Thirteen hours and then . . .

Yesterday was one of those days. It was like one we had about eight years ago. We endured workmen in our house for about thirteen hours.

Yesterday was the scheduled day for the a/c replacement. The guys arrived about 8:30 AM. They worked, hammered, banged, and removed duct work until about 6PM. I was pleasantly surprised with the ambient temperature in the house. Last week, we managed to have temperatures in the 80's. This week . . . low 90's - of course.

Last evening when I went to the refrigerator to get the salad fixings, I was almost afraid that the freezer door had been left open. It was really cool there, in fact the tile under my feet was cold! It was then G informed me that the upstairs A/C was running. In fact it was set on 70. No wonder the living area downstairs was fairly comfortable. I looked at the thermometer. It registered 79. It was really no hotter than when the downstairs unit was running. No wonder we needed a new one. The upstairs unit has a vent into the kitchen. That little vent was keeping this area cool.

When I got ready for bed, I could tell the downstairs unit was off. The bedroom, which got the lion's share of air from the old unit and thus comfortable, was an oven! The stairs land right outside the door, so I got a box fan to bring the falling cool air into the bedroom. It was passable last night - until Princess Simone decided that she had to take a stroll around the backyard at 3:30. That was really ok, because her day yesterday was completely turned upside down.

We were going to go outside after the a/c guys left to admire the new (huge) outside unit. I opened the door, and there was a guy standing right there getting ready to either knock or ring the bell - don't know which. Turns out, he was representing another alarm company. They would give us a new keypad, basically update our ancient alarm equipment and give us a fire sensor. The equipment was free, the installation was $99, and it would be $1 more than we pay to the big B company. So we had people in the house until 8:45 last night.

This reminded us both of the time we changed cable to digital. The technician was trying to run the cable where it ran before. That was a tricky task because after the first cable, we enlarged the house by taking in the attic to make two bedrooms, a bath, and a sitting area. The cable was not accessible anymore. He was pulling the new with the old. That is until, while trying to enlarge the hole through which is passed, he cut the old cable with his drill.

We ended up with at least two supervisors and the original technician tromping around. The weather decided to change. It began to rain. Not a light soaking rain. No, this was a pounding rain. Water everywhere. My son was still living with us. He was going to his room upstairs when he asked my why the hall carpet was wet.

My first response was to look up at the ceiling. That was really stupid because it couldn't be coming from there. It was worse. The hot water supply line to the downstairs sink had ruptured. There was hot water everywhere.

So now we get to add a plumber to the mix. He comes in, shuts off the water, and repairs the line. G, in the meantime, called our insurer. They send a reclamation company out. Now we have the technician, two supervisors from the cable company, fortunately the plumber left, and two guys from the reclamation company trooping around the house which now has wet carpeting in a main passageway.

The reclamation company pulls back the carpet and sets up their huge fans to speed drying. It was pure chaos around here. And as well as I remember it was about the same time of year. Oh, my. Pray for us. I think we need it. The a/c guys are back. I just hope one doesn't come through the ceiling while replacing the duct work.

Peace.