One appreciates air conditioning this time of year, and even more when the a/c goes out as ours did last Wednesday. The compressor had been getting steadily noisier at least as long ago as last year so I wasn’t surprised when I came for lunch Wednesday and Joyce said she didn’t think the A/C was working. I called the outfit that handled the heating and air on the 2003 remodel and they confirmed my suspicions. The compressor was DOA. They installed the new one Friday morning and Friday afternoon we were cool again but we got to enjoy a Wednesday night that reminded us of our childhood. Thursday night Joyce spent the night at 2005 because Kari and Chris were leaving at 3 in the morning to drive to Abilene and reclaim Abigail from Camp Cockroach and she would be staying with Rebecca. I spent Thursday night in the man-cave. Nice to have options. I guess we were fortunate in a way. The outside unit they install is nearly as big as a refrigerator. The guys that installed it told me that when they went to pick up the unit they quoted me, which was a pretty good one and equivalent to the one we had, the wholesale house didn’t have what they quoted. I guess the ethics in the HVAC world required them to give the next higher unit they had in stock for the price they quoted because that’s what we got. It’s suppose to be even more energy efficient and if we ever decide to turn our house into a meat locker, we’re all set. As I said, the old unit had gotten pretty noisy but this one is so quiet I can’t hear it except when it first kicks on and makes a noise like a fart. I don’t think that is going to bother me because I think I do quite a bit of that in my sleep so my subconscious will probably just think it’s me.
Friday was a really expensive day (see new A/C above) because I had an outfit in to do some tree removal and trimming. I picked one out of the Yellow Pages, the proprietor came by that day and gave me an estimate, which seemed reasonable and they were out the next day, Friday, to get it done. I had three dead elms removed from the northeast tree line. These were big fellows and I knew I couldn’t handle them. I also had some deadremoved from the other elms in that area. They were pretty shabby looking but the dead was so high there wasn’t any way for me to get to it safely. They did a nice competent job. It was a three-man crew and they had a truck with a boom/cherry picker that could really get up where they could get at the job. I think I got my money’s worth and they did a pretty good job of cleaning up after themselves so I’ll probably use them again when I have a job I don’t think I can handle and the loose change to pay them.
We’re celebrating birthdays today: mine, Kari’s and Chris’s, which all fall next week. The neighbors will be flying to Switzerland via Garland on our actual birthdays. Joyce and I will be all by ourselves for the 10 days or so they are gone.
Last Saturday evening Jan and Ethel Brokenbeck (yes, I know they go by different last names but you know who I mean) paid us a visit. They had been to a funeral in Channing, one of Ethel’s good friends. They didn’t stay very long but we had a nice little visit. A day or to later, Barbara Howard stopped by to return the book I loaned her and we had a brief but nice visit with her. Dropping by unannounced for a brief visit doesn’t seem to be something people do much anymore. Seems like it used to be more common. I think it’s a kind of nice way to keep in touch without going to the trouble of setting up a visit. I’m in favor of it, at least for people I like.
Other than that, life is about as usual on SA. The new turtle can be seen just about any morning after sunup on the east side of the island getting its blood warmed up. The dogs are still managing but old age is really slowing them down. Elmo the cat came all they way up to 1911 to piss in our front yard. He wanders all over SA but he has to piss in our front yard. When Barbara was here we talked about the fact we hadn’t seen any foxes around in a while. Well, yesterday evening as I was headed for bed I saw two in our front yard. They probably pissed in it, too.