A Hot Time in the Old Pod Tonight

Ahhh, the Pod. The Poderosa is my home, and I love it.

No, really. I do love it so very much.

Last week I made mention of the fact that when I pulled out this month's water bill to pay it, I noticed it was over double what it was last month. I checked it against last month's receipt, and saw that the town had me as using 6000 more gallons of water than I did last month. As I stated then, I'm clean but I'm not that clean, and the clean that takes 6000 more gallons of water would in fact wash all the skin right off one's body.

I called the Treasurer's office and began my wonderland of communication with Barbara. Barbara was a very nice lady, but never seemed to have an answer for me when I called. "I know they've checked the meter, but then they went off duty, call this afternoon." "They told me the meter was running when they checked it, but that's all they said, I'll know more tomorrow." "I talked to our manager and he mentioned someone with a water usage problem, but I can't be sure it was you, so I'm not sure. Call back tomorrow."

All those tomorrows ended up to, "We'll have an answer for you on Monday." And I'm sure they did, I have complete faith in them that they were standing there waiting on me to call so they could give me my answer. However, we were so busy at work Monday I never got the 4 minutes free it would take to actually make the call and ask. So I called back yesterday.

Barbara spoke to me yesterday and gave me the news that couldn't have made me any happier than if we would have been slow enough at work that I could have called Monday. The men came to dig, found a leak, it was on the town's end of the line, they fixed it, all is well, and they were adjusting my water bill.

I left work happy yesterday, and came home to sit and write last night's blog. Which was long, and took a good while to write.

Somewhere about midway through the tappity tap tap of my blog, I heard a sound. The best way to describe this sound is to say, well, imagine a 1929 aircraft was getting ready to fly across the Atlantic, and decided to take off from my back yard. I got up and walked around the house, and realized where the sound was coming from. I went out into the back yard to confirm.

It was my heat pump.

Yes, the Poderosa has a heat pump, an air conditioning heat pump. Heat is gas heat, air is heat pump. It was making a sound quite like I'd never heard in my life. Like the heat pump equivalent of a 76-year old man with emphysema running a marathon in the middle of August. No wheezing, just rattling, but giving it all he had.

I came back in the house, and all that rattling was still producing results, for I had nice cool air all around the Pod. I hiked the temperature up a bit, though, to keep him from automatically coming on so quickly, and hoped for the best.

This morning everything was still cool, and the 1929 aircraft was still in the back yard, preparing its trip over the briny. I got to work and promptly called The Furnace Man.

Yep, he's actually called The Furnace Man. His vans have a superhero on them, with a big "F" on his chest, flying in to help some unsuspecting homeowner.

The Furnace Man is Junior, and the business consists of Junior, his son (Junior Junior?), and a couple of other son-aged fellows. They are all incredibly nice and honest, polite, friendly, and I just love the whole Furnace Man experience. They've been out to check Mr Heat Pump a few times in the past, and I've never had a problem with them.

They said they'd come out and have a look today, and true to their word, they arrived while I was still home from lunch. They solved the mystery very quickly.

Bad news - one of the blades on my fan had broken off, and was in the heat pump's innards, rattling around as it ran.

Good news - the blade had not damaged the motor, so it was fine and I don't need a new one.

Bad news - the part for the fan has to be ordered and and won't be in until tomorrow or Friday.

Good news - as soon as it arrives, they'll *whoosh!* zoom right into the Pod to put it on and have everything fixed.

Very bad news indeed - until then, the heat pump is not safe to use.

Now, listen. I know it's hot where you are. It's the middle of August, for God's sake. But it's so hot here right now, downtown B'field consists of people running up and down the street looking for the first air conditioned building to go inside. We've had people come into the office in the past week saying, "Just stopped in to say 'hi' and get cool awhile. So - how yall doin'?"

For a person who keeps her home at a happy 64 degrees, the prospect of a broken heat pump is, well, in a word, even if it's one I made up myself, hinkifying.

I had to run some errands after work today, in the heat, and ended them by going by the folks' house and picking up a nice oscillating fan of theirs. I figured when I got home the house would still be fairly cool from where it was closed up and still had some cool air hanging around.

Wrong! Where the thermostat fan had been on, but the heat pump turned off by The Furnace Man (*whoosh!*), the vents had been blowing tepid air into my house all afternoon. I walked into the Africa Memorial Hothouse. It was oppressive. I immediately set up the fan, hit the "on" button on the kitchen ceiling fan (the only ceiling fan in the house, and I've used it about twice), and it immediately cooled things off a bit. I put up groceries, washed a few dishes, and gave myself leave to do absolutely nothing the rest of the night, for fear I may melt or explode.

It's hot, but I'm managing. I'm not forseeing the world's best night of sleep for tonight, though. Sleep's a rather dicey proposition with me anyway lately, and I need all the sleep I can get in the next few days to stay awake 24 hours for the Podcastathon. (Did I tell you Stennie and I are doing a Podcastathon this weekend to raise money for the American Cancer Society? Surely I must have.)

Hopefully the Air Conditioning Fan Parts Gods will smile upon me, and the part will be in tomorrow.

Cause, you know, I'm hot and all.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* OK, the nephew has coughed up $10 for the Podcastathon cause. Are you going to let a teenager show you up? I think not! Instructions below, in case you've forgotten:

1. Go here, to www.hucklebug.com.
2. Read all about it.
3. It will direct you here, to the American Cancer Society online donation site. It's very user-friendly, and will even let you make a donation in memory of someone, or in someone's honor, and it will send a card for you, too!
4. If you don't feel happy with online stuff, go here. It takes you to a page with the American Cancer Society's address for mail-in contributions. Write a check, stamp an envelope, and let the good times roll.
5. Then - and this is very important - Go right back here, this is the hucklebug.com site. Click where it says "comments," and let us know how much you contributed. You don't have to sign up, sign in, leave your name, or anything else. If you want to be anonymous you can, but you can advertise your generosity to us in all capital letters if you like. We need you to do this so we can keep track of how much we're raising for the American Cancer Society.

OR!

If you want to make a pledge and follow up on it after you know we completed the podcastathon, just go here, to the hucklebug.com site, and say, anonymously or not, "I pledge so much." Then when you know we were successful, contribute online or by mail.