Cat on a hot asphalt roof

On Tuesday, about two hours after my last post, I realized that the central a/c in my foreclosed-upon rental villa had stopped working. Well, not really stopped. It was blowing air, just not cold air or even cool air. I spent the rest of the afternoon and into the evening trying to fix its death knell with just the remembered knowledge of repairmen of the past (there had been a couple of instances when the C/H/A stopped working) and what I could find on the Internet (oh, there are so many wild suggestions and ideas in that deep, mysterious place).

Nothing worked, so I went to bed that night in a hot, muggy room. I tossed and turned for most of the evening. Finally fell asleep from exhaustion who knows when and then woke up at 4:18am for some reason and couldn't get back to sleep. Never mind that this was the morning of my job interview. Never mind that I looked like hell. Never mind that I couldn't put on my interview pants suit because the pants are lined and they would have stuck to my sweaty legs (I brought the suit with me and changed in a bathroom at work - how lovely). I actually managed to get through the interview with enthusiasm and hopefully with answers that satisfied the panel. Now comes the waiting.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the a/c still doesn't work. Wednesday evening, my brother-in-law suggested taking the batteries out of the thermostat for a few minutes, and, lo and behold, the a/c started working. I thought it was cured, but, alas, it was not to be. Someone on the Internet suggested starting the fan in the compressor unit by hand, so I did that (with a screwdriver), and the fan started working. But only for two minutes or so, and then the cool forced air turned to warm forced air, and that was that. When all this started, first the fan would come on but not the compressor. And then it became the compressor on and the fan off. My former landlord suggested I bang on the top of the fan because the motor is located just under the top of the casing. That worked, but only for two or so minutes. The temperature in the villa decreased from 89 to 87 so that was nice for a few minutes, but I'm sitting here sweating in my hot, muggy home and thinking it must be really nice in Alaska right about now.

Since this little villa is now owned by Wells Fargo and the organization wants me out like yesterday, there is no way the a/c is going to be fixed. I pray that I get the full-time job I interviewed for on Wednesday. Then I'm outta here yesterday. If not, I guess I'll be out of here tomorrow with two part-time jobs that really don't cut it when it comes to fair market value rents, especially with all my cats. Not even my friend who owns a bungalow converted into three rental units would rent to me with all my cats. 

All I have to say to that is MEOOOOOW!

All photographs from Microsoft Office Clip Art