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07/15/2003 Entry: "The season for calamity" I forgot that this happens every year around this time: financial emergencies. I don't know why this happens in the summer, but from past diary entries, I can see that starting in July, and ending around September, demons of some kind come out of the woodwork and demand my money. And again, I didn't plan for this. My air conditioning conked out. The whole shebang. Our house, which is poorly insulated, heats up like nothing else in the summer. The previous occupants made a 10' addition to the house in 1996, and the new "super-size" AC/furnace system they put in to compensate still can't handle the square footage. So they rigged some of the ductwork with several "valves" or flaps so if you want a warm rec room, you turn the some of the flaps one way, and for heating or cooling the bedrooms upstairs, you turn the flaps another way. Trouble is, they didn't label which flaps did what. Not that it matters now, the whole A/C thing is dead. I am kind of a handyman who prides himself on knowing how any mechanical system basically works. I have always had this ability, ever since I was a little kid. A short survey of the situation showed almost right away I knew I couldn't fix it. It started last night, although now I am told that "it seemed to start over the weekend," to others, which no one notified me of until I said it was coked out. But all I know is when I took the dogs out this morning, the outer unit was making a loud noise. I looked at it, and noticed the fan was not moving. The blades just sat there, while the outside was REALLY hot to the touch. Reminds me of several motors attached to fans that have died in my life. So I turned the system off at the circuit breaker, waited a bit, and turned it back on. When the AC kicked on again, it made an even worse noise and I smelled smoke. I turned it off at the breaker and kept it off. Could be worse, I guess. See, since the A/C doesn't quite reach all the way to the end of the house, we have supplemental window units, and those are working. Also, Rogue, who is in the downstairs guest room, has her own A/C. But the rest of the house I expect to reach 100-110° F by mid-day. Yerf. Time to call Sears. This is why I got the card, for such emergencies. Ka-CHING! Of course, more expenses are coming. Widget is now a year old, and it's time for all the shots and stuff. The first year is always the worst. He needs all the vaccines, the stool tests, and so on. Ahfu's was over $230. Ka-CHING! Our station wagon? Died. At least the battery did, and now it has a flat tire. We have the other car, but this is getting ridiculous. Ka-CHING! Oh, and I know there's more to come. There always is.