Well. Now that I’ve had some time to ‘cool off’, I thought I’d document our horrible week of HOT. I’ll try to keep it brief.
Sunday Afternoon: Our air conditioner froze up. The filter needed to be changed. The coils were encased in ice. Dean, having been told by our AC guy in the past to keep the coils clean, cleaned them. It didn’t work.
Monday Morning: After spending the night with no AC, Dean called our AC guy first thing. He could not come out that day, which is understandable. He said he’d come out first thing the next day. We set up fans throughout the house and camped in front of them. The kids watched a lot of TV and I spent a lot of time on the computer, wherever we could sit in front of a fan. We did try to leave for a while. Dean took Roan to work with him. I took the other two to the library and a movie (Star Trek, they loved it). Then we picked up some dinner and took it to Dean’s office and ate there. That was all some nice family fun, but we still had to come home to the hot house and spend another night.
Tuesday Morning: Dean went off to work. The AC guy was expected first thing, so we couldn’t escape the hot house this time, waiting for him. He arrived at 3:45pm. Yeah….first thing. He looked at the AC and said we needed a new coil. This was a $1200 part that should be covered by warrantee, but we still had to cover labor which was $525!!! Since AC guy had to now locate a new coil, the AC wouldn’t be fixed until the next day. He said he hoped to pick up the coil and get it in by lunch, Wed. Another hot night spent. It’s getting hotter.
Wednesday: He arrives at 2:45. He looks at me and says, “You don’t look very happy.” I said, “I’m hot.” He brings the coil in and unpacks it. Now, the coil is missing a part that should have been there. He makes a call, then drives one hour round trip to get the missing part. When he gets back he discovers it is the wrong part. Now he’s getting frustrated and defensive. Meanwhile, we are still HOT. He says he he’ll have to come back the next day. Dean even offered to go get the part for him, so he wouldn’t have to drive all the way back again. (Dean works pretty close) So, AC guy says he’ll be back Thurs. AM between 8:30 and 9. By now it is so hot in our house and tempers are flaring. Keep in mind, that since he keeps saying he’ll be there in the morning and then showing up hours late, that we have been trapped in the house, unable to leave it because we’re waiting for him!
Thursday: Dean decided to work from home in order to be able to talk to the guy and so the kids and I could get out for a while. Even though he said 8:30 to 9, we weren’t holding our breath. I took the kids to Saluda Splash for a few hours. We picnicked and got wet. I brought a book. We had a nice afternoon. When we arrived home about 2:00, he had not come yet. Big surprise. He finally arrived at 6:00 PM!
Unbelievable.
When Dean answered the door, AC guy clapped his hands together and said, “You can’t be as hot as I am, let’s get this thing fixed!”
. .
_
So they came in and fixed up the AC. He had pumped out all of the Freon and was outside in the process of pumping it back in when a huge severe thunderstorm started blowing through. They finished up just as the bottom of the sky opened up. Man, the wind was blowing and it was pouring rain. The thunder was really close and loud. A friend called afraid of tornadoes, it was that bad. However, inside the house, the AC was fixed! Yay! He flipped the switch to turn it on…..
And we lost all electricity in the house. (from the storm) The house was 92 degrees,
Sunday Afternoon: Our air conditioner froze up. The filter needed to be changed. The coils were encased in ice. Dean, having been told by our AC guy in the past to keep the coils clean, cleaned them. It didn’t work.
Monday Morning: After spending the night with no AC, Dean called our AC guy first thing. He could not come out that day, which is understandable. He said he’d come out first thing the next day. We set up fans throughout the house and camped in front of them. The kids watched a lot of TV and I spent a lot of time on the computer, wherever we could sit in front of a fan. We did try to leave for a while. Dean took Roan to work with him. I took the other two to the library and a movie (Star Trek, they loved it). Then we picked up some dinner and took it to Dean’s office and ate there. That was all some nice family fun, but we still had to come home to the hot house and spend another night.
Tuesday Morning: Dean went off to work. The AC guy was expected first thing, so we couldn’t escape the hot house this time, waiting for him. He arrived at 3:45pm. Yeah….first thing. He looked at the AC and said we needed a new coil. This was a $1200 part that should be covered by warrantee, but we still had to cover labor which was $525!!! Since AC guy had to now locate a new coil, the AC wouldn’t be fixed until the next day. He said he hoped to pick up the coil and get it in by lunch, Wed. Another hot night spent. It’s getting hotter.
Wednesday: He arrives at 2:45. He looks at me and says, “You don’t look very happy.” I said, “I’m hot.” He brings the coil in and unpacks it. Now, the coil is missing a part that should have been there. He makes a call, then drives one hour round trip to get the missing part. When he gets back he discovers it is the wrong part. Now he’s getting frustrated and defensive. Meanwhile, we are still HOT. He says he he’ll have to come back the next day. Dean even offered to go get the part for him, so he wouldn’t have to drive all the way back again. (Dean works pretty close) So, AC guy says he’ll be back Thurs. AM between 8:30 and 9. By now it is so hot in our house and tempers are flaring. Keep in mind, that since he keeps saying he’ll be there in the morning and then showing up hours late, that we have been trapped in the house, unable to leave it because we’re waiting for him!
