps just fine but I work in an old building and the A/C is…not great. We have a big fan going in the office which is ok but by the end of the day, I can’t wait to crank up the A/C in my car haha!
So I’m glad you were finally able to get yours fixed, even though it was very expensive.
Fans are way better than nothing- but you’re still aware that there’s just a lot of hot air circulating around you. I’m glad your apartment and car have good AC at least!
Oh, Jenny this sounds awful! Even in much chillier Eastern Canada, we’ve had a few stints in the summer where we couldn’t use our AC and it was terrible – especially for trying to sleep. Plus, house repairs are always so expensive; like Kyria I want to put them off because of the price tag, but they’re unavoidable Can you even imagine people living in Florida before AC was invented?! Gah. Ditto with people who didn’t have central heating for the cold – even with stoves and fireplaces, they didn’t have insulation or heated floors. I probably wouldn’t have survived since I still feel like I’m a icicle from November to May WITH all the modern conveniences that keep me warm with little to no effort. A world without hot showers in the dead of the Canadian winter is not a world I want to live in – haha.
Yes, I’ve always wondered that- how did people live here before AC? Everyone says it was cooler then, but I’m not buying it. Maybe it was a LITTLE cooler, but not cool enough. And yes- winters up north are hard enough with central heat. I guess the answer is, people in the old days were much tougher than we are.
Oh, no! If our AC broke, I’d INSIST on a hotel room. Because I’m a princess. And I don’t even live in a tropical climate!
I’m reading The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien because I’m under some impression that I’ll get kicked out of the fantasy readers club if I don’t read this dumb trilogy and I’m hating it and I’m bitter and I’m almost two hundred pages in and only three women have even had lines and they’re just wandering around in the woods waiting for other people to get the out of trouble and I’m a reading grump. So I’m excited that OSC has worked for you! Have you considered reading the Ender’s Shadow books, focused on the POV of Bean from Ender’s Game? I haven’t read them, but I’ve heard they’re good and they might work for you!
Ha ha… sorry about the Tolkien! I didn’t like it either. Yes- my son is already planning to order the Shadow series, so I guess I’ll be reading those too!
We did think about a hotel- but it was a toss up, which is worse- staying here with no AC or cramming our family into a hotel room??? Paying for two rooms? We ended up just staying and sweating it out.
The AC and the heat do seem to go down on the hottest and coldest days! We keep our house at 68 all year around so I get the distress. Glad you got it fixed! It’s so hot everywhere
Oh, I’m envious! We turn our air down to 68 at night but have to put it up during the day. I want to come live in your house!
Ugh! No AC! That is terrible! We do call it “the air” here, too. We do not run ours nearly as much as others in our area, which I know from our nest thermometer stats which ranks us versus those in our community. We tend to be in the top 10-20th percentile for low energy use. BUT our temps are not nearly as uncomfortable as yours. If it’s 90 and doesn’t cool at night, we turn on our air although we set it at 78 usually which is alarming for many people I am sure… If I really want to cool off, we’ll set it to 76.
I say ride the Orson wave if that’s what is calling to you! Hello Beautiful will be there for you later! I am reading a buzzy new release, “The Rachel Incident” and then I will read “Good for a Girl” by Lauren Fleshman. Then I need to read The Marriage Portait for book club. I ended up buying the ebook because I did not add it to my hold list soon enough and the wait is very long!
Ooh, I haven’t read Lauren Fleshman’s book but I want to (I’ll put it on my TBR, which is growing longer and longer.)
When we first moved to Florida, over 20 years ago, there was a whole season- winter- where we didn’t turn the air on. Now we run it year-round- there were, maybe?, ten days last winter where we didn’t turn it on. Our electric bill is absolutely insane.
Our A/C broke recently while we were away on vacation!! THANKFULLY my sister-in-law (who was stopping by the house every day) noticed immediately that it was also suddenly 87 degrees in our house (that must be the default temp when it’s gross outside? It was in the 90s here that day.) I was on the cruise ship with no phone service but I did have wifi, so I was messaging with my SIL and had to have HER call our a/c guy… who was able to go over the same day!! Lucky for us he it was just a part that needed replacing, for now, but he said it’s getting old and likely doesn’t have too long left… ugh. He said our whole furnace/ac system is going to need replacing and he sent over various quotes that included 5 digits…. over 10k possibly?!?!?! omg. I’m trying to avoid thinking about that and will definitely need to start getting some other quotes and learning about our options. The HVAC system in our house has been there a while- we haven’t had to do much with it in our 10 years in the house, at least- but I really, really, really do not want to drop that much money on something that uninteresting any time in the near future!
And oh boy. Spikes?? eek. Better you than me, chica. I think I would really struggle with biting my tongue on that one!!
In your case it’s probably the heat that’s more crucial. It is VERY frustrating to spend that much money on something so practical. At least you have a warning so you have time to decide what you want to do.
OMG, no. No AC in this heat… that’s BRUTAL. We try to run our AC sparingly but I love to know it’s there when I need it. We’re expecting 110F tomorrow. I am glad it was fixed.
It sounds like your daughter’s becoming a rebel teenager 🙂 septum piercing and all.
I’m glad your AC is ready for 110 degrees!!! And yes… my daughter isn’t “becoming” a rebel… she’s there.
Hi there! Sorry to hear about your AC. Thanks God! My summer is going pretty well and my air conditioning is working just fine!
Glad to hear that your ac is fixed.
Sounds like my car story. Fixed. It was costly.
I’m finishing the Tiffany Girls.
Starting Hello Beautiful.
Oh, I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Hello Beautiful! I’ve heard some mixed reviews, but most people love it.
Ugh, this happened to my mom and stepdad last summer! They had to pay $6,000 for a new AC because you just CAN’T live in Florida without AC. It’s impossible!
Stuff like this makes me happy to be a renter, lol. Not only does it qualify as emergency service but I don’t have to pay for it!
Oh yes- there are a LOT of great things about being a renter!
Here to second Stephany’s comment about being a renter. The only downside is if my “emergency” is not their “emergency”. 🙂 My furnace went out one winter when we were having a polar vortex; I think the high that day was about +2 (F) or so. It was bad. They came quickly and it was a relatively easy fix but oof. I would be okay in 87 except for sleeping. (I am one of those people who is happy when it’s 90 and humid out, so…) I am glad it was fixed. I hope the septum, um, challenges diminish a bit. You are a strong woman!
Ha ha, thank you Anne! Strangely, sleeping without the AC wasn’t THAT bad. I took a cold shower before bed and had a fan blowing on me. It was the rest of the day that was really bad.