air conditioning, roofs and porches ~ oh my!

The weekend started out great. Me and hubby and son enjoyed dining al fresco on the river in our town on Friday night, followed by a family BBQ on Saturday at my aunt's house. Her daughter - my cousin - and her three-year old daughter were in from Tacoma, so it was wonderful getting to see them again. Even though it was 96 degrees and humid, we sat out on the patio talking, laughing, enjoying my uncle's amazing smoked ribs and steak and my mother's fried chicken and my salads...enjoying the family time with sweat rolling down our faces and backs. We'd duck back inside the house to cool down and then go back outside for some more Midwestern torture.

Sometime in the middle of the night/wee morning hours of Sunday, our air-conditioning bit the dust. I woke up several times during the night, overly warm, but chalked it up to those lovely night sweats due to menopause. But when we got up Sunday morning and saw the thermostat was at 80 degrees...and then I put my foot over the vent to feel the air coming out and found that it wasn't cold, I knew something was wrong.

Brian called our AC guy and he had Brian test a bunch of different things. Since our HVAC system (central air conditioning and furnace) are the original of the house - 30 years old! - our AC guy said most likely it was the compressor. We knew we were living on borrowed time, so we weren't surprised. Our AC guy referred us to a local business who does more complicated HVAC work and can also replace the system, if need be.

In the meantime, Sunday and Monday were two of the hottest days we've had, with the heat index reaching 102F. It was 90 degrees in our house. We spent a lot of time in the basement where it was a little cooler (good thing we have a little family room set up down there!) and didn't get much sleep Sunday night.

Rocky - the referred HVAC guy - was supposed to come out yesterday. He was going to try to squeeze us in between other jobs he had. Turns out, it didn't work out. Our area got bombarded by torrential rain and flooding, and that put him way behind.

It was still raining this morning (and finally cool - hooray!) and like Rocky explained to me, he couldn't do electrical work in the rain. I totally understood. However, it's now noon and it finally stopped raining. Rocky just called and will be here within an hour. Only time will tell if this is something that can be fixed. There's a possibility it's the capacitor. But like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if this is something that can't be fixed and we need a new HVAC system.

In the meantime, still waiting for two amended bids on the roof. These two companies simply mentioned the gutters and soffits in their bids and forgot about the rotting plywood underneath. It'll be a miracle if we get the roof fixed, the HVAC system fixed/replaced, and the porch and sidewalk project done before summer is up! 😎

"If it isn't one thing, it's another! It's always something."
(Gilda Radner)