Current mood:

bouncy

Hot, soon to be hazy, day of summer
Happy Independence Day!!!

We've had a fun day at home... did a little bit of work in the yard this morning, before the temperatures got too high (and yes, here in the Seattle area that means anything above about 75F) then ran out to Trader Joe's to pick up a few last minute things for tonight's dinner with taradaktyl and her family... it was so nice, because there was almost no one on the road! Bonus!

The good, the bad and the ugly of our broken air conditioner:

The good: We were able to get a repairman out yesterday to look at, only about a week after we discovered it wasn't working.

The bad: We had at least two days last week where we had to retreat into the basement. Yes, I know we're wimps, but once it gets over 80 upstairs, I just can't get anything done.

The good: Apparently, it's just a blown capacitor (although sadly not a flux capacitor... because that would be neat! Except I have no idea how we'd get the house up to 88mph and I suspect the 1.21 gigawatts needed would be murder on the electricity bill).

The bad: They don't have that part in stock.

The good: It can be express mailed overnight.

The bad: Today is a holiday, meaning it won't be delivered today anyway.

The good: Even though the repairman's schedule is booked solid on Thursday, it will take him about 15 minutes, tops, to replace the part... if he isn't able to swing by between appointments during the day, he says he'll just stop by on his way home.

The even more good: The diagnostic visit, the new capacitor, the shipping and the installation visit are not going to cost us an arm and a leg. Still not cheap, but it's not going to break the bank. Yay!

The bad: With all the fireworks likely to be set off tonight, it's going to get smoky around here... and we aren't going to be able to seal up the house and let the AC clean the air.

The ugly: Instead of waiting until the day after Independence Day, summer showed up two days early (which is really not all that peculiar, we were just hoping the old local joke about it would hold true this year). It got up to about 84 upstairs yesterday, is currently 80 up there now and will likely be just as warm tomorrow. We have figured out the best way to work the blinds and curtains to maximize cooler temperatures in the house. We're maintaining at about 77-78 in the basement (which is where we usually keep the temperature with the air conditioning) and it should start cooling off outside any time now. Rackham fixed the blinds in the front of the room down here so we can open them, which means we can open the windows on the "cool" side of the house once the temps drop and that should help a lot, too. I'm still looking forward to having the AC working again tomorrow, though.

And now for something that's likely to be a regular occurence:

Tales... Of... Numfar!
After we got Numfar home, we left the cat carrier sitting, open, in the upstairs hallway... giving her somewhere at least somewhat familiar to curl up in. Well, on Sunday I was walking down the hallway and noticed something in the back of the carrier... I reached in and pulled out a white Beanie Baby mouse! Weird. Somewhat confused, I was trying to think where we could have been with the carrier in the car that would have sold something like that... and then it hit me. The mouse belonged to Rackham and was usually kept on his desk next to his computer monitor! So she had gotten on the desk, grabbed the toy mouse, hopped down, carried it up the stairs, down the hall and into the pet carrier! Even funnier, a little while after we put it back, Rackham was holding Numfar at his desk and she suddenly whipped around and lunged for the mouse! Hee!

The first night after we brought her home, we kept her in the bathroom... just to be on the safe side, until she was a little more used to us and the house. Sunday night we left her out and woke up Monday morning with Numfar curled up my feet and Zoë curled up on Rackham's, looking a little put out about the other cat being on HER bed with HER people. There was even more of a surprise in store, though, when I reached the stairs to the basement that morning. Sitting right in the middle of the stairway, in the middle of the stair, was Scorch, the Beanie Baby dragon my mom had given me and that I normally keep on a ledge behind my monitor. And then down at the base of the stairs was the little beanie-style Herbie the Love Bug someone had given Rackham that was, you guessed it, normally kept on his desk. He came stumbling downstairs a little while later, carrying the little stuffed blue fairy penguin we picked up at the Phillip Island Penguin Parade in Australia... he'd stepped on it when he got out of bed.

Every morning is now a treasure hunt, trying to track down the various small stuffed animals placed randomly around the house!