Stupid Things I Did
The title of this post indicates that this could become a regular feature of my blog. I do stupid things, and then I smack myself on the head and wish I hadn't been so stupid.
Today's stupid thing: The lawn was a total mess. I'd been out of town for 3.5 weeks, and though a neighbor graciously mowed my front yard in the middle of my travels, the whole thing needed a serious clean up. So after edging for an hour, I got out the weed-whacker. This is a tool that makes one feel very masculine -- the roar of the engine (yes, it's a gas-powered tool) right there in your hands -- and I somwetimes get a bit carried away.
So there I am, whacking the weeds (and my lawn tends to have a lot of them, since I know exactly two things about lawncare). And I'm working around the A/C unit, where the weeds had gotten particularly thick. And WHAM -- the weed whacker siezes up and stops. And I see something has gotten itself wrapped around the "whacking" part of the tool.
Turns out it was the electrical line running from the A/C unit to the thermostat in the house. Yikes. My neighbor, Steve (whose wife was the one who mowed our lawn), came over to take a look. You know those two things I know about lawncare? I don't even know that much about electricity. It goes on. It goes off. That's all I know. Oh yeah, I also know it can KILL YOU.
So Steve re-splices the wire I screwed up, and tests the power lines in the A/C unit and into the house, and everything is fine. But the system still isn't running. Well, to make an already-too-long story shorter, it turns out that my little accident blew out the little transformer that runs to the thermostat. So we have to replace that. On a Saturday.
Yeah, like I have THAT kind of money. Did I mention that I live in Texas. And I thought it was hot last week in Florida.
We're sitting here in the dark with every ceiling fan running, eating ice cream and drinking cold drinks, and praying for a break in the heat wave.
Until Monday, when I can get this thing fixed, and then I can have all the artificially-cooled air I want.
(sound of Chris smacking his head)...
Today's stupid thing: The lawn was a total mess. I'd been out of town for 3.5 weeks, and though a neighbor graciously mowed my front yard in the middle of my travels, the whole thing needed a serious clean up. So after edging for an hour, I got out the weed-whacker. This is a tool that makes one feel very masculine -- the roar of the engine (yes, it's a gas-powered tool) right there in your hands -- and I somwetimes get a bit carried away.
So there I am, whacking the weeds (and my lawn tends to have a lot of them, since I know exactly two things about lawncare). And I'm working around the A/C unit, where the weeds had gotten particularly thick. And WHAM -- the weed whacker siezes up and stops. And I see something has gotten itself wrapped around the "whacking" part of the tool.
Turns out it was the electrical line running from the A/C unit to the thermostat in the house. Yikes. My neighbor, Steve (whose wife was the one who mowed our lawn), came over to take a look. You know those two things I know about lawncare? I don't even know that much about electricity. It goes on. It goes off. That's all I know. Oh yeah, I also know it can KILL YOU.
So Steve re-splices the wire I screwed up, and tests the power lines in the A/C unit and into the house, and everything is fine. But the system still isn't running. Well, to make an already-too-long story shorter, it turns out that my little accident blew out the little transformer that runs to the thermostat. So we have to replace that. On a Saturday.
Yeah, like I have THAT kind of money. Did I mention that I live in Texas. And I thought it was hot last week in Florida.
We're sitting here in the dark with every ceiling fan running, eating ice cream and drinking cold drinks, and praying for a break in the heat wave.
Until Monday, when I can get this thing fixed, and then I can have all the artificially-cooled air I want.
(sound of Chris smacking his head)...
posted by Chris Hansen at 7:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home