We have air!! And other thanks...

What a week. Steve left for Rochester Monday. We were supposed to have our first a/c consult Monday night. I came home and waited. Nobody came. Apparently they had tried calling Sarurday to confirm the appointment but Steve and the boys ignored the phone (didn't recognize the # on caller ID). When Steve checked the voice mail, he could not understand the woman since she had a heavy accent. She left both an 800# and a local #. He understood the local # but she did not include the area code! And he did not look at caller ID again to see where the call had originated! No call back = no appointment. He scheduled someone else for Tuesday evening. They called late afternoon to say they had another emergency and would not make it to our place that evening. He rescheduled them for Wed. evening.

One of my coworkers/neighbors gave me a couple of names and numbers on Tuesday. While in the car driving to work Wednesday morning, I called 2. Left 2 messages. 1 was to be returned in 1/2 hour - still have not heard from them. The other went to voice mail so who knows... She called back while I was still near home and said she could have someone at my place in about 45 minutes! And she'd put it in as a second opinion so I wouldn't get charged the service call unless he was able to do something on the spot. I turned around and went home. Left a message for my boss explaining...

The service man was a little late but was able to determine that the capacitor had shorted out. The unit was also filthy as we had been told previously that there was nothing to do for maintenance on heat pumps. He replaced the capacitor, added a bit of freon, cleaned the unit (Abbee likes to go on top of it) and gave me a few pointers. He was out the door by 10:00 am. 2.5 hours from when I first called (and $314) and we had cold air!!! Thank you, thank you Dale from Hauser Air!

He did say that if we'd had to replace the unit (which we seriously thought we'd have to), we'd have to replace both the inner and outer units. Apparently the federal gov't has decided we all need newer, more efficient systems with a minimum rating of 13. Ours are 10's. If you replace one, you now have to make them match rating-wise so we would have had to do both. Outside unit could have been done for about $2100. But then add the required inside unit and we would have been looking at $6000+. Guess we're keeping what we have!

Now, for knitting-type news...

I received my first stash buster swap package! All the way from England. Marylyn sent this adorable little bag made from Blueface Leicester Wool. It is amazingly soft! I'd heard of that type of wool before but don't recall ever experiencing it. I'm thinking I'm going to have to do a little searching to find me some! The post card has four sheep on it and is titled '4 Ply Wool.' It doesn't show well in the picture but she's got a red button on it that just 'pops' against the dark background. How'd she know what our traditional school colors are? (The Knights had been black and red but from what I've heard, someone else in the conference was also black and red so we got changed to Columbia Blue, not quite powder but definitely a lighter blue, and red. We still use black, tho.) Marylyn, I must be mis-reading your blog address so send me a message so I can properly thank you...

Still working on the Simply Lovely Lace socks. Have also started a bath scrubbee out of the remaining (and additionally purchased new) Sugar & Cream Stripes. And I'm up to decreasing on the latest troop hat.

Last month I signed up for Swap-bot's 'Bust that Stash' swap and an independent 'Swap your Stash,' both international and both to be mailed by 8/31. I'm usually a procrastinator but not this time! I did get my 2 stash-buster swaps worth of yarn/knitted goods packed up this week and shipped out this morning:

This one goes to Chicago for the Swap-Bot one and the other goes to Canada. (She knows who I am so I'll have to wait to post that picture.) I hope they both like them!

I had a hard time trying to figure out what kind of local 'treats' to put in. What is Cinci known for? Graeter's Ice Cream - I'm thinking it would melt. Montgomery Inn Ribs - also tough to ship and expensive. Cincinnati-style chili. A bunch has been recalled. So I started thinking.... What else is here? Good old Proctor & Gamble. How 'bout a few personal care 'treats'? I usually have a bunch of that in my 'stash,' too. Just for good measure, I threw in a "Who Dey Chew" in support of our favorite pros in stripes. (I hope the Bungles get their act cleaned up so they can concentrate on winning games instead of beating criminal charges!)

When I mailed these two, I also had to forward on some season tickets to Wake Forest. My husband is an extreme Nebraska fan (having been born and raised out there) and the Huskers are traveling to Wake this year. He said it was cheaper to buy season tickets to all the home Wake Forest games than to try to buy a single ticket to just the Nebraska game?!?!? When they printed and packed them, his got stuck in the same envelope as ones for Stephen Huff in NC. Close but... Steve googled him and left a message as to what happened and how did he want them sent? Regular mail should have them there mid-week and all will be good in the Wake Forest ticket world.

Also found out that the Post Office only charges $1.05 for money orders. Getting one at the bank was on my list of things to do (either cash or money orders only to get certified copies of my ex's death certificate, all the way from CT). 1st errand of the day and I already had several items checked off the to-do list!

This week I received a different surprise package in the mail. I'm thinking Susan, my Dad's wife, has read my blog?!?! I know I mentioned ready the Yarn Harlot and have gone on and on about my Dove. This came mid-week:

Stephanie's At Knit's End, Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much and "Blue Birds of Peace." The label says 'the doves signify peace and goodwill. The tulips represent faith, hope and charity. the heart is for love for all mankind. The color blue of the doves means truth, beauty, and spiritual strength.' Even though this came from their travels through PA recently, it still reminds me of the Hollanders in western MI. And I have been missing MI big time lately! Obviously, I love my doves, blue is one of my favorite colors, I've needed the spiritual strengh, peace, etc. She hit it right on! Thank you, Susan!

And to wrap up...

Angel is still progressing. She's walking a bit better each day, I don't have to hand feed her, and she's fluffing her feathers and spreading her tail more often. I'm even leaving the bowl of water in with her for longer periods of time. She has managed to get herself in the water bowl and then almost fell getting out but she didn't seem to mind being wet on the underside. I saw her flip herself back over one day so she's not getting stuck upside down anymore. I tried putting her in a regular cage so she could hold on to the wire grate with her feet for a little added stability but she's not quite coordinated enough yet. We'll try again later in the week. As she grows new feathers, she'd not able to groom all of them yet so they are staying wrapped in the sheath they come out in. I cleaned one off for her last night but she wasn't keen on me pulling on a few of the others. I am considering a soft brush to see if that might help without the pulling....