As is usual when it gets hot out the air conditioning fails. Or it always seems to be so. We keep finding ourselves in the heat of the moment so to speak...my husband and I. Yesterday it seemed as though our aged heat pump unit had gone kaput. We had escaped the need to replace the system last summer by way of a very honest repairman. He was able to reconnect a set of corroded wires but said there was no guarantee. We were lucky. The system lasted the remainder of the summer and all winter. So today my husband started the process of getting estimates for a new system.
Fortunately the warmth of yesterday settled into a cool evening with a breeze that we enjoyed throughout our little house by strategically opening windows and running our ceiling fans to optimize the draft. Typically we both fall asleep to the sound of the television but last night the drone of the traffic on Route 4 lulled us to sleep. Around 2 o'clock in the morning we both woke to the song of the mockingbird.
This morning we exchanged our reaction to that bird. But first I have to tell you I love the mockingbird that serenades our yard. It can be found on the highest limb in our front yard singing its songs pretty much everyday of the spring, summer, and fall. And it was just yesterday, in the morning, that my husband spoke of how irritating he found the bird. This morning he felt no different in his dislike for the bird but the intensity of his dislike had increased exponentially. He said if he didn't think it would have scared me to death he would have shot that bird last night. Instead he just closed the windows in his bedroom and found the silence he needed to fall back asleep. He is a very light sleeper and said if he hadn't been so tired he would have just gotten up to drink his coffee as he does many early mornings.
My experience was much different. I haven't been sleeping well myself, hot flashes, night sweats, and aching tossing and turning have consumed my nights. My c-pap machine has been waking me up instead of keeping me asleep like it should. I wasn't looking forward to a night with no air conditioning but I did manage to fall asleep. When I woke up to the bird's song I thought "how pretty". I didn't know mockingbirds sang in the dark of the night and it didn't take long for me to fall back asleep listening to the mockingbird.
They say opposites attract. This mockingbird thing that we experienced just proves that old adage. We both had to laugh this morning over our very different reactions to the mockingbird.
It ends up my husband got to cancel the appointment with the first HVAC guy he called for an estimate. His second call was to the guy who fixed the unit last year to make an appointment with him to get an estimate. This repairman said it didn't sound like the same issue as last year. He came over about an hour later and fixed our unit once again. Before we found him last year we were told there was no fixing the unit by two different companies. He is pretty much guaranteed our business when we do get the new system.
It didn't take long for the house to cool down and I'm sure that mockingbird is safe from my husband's sights. Thank goodness for such an honest repairman...for our sake and the bird's.
Fortunately the warmth of yesterday settled into a cool evening with a breeze that we enjoyed throughout our little house by strategically opening windows and running our ceiling fans to optimize the draft. Typically we both fall asleep to the sound of the television but last night the drone of the traffic on Route 4 lulled us to sleep. Around 2 o'clock in the morning we both woke to the song of the mockingbird.
This morning we exchanged our reaction to that bird. But first I have to tell you I love the mockingbird that serenades our yard. It can be found on the highest limb in our front yard singing its songs pretty much everyday of the spring, summer, and fall. And it was just yesterday, in the morning, that my husband spoke of how irritating he found the bird. This morning he felt no different in his dislike for the bird but the intensity of his dislike had increased exponentially. He said if he didn't think it would have scared me to death he would have shot that bird last night. Instead he just closed the windows in his bedroom and found the silence he needed to fall back asleep. He is a very light sleeper and said if he hadn't been so tired he would have just gotten up to drink his coffee as he does many early mornings.
My experience was much different. I haven't been sleeping well myself, hot flashes, night sweats, and aching tossing and turning have consumed my nights. My c-pap machine has been waking me up instead of keeping me asleep like it should. I wasn't looking forward to a night with no air conditioning but I did manage to fall asleep. When I woke up to the bird's song I thought "how pretty". I didn't know mockingbirds sang in the dark of the night and it didn't take long for me to fall back asleep listening to the mockingbird.
They say opposites attract. This mockingbird thing that we experienced just proves that old adage. We both had to laugh this morning over our very different reactions to the mockingbird.
It ends up my husband got to cancel the appointment with the first HVAC guy he called for an estimate. His second call was to the guy who fixed the unit last year to make an appointment with him to get an estimate. This repairman said it didn't sound like the same issue as last year. He came over about an hour later and fixed our unit once again. Before we found him last year we were told there was no fixing the unit by two different companies. He is pretty much guaranteed our business when we do get the new system.
It didn't take long for the house to cool down and I'm sure that mockingbird is safe from my husband's sights. Thank goodness for such an honest repairman...for our sake and the bird's.
By Ryan Hagerty - This image originates from the National Digital Library of the United States Fish and Wildlife ServiceThis tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information.See Category:Images from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service., Public Domain, Link
RSS Feed
