For today's journey, I have chosen a trip in the WABAC machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman as our mode of transportation. If you are not a Rocky and Bullwinkle fan, perhaps Google or Wiki can give you a hand. Since most of you that read my silliness are of that certain vulnerable age you will understand my references of both of those and to the trip back to the political incorrect time of the late 1960-70's...I know the Stone Age. We are talking about the yahoos (before there was a capitalized "Y" in Yahoo) on Hee Haw...four country boys on hay bales sings the sad song of Gloom, Despair, Agony on Me...Deep Dark Depression, excessive Misery, if it weren't for bad luck I have no luck at all....Gloom, Despair, Agony on me....you can sing along...Grab your overalls and jug. This current Pandemic just drags on and seems to drag all of our plans, thoughts and dreams right along with it... So, instead of Patriotic tunes, we are singin' the blues.
As Camp A had a Covid Cutie during the first week of operation, Lauren and family have been self quarantining on site to prevent sharing with us old people. On Friday the 3rd, they were 7 days from completing this new 2 week cycle of self quarantining. With their 5 and our 2 plus George, we are at 8 people for a safe gathering number. We have had them here for years, pool, Skippy, fishing, fireworks, and lots of food. The number has ranged from 8 to 20 depending on the additional extended family members that come along. This year, it would be quiet party of 3. We would carry on, pool, bbq, Skippy and fireworks....but it is not quite the same. Gloom, Despair, Agony on me...
During last week, we had the shop garage officially tricked out with true air conditioning. The summer months, which here extends from April/May to October and sometimes into November, his shop is unusable. For the 14 years since we have been here, acquiring more toys, it would appear on the Eddie List of things to do. We would have various people out to pitch us on their solution to our problem...none of them sounded good or reasonably priced. During Ike, we had a window unit that we used in our Master (oops, we are not suppose to refer to it as a Master Bedroom these days...so we will call it the big sleeping room downstairs as Owner's suite is probably on the bad list, too) Bedroom for the 16 days without AC. Those 16 days led us to acquiring the whole house generator...hang on to that little fact. Post Ike we considered the window AC as a possible shop solution, too noisy on patio, eye sore for sure hanging out the patio window to the garage and not "allowed" according to our Home Owner regs. And we are such rule obeyers. Bottom line, Eddie could not go ghetto on the window unit... So, a very large fan was acquired from Home Depot....blew crap and warm air everywhere, but it was still hot. So, it could only be used infrequently. The Spring before Harvey, we acquired a penguin AC. For those not familiar with my Pickle Lexicon of terms, that is the portable free standing AC unit that can be moved from room to room. The fine print will tell you that you have to have outside ducting through a window....but the pictures don't. Eddie constructed and painted a window duct system that would allow air out, no critters in and be pleasing to the eye and ear if you were on the patio. Wasn't great, but it would do. The hand washing of the foam filter to prevent issues ended up being a pink job, so I was not crazy about the entire thing...but it was a step in the right direction. Post Harvey---it took on water, so the Penguin was no more. We had not pursued a solution since then. As we don't have lots on our plate these days, Eddie's list was brought out and reviewed....since the dock stuff was now completed. Hmmm, Shop AC, Ed said he was ready to do something with that. I put it on my list...10 days later we are sitting with new central Air and Heating, and a full insulated attic. Do not mess with me when I have a task or items on the list...it will get done, at a reasonable price, by a properly vetted company. Boom.
