I have been writing about our lives under the current corona virus pandemic as it involves organizing in a totally different way than normal. What were simple things to do before this past March when this started in our area of the U.S. - such as running out of bread and needing to buy more – has become things which take much more planning and organizing to deal with. I know that those reading my posts are going through similar problems and I hope that those in the areas now being hit hard by the virus and their loved ones (as well as the rest of you) are well and safe and stay that way. I had intended to post once or twice about the subject, but it seems to have become a series and will stay that way for awhile – dealing with emergencies being more exciting to read about than how I do my laundry or do (or do not) clean my house.
We have separate “through the wall” air conditioners in different rooms of the house. The one in our bedroom was not doing well at the end of last summer. But rather than buy one right away and have most of the warranty run during the winter when the air conditioner was not running, we figured we would buy one in the spring – ha ha ha. We need to have the air conditioner installed for us as it is not something we can do – especially since the bedroom is on the second floor. Since I am generally cold I have been fine. Husband though is feeling terrible while sleeping and waking up from the heat.
When we realized this air conditioner was not working, other than as a fan, I suggested we bring up the “portable” one we have for the living room. This is a device about 3 and half feet tall and weighs 68 pounds – it can be rolled around to where it is needed and attaches to an approximately 6 inch tall plastic piece which expands in width to fit the window and is placed in the bottom of an open window and the window is pulled down on top of the plastic piece. We managed with both us lifting, to carry it upstairs – one step at a time. We set into the window and did a proper installation of it in the window, sealing it into the open window. We turned it on – and – it did not work either, except as a fan! We took it out of the window and pushed it into the spare (teddys') room as we are not sure we can get it back downstairs.
In the interim we have tried various solutions – using the dehumidifier from the basement – blew hot air out the side and the basement really needed it back as it started to smell of humidity. (Also took both of us to carry up and then back down – 2 flights of stairs, but somewhat lighter than the portable air conditioner.) 3 different fans – the one we use in our RV works best and is what we are using. I even tried the early version of air conditioning - “air cooling” putting frozen bottles of water in front of the fan – worked a bit, but the water was melted before the hot morning (overnight being cooler in the room). We had thought to put the bottles in a baking pan on a thick towel so there was no wet mess on the table or floor to deal with. He ends up turning on the other 2 air conditioners upstairs (in office and spare bedroom) in the morning to avoid getting sick and he is worried that he will “use them up”.
This past week the temperatures went up and seem to plan to stay up – we ae heading into the 90Fs late this week into next week. I looked for alternatives. I suggested husband sleep on the twin bed in the spare bedroom and I would make up a bed on the floor for me to sleep on, so he would not be alone. He point out – politely – that the room would need a major cleaning – dusting and vacuuming at the very least as it has been years since we (I) bother cleaning it as all it is used for is bears, dolls, and their friends sitting around. In the 31 years in the house it has been used as a guest room 3 times – and that was over 15 years ago. So that idea was out.
We were left with one solution. It is a solution that in normal times (and for normal people) would be no problem – we need to buy a new air conditioner. Now for me having someone come in the house, let alone the bedroom brings up major fears of getting bed bugs again – we had them 11 years ago and since then live our lives so as to avoid getting them again (hence our little RV for traveling). Right now – we are both terrified about having someone come in the house – especially the bedroom – but there is no other choice. (I thought about sleeping in the RV – but we would need to either keep the generator running – burning gas and putting out fumes next to the bedroom of the little girl next door or plug it into to a 30 amp outlet – and do not have one.)
So Monday husband called the local appliance store we have bought our air conditioners from before and priced the one he saw online. Tuesday we put on our masks and went in and bought it. Their ad said “next day delivery”, but that is not case when it has to be installed – they are coming next Tuesday – a long hot week away from we bought it – but that will give me a chance to clear out the bedroom so we can move furniture for them to get to where they have to work and have room to do so. We plan to push the bed to the other side of the room the night before and cover it that day with plastic tarps we use to cover the RV bed days when we are using the RV (so it does not look a bed from outside). We have been assured that they take all precautions as one of the employees died from the virus – very reassuring or it means that they may have caught it from him?
And since, as it is said, it never rains but it pours – Sunday night we dropped our RV to have the mechanic figure out what the noise in the car air conditioner/heater was. (It was excessive leaves blown in by neighbor's gardener disposing of THEIR leaves by blowing onto our property as the driveway with RV on it is next to the fence between us. (Hopefully this problem will end as the neighbor is filling in the fence with plastic slots – but then we won't be able to blow our snow onto the property.) When we picked up the RV Monday night, we left our car – it needed an oil change – and as we drove it there, we found it needed a new headlight. We picked it up Tuesday night. So, of course, a reminder popped up on my computer calendar – our van needed to have the state inspection done by the end of the month. So we just dropped it off for same and an oil change – as we pulled out of our driveway the brakes were not right… The mechanic (and his staff) are very nice and very capable and honest. What we have been doing is dropping the vehicles off late night when no one is around. Since we don't want to go and leave the keys (or we could leave the vehicles also) during the day – we want it “contactless” we put the keys in an envelope and throw it in a slot in the building when we leave the vehicle. When it is finished he calls us and I pay with a credit card by phone (paid the RV and car on one payment) and he leaves the receipt and keys hidden in the vehicle (we have spare sets of keys so we can get in). He has been very nice about this.
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
All these normal problems that are handled so easily in normal times take a bit of a workaround to figure out how to deal with right now. It takes patience and understanding by everyone involved to work it all out and luckily right now – people are mostly willing to do so.
Stay well and safe.
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