Wow, if I only looked this good. It went from spring to late summer overnight here in Pennsylvania. I think we are on day five of the heat wave. When Pat died I swore I wasn't going to swelter in the heat anymore. I was going to replace the "beast" with a modern, energy efficient air conditioner.
That couldn't be further from reality.
I went to Lowe's Monday with the information about the "Beast" in hand. I told the sales person that this is what I wanted: 13000 BTUs and115 volts. They read it, tapped some keys on the computer and came up with a model. I also knew the dimensions of the hole in my wall. I gave them that. We checked that everything fit. I ordered it and a new sleeve just in case the old one was rusty. I had it set for delivery and lined up someone to put it in. It didn't say on the receipt when it would come.
I got home and the email had arrived. JULY 2. WTF? I arrange the installer for the 3rd.
Tuesday arrives, I take Sharon to PT and come home to work until my dentist appointment. That crown is costing me $1500. Cha-ching. Suddenly the ceiling fan goes clunk, clunk, clunk. I call my nieces husband, the semi-retired handy person and ask if he could check my fan. He came while I was at the dentist. The fan blade bracket broke. I needed a new one. Noooooooo.
Now they were 30+ years old. How dare they wear out? In the meantime the AC arrived. What? I had to reschedule the installer. Then I look online and find a fan. It was tough. Six blades are hard to get...especially late in June. They need to get those Christmas trees out after the Fourth. I struggled with the color. My choices were black, white and grey. There was one in "wood" but it was super tacky and really country. I bought two, in white, because the room is open. They cannot be different.
Heat I can take. Humidity sucks. The humidity rolls in. What happened to the "cool" girl summer?
Did I mention that I'm also covered on my right side in poison? And my left elbow. Last weekend my nephew and I cut back the forsythia bush hard with Angel's hedge trimmers. There was this vine I had to untangle from the bush. It didn't look like poison but must have been. It was dark green with a white stripe. Monday my hand was itch. It scratch. Monday night my chin was itchy. I scratched. Yep, I was spreading it. By Tuesday morning the welts appeared. The heat is not helping the situation.
This week was also the week I unplugged from cable. I had bought an indoor antenna weeks ago. Couldn't figure out how to make it scan the channels. For the first time in my entire 64.7 years I did not have television. I'm going to be hitting the library hard. It's too hot to do much more than read.
Friday I forgot to put out the recycling and heard the truck and went running. I had to pick up Bonnie so I went to the bathroom and there was blood on my shirt. WTF? Where did that come from? My poison on my arm. I must have caught the door and ripped it open. I ran it under water and wanted to scream. It spread some more. I cleaned it up the best I could then picked up Bonnie and we went and turned in my cable box. What I didn't plan for was my internet and cable were bundled. My internet remains slow (streaming ..... ha ha ha ha) and now it costs $20 more. Well that backfired.
At dinner time the installer came and half-ass installed the AC. Notice how far back it is in the sleeve, and its crooked. The left side is forward more than the right. Now notice that the cord is on the left. It's a short cord and the plug is on the right. I go to try and plug it in and ...
.. what kind of crazy ass plug is this? Apparently it's the type that comes on a dedicated 220 line AC. Yep, remember, I asked for 115.
I also couldn't stand the water dripping down my neck and took a scissor to the back of my hair. I'm sure it looks like crap, but I don't care. Wish I had a barber's razor. I' just zip off the bottom two inches.
Saturday Alan comes to install the one fan. The other can wait till the heat breaks. The white is fab. It just blends in with the ceiling. He checks out the AC, goes in the basement and checks out the switch box and comes back with bad news. I do not have room in my panel for another outlet. Plus, I have zero 220 wiring. I would have to have a wire run and have a whole box dedicated to it. The AC needs to go back.
I contact my niece and asked if her husband and son would take it out, They did. Which, of course, left a hole. I thought I would put the cover back on the outside, and cover the inside with cardboard. Her husband thought winter window plastic. So that's what we used. It's good for a couple of days but is not a long range solution. Some small and skinny could break into my house. Hopefully I'd hear them. You need a ladder to reach this. Monday I'll go to Lehigh Appliance on Broad street and get another one. And they install.
Her husband then volunteered to do my antenna. When I ordered it, they showed me a map. I put in my zip code and it included Philly, NYC, Wilmington, Scranton. I think I picked the 50 mile range instead of the 39 mile range just to be sure. Perfect. It also says that obstructions will vary your range. Of course there's a mountain next to me and houses all around me. The antenna sucks. Maybe it needs to be higher or at a different location. Right now I get the three local channels: 69 (local news and weather, reruns of old shows, and some syndicated stuff.), 39 (PBS), and my favorite the Jesus station that uses 69's tower. 39 is at the Steel but their tower might still be at the top of the mountain...less than a mile away. 69 is on East Rock Road near 4th Street in Allentown, less than five miles away. It might be more money wasted.
Yep, the library is looking better and better. And it's air conditioned.
No comments:
Post a Comment