What a great day.....................

We have jumped from April weather in the 50's and 60's, to July weather near 89.  Last night, before I went to bed, I flipped on the thermostat to "Cool" to cool it down inside. Something just didn't feel right.  It was 82 inside and I knew it would take a while to get everything cooled off so the thermostat would click off--I had it set for 74, and went to bed.

I woke up at 4:00am and the A/C fan was still running.  I checked the inside temperature--77 degrees.  So in nearly 5 hours, it had only cooled down 5 degrees.

At 8:00, I jumped on the phone and called my electricity company, that I have my Appliance Service Plan through.  They would send a guy out by noon!  YAY!  I was hoping it wouldn't be a Freon leak or the condenser had died.

Then I heard a racket, looked out and there was a Stump Remover company pulling in the yard between Tammie's house and mine.  Seven years ago, there was a 30 feet tall Willow Tree between our two houses.  It made me a bit nervous because I know how Willows, when they get old, can split right down the trunk, putting part of the tree on her roof and part on mine.

She's a lot like Dar and had kept after her husband to cut it down.  She was having panic attacks every time we got a 10mph wind. He talked to me and we agreed to split the cost to get that tree down.  It cost $800.00, which is ridiculous.  Shortly before he was going to pay me half, because I had paid for the whole thing at the time, she kicked him out and filed for divorce.  So, of course, he needed money to find a place to rent.  Over the next year, he paid me in bits and pieces and I never did get the full half.

Anyway, when they took down the tree, we wanted the stump removed.  That thing was huge!  and I mean YUGE!!!  They wanted $400.00 to take out the stump.  That was not going to happen.

So this morning, here is a guy, with a remote controlled machine with a big saw on the front.  I had never seen a machine so fancy.  I saw Tammie in the yard so I scooted over.  "Ohmigosh!  You are finally getting rid of that thing.  "I am going to put in a pond with a fountain," she said.

This girl!  She owes the IRS back taxes, she owes the hospital and she is in arrears on her mortgage, but the minute she gets a bit of change............)

"It's not costing four hundred, is it?"

"No.  He's only charging me a hundred."

"What?"

So when he was finished, I asked him if he had time to remove the smallish stump from where I had the Mulberry tree removed.  

"Sure," he said.  He reminded me of my only nephew Adam, at a younger age.

"How much?" I asked

"I'll do it for nothing.  I'll just get it out."

"Oh no," I said, "I gotta pay you something.  
After all, I had a price on the removal three years ago and it was $150.00.

"How about, hm-mm, forty or fifty?"

"Fifty is good,"I said.

He not only removed that stump, he filled in the hole.  Usually they leave you with a huge mound of dirt.

"I don't have fifty dollars," I said.  "I couldn't find a ten.  All I've got is these three twenties."

He broke out in the biggest, red-faced grin.  I expected him to start kicking the toe of his shoe in the dirt and say, "Aw shucks!"
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The A/C repair guy arrived at noon-thirty, checked out the unit to find that the Freon pressure is still at the top end (this unit is 20 years old) and that it needed a new capacitor, which had died because it was old.  Just for kicks, he put brand new fuses in the fuse box.  He praised me for keeping the unit so nice and clean and I told him, that although most people around here don't cover their units in winter, I always make sure the screens around the sides are clean, no leaves in the unit and then, cover it for winter.

Like the doc always tells me, "Well, just keep doing what you're doing." he says.

The "normal" charge would have been around $175.00, my cost = zero.  I pay $29.95 monthly for my all appliance service plan and since I have had three service calls already this year, I'd say that plan has paid for itself and more.
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After my Soap, I attacked the porch.

Skritch marks from the squirrel claws, on two railings

Badly worn steps, that I sanded

 Done and done.

I almost fell off the steps because I had been bending over to paint the porch floor and got a bit dizzy.  That's why that chair is there, to sit in and get my bearings.

Now, I can clean up my porch pots and get some seeds and annuals planted and rest easy for the rest of the summer.