The Other Worst Thing that Can Happen
We need a new furnace. And a new A.C. I know I said that A not taking a nap was the worst thing that could happen, but spending $5,000 on a new furnace and air conditioner has to be right up there, too.
The trouble started two summers ago. Our central air went out on a sweltering day (which is always the case, right?) We called the HVAC guys. They came out, took a look at our compressor/condenser unit (the big thing that sits outside), and announced that it had died from . . . urine. I guess we had never paid much attention but our dogs (and foster dogs) had peed on the unit so many times that the coils had eroded. Sa-weet! So the HVAC guys jury-rigged our AC to get it working again and announced that eventually we would need to spend $367,490,231 on a new one.
So since that day we knew our AC was living on borrowed time. No huge surprise when it stopped working at the end of this summer. We decided just to suck it up ("it" being the oppressive heat) and have it fixed in the spring. But then the temperature dropped to 40 degrees one day last week and we made a fun, new discovery - we also had no heat. Now I'm the first to admit that heat is highly overrated, but we do have a youngster in the house so I thought we should do something. P insisted it was "probably something simple" and that he could fix it. I gave him until the end of the weekend and told him I would be calling the HVAC guys on Monday morning. I made him shake on it. He fiddled around and banged on stuff. So anyway, I called on Monday to schedule an appointment.
I took off work to wait for Beau, the friendly furnace fixer-upper. I instructed him that he was allowed to say anything except, "You need a new furnace."
An hour later: "Mrs. M, you need a new furnace." After I was resuscitated by paramedics Beau insisted on pulling out a snake camera and showing me the innards of the furnace. All I heard was, "Look at this, Mrs. M . . . huge crack . . . carbon monoxide . . . you'll probably all die . . . the dogs will go first . . . I can't believe this thing has lasted this long . . . wow, this is really bad . . . you could always sell a kidney . . . there is some serious dust in here . . . maybe you could sell your daughter to a sweatshop . . . so anyway, that will be five grand." Maybe those weren't his EXACT words, but that's how I remember it.
I called P at work and cheerfully gave him the good news. After he was resuscitated we agreed that we really have no choice seeing as how winter is coming and all. If I had to place a bet on it, I'd say that the roof will go next.
The trouble started two summers ago. Our central air went out on a sweltering day (which is always the case, right?) We called the HVAC guys. They came out, took a look at our compressor/condenser unit (the big thing that sits outside), and announced that it had died from . . . urine. I guess we had never paid much attention but our dogs (and foster dogs) had peed on the unit so many times that the coils had eroded. Sa-weet! So the HVAC guys jury-rigged our AC to get it working again and announced that eventually we would need to spend $367,490,231 on a new one.
So since that day we knew our AC was living on borrowed time. No huge surprise when it stopped working at the end of this summer. We decided just to suck it up ("it" being the oppressive heat) and have it fixed in the spring. But then the temperature dropped to 40 degrees one day last week and we made a fun, new discovery - we also had no heat. Now I'm the first to admit that heat is highly overrated, but we do have a youngster in the house so I thought we should do something. P insisted it was "probably something simple" and that he could fix it. I gave him until the end of the weekend and told him I would be calling the HVAC guys on Monday morning. I made him shake on it. He fiddled around and banged on stuff. So anyway, I called on Monday to schedule an appointment.
I took off work to wait for Beau, the friendly furnace fixer-upper. I instructed him that he was allowed to say anything except, "You need a new furnace."
An hour later: "Mrs. M, you need a new furnace." After I was resuscitated by paramedics Beau insisted on pulling out a snake camera and showing me the innards of the furnace. All I heard was, "Look at this, Mrs. M . . . huge crack . . . carbon monoxide . . . you'll probably all die . . . the dogs will go first . . . I can't believe this thing has lasted this long . . . wow, this is really bad . . . you could always sell a kidney . . . there is some serious dust in here . . . maybe you could sell your daughter to a sweatshop . . . so anyway, that will be five grand." Maybe those weren't his EXACT words, but that's how I remember it.
I called P at work and cheerfully gave him the good news. After he was resuscitated we agreed that we really have no choice seeing as how winter is coming and all. If I had to place a bet on it, I'd say that the roof will go next.
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Marianne
another babycenter reader