Thursday: Dean decided to work from home in order to be able to talk to the guy and so the kids and I could get out for a while. Even though he said 8:30 to 9, we weren’t holding our breath. I took the kids to Saluda Splash for a few hours. We picnicked and got wet. I brought a book. We had a nice afternoon. When we arrived home about 2:00, he had not come yet. Big surprise. He finally arrived at 6:00 PM!
Unbelievable.
When Dean answered the door, AC guy clapped his hands together and said, “You can’t be as hot as I am, let’s get this thing fixed!”
. .
_
So they came in and fixed up the AC. He had pumped out all of the Freon and was outside in the process of pumping it back in when a huge severe thunderstorm started blowing through. They finished up just as the bottom of the sky opened up. Man, the wind was blowing and it was pouring rain. The thunder was really close and loud. A friend called afraid of tornadoes, it was that bad. However, inside the house, the AC was fixed! Yay! He flipped the switch to turn it on…..
And we lost all electricity in the house. (from the storm) The house was 92 degrees,
the AC was fixed, but we couldn’t turn it on because there was no electricity! AND NOW THE FANS DON’T WORK!
And it’s very dark. 
And the AC guy won’t leave because he’s afraid of lightening. 
And he sits in the living room drinking ice water commenting on how he can’t believe how hot it is in our house.
. .
_
The storm blew off, the AC guys left, and we left. We drove around for a while, went to Target, got some Italian ice at Rita’s, then went back home. The power was still out. The idea of going in to that house and going to bed WITHOUT the fans was unacceptable. We sat in the driveway for a while with the AC on. Roan was asleep in the back seat. We finally gave in. It was 10 pm by now. Roan was already asleep and Kai didn’t have too much trouble, but the rest of us couldn’t sleep. Finally, I decided to take a cold shower which really helped. Alyssa did the same, and we finally managed to fall asleep. Dean was still wide awake. The electricity finally kicked on about 1am. Because my hair was wet and the fan turned back on as well as the AC, by morning I had a sore throat which turned into a head cold that I’m still trying to kick.
And the AC guy won’t leave because he’s afraid of lightening. And he sits in the living room drinking ice water commenting on how he can’t believe how hot it is in our house.. .
_
The storm blew off, the AC guys left, and we left. We drove around for a while, went to Target, got some Italian ice at Rita’s, then went back home. The power was still out. The idea of going in to that house and going to bed WITHOUT the fans was unacceptable. We sat in the driveway for a while with the AC on. Roan was asleep in the back seat. We finally gave in. It was 10 pm by now. Roan was already asleep and Kai didn’t have too much trouble, but the rest of us couldn’t sleep. Finally, I decided to take a cold shower which really helped. Alyssa did the same, and we finally managed to fall asleep. Dean was still wide awake. The electricity finally kicked on about 1am. Because my hair was wet and the fan turned back on as well as the AC, by morning I had a sore throat which turned into a head cold that I’m still trying to kick.
But the AC works!!!
Journaling: I am not generally a very intimate person, therefore I usually only have one or two close friends at a time. Even then, there always seems to be a barrier that prevents me from becoming truly close to anybody. This is my own deficiency, not theirs. So I started thinking, who do I go to when I need someone? Well, I go to my parents or my sisters, especially Amy since we are so much alike. But the one person who knows me the best, is always there for me, who I absolutely trust with my most intimate thoughts, whose advice I seek and opinion I value, is my husband, Dean. He has always been my very best friend.
Journaling: I have known Shannon since I was about 8 or so, but we became close in 1985 at Mountain Missions in New Hampshire. We shared a tent and conspired with each other to send messages to our boyfriends (there was a strict no boyfriend policy!) Later, my sister, Amy, Shannon and I formed a trio called ‘Vintage’. We sang in local coffee houses, church functions, etc. We were even on TV once! (A telethon for a local Christian station, heehee) I haven’t seen Shannon in years but if we were to suddenly meet on the sidewalk one day, it would be as if no time at all had passed.
Everybody got a big kick out of him. Lots of people took pictures or posed with him. He was even mentioned in the newspaper. Dean had fun but would rather be able to run again.
Journaling: When I was 19, I went to YWAM, ‘Youth With A Mission’. I lived in Dumbarton, Scotland in a grand mansion called ‘Overtoun House’ for three months. We worked and studied and every weekend participated in street evangelism in Glasgow. We roamed the beautiful countryside, visited Edinburgh, took LOTS of pictures and made good friends. At the end of the three months of preparation, we went to Hamburg, Germany for three weeks. We worked with the Red Cross, and spoke/performed in local churches and the University. I sang in the band. It was a wonderful faith lifting experience. It played an important part in the budding relationship with my future husband. Also, while technically an adult, I was still in my ‘teens’, and going out of the country by myself, navigating international airports by myself and hailing my own taxi in Glasgow were all very new and scary to me. This trip was definitely a highlight of my ‘teen’ years.
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