All was well, until Friday afternoon. Eddie decided to get into our pool which is kept at a lovely 85 degrees during hot summer months with a Heat/Cool system...post Harvey Upgrade to the unit that chilled the water and threw up water in the side yard in equal measure. Eddie doesn't do cheap and technology caught up with his desires post Harvey. Another little 220 fact to hang onto as we tell our story. Eddie puts up the umbrellas and jumps in...and immediate comes out and back into the house squawking and dripping about the Cooling system. He figured that the system had been taken off line when the AC system was added to the breaker box. Let's review so we don't lose track---we now have 3 AC units, one chiller unit, a designated 220 circuit in the shop for toys, the 220's on the boat dock for those toys, and assorted regular 220s in the house for the stoves and ovens....we have a gas dryer, so no 220 dryer connection...we are so Green... Hmm. While he is attempting to bring the chiller back on line, I notice the house is a little warm...like 80 degrees and you know Eddie, 72 is considered the minimum accepted summer temp indoor. Yes, we pay for the privilege, but a hot Eddie is not a happy Eddie. Hmm. To the breaker box, Batman. The previously pleasant 80 degree shop is now 92....home to the breaker box. Eddie starts flipping circuits breakers, has me checking all the GFI and Arc breakers switches...I so love a Friday afternoon fire drill!!!! So, half the house is down, the other half (mostly the 110 lines) are all operational...the switch game resulted in the sub woofer making large clopping noises and the freestanding 110 volt ice maker having a wetting (no ice and drainage) problem. It is now 6:00 PM Friday before the 4th of July on a very warm day in Houston. Excellent. Phone calls were made to the AC installation company. Hmm. I reminded Ed that when we lived on Tree Lane, we experienced a similar outage. Half the trunk line---also called phase, leg, etc. by the "electrical professionals". They love a good "phase outage" it is like digging for gold, as a new trunk has to be attached to the utility post/pole and routed to your home via a hand dug trench or shot under concrete. Yikes! We called the electrical bubba (our AC contractor referral) and he confirmed our suspicions and told us to call Center Point, as they would give us a temporary line until electric bubba could come dig for gold in our yard. I worked the Center Point route, and at 10:00 PM, Center Point, sans mask, gloves and hand sanitizer arrived to fix the problem. Eddie sprang into action opening the shop (16 foot garage door---the big one) so CP could examine the breaker box and the things inside the shop. BOING! That would be the large spring on the garage door breaking in half. Folks, I can't make this stuff up! 15 minutes later, with limited social distancing on Eddie's part, the diagnosis was in, the Generator relay switch was out and was blocking the 220 power leg from getting to the box. This will be a morning call, and a double overtime call on a holiday to our Generator people-that are based in Conroe. Remember the big fan that blow crap everywhere, they come in handy still...warm but not totally unbearable night in our big sleeping room downstairs.
An early morning call to our generator switch board said the "on duty" technician would contact us. An hour later, he called a mentioned the price for service on a holiday without a service contract. Okay, we will sign up for the service contract, just get out here and fix the problem. Of course, Eddie doesn't do a Ken or Karen, but a Smooth Eddie and once he explained the problem, Josh asked Eddie to perform some trouble shooting. Josh did not want to come to Kingwood/Humble on his day off...even at the price quoted. Eddie did as asked, with live 220 and 110 legs coming into the house. The results was an early fireworks display...in the switching box. Nope, you are going to have to come this way, Josh, the box is on fire. Josh said he would need to call the owner as this was above his pay grade...which part, Josh, the fire or the repair? At 11:30 AM Josh and the owner arrived in two trucks, two hours later, problem solved, all the toys are back online. Eddie inquired about the relay---as it was now 12 years old, they do go out...the addition of the new AC probably added stress to the 220 leg and it broke. Yeah, all 220 toys of Eddie's are all operational... House cooled down by dinner time. However, the ice maker and subwoofer are still on the TBD/wounded list. Before you ask, we have known that a trunk line or outside box issue is on our dime (Been here, done that --- no lesson learned before goes unused, as my mother would say) , but the fire in the relay box, subwoofer and ice maker are usually covered by homeowners. So, we will only be out the garage door spring, insurance deductible and the smaller garage door spring, as it was causing the garage door opener control to have error messages...and the repairmen for the big garage spring said that it would probably hit Eddie's car when it broke, in not too distant future....so Springs on Tuesday. What was it that my Mom and Grandmother use to say, Tragedy comes in threes. If my math is correct, I think we are done.
As the heat and positivity rate in Houston cranks up, remember to be a rule obeyer, wear your mask, use hand sanitizer or wash your hands frequently, use social distancing and take care of yourself...we are in this for the long haul...like a marathon, we want to see us all make it to the finish line..together. We miss our friends!
