Air Conditioning on the Fritz

So yesterday I received a steroid shot in my neck. If you read the blog, then you'll realize I was freaking out a little bit.

But then the doctor walked into the room. He wore a crazy Aloha cover-up instead of scrubs. And then we (doc, hubs and I) started chatting a bit. Somehow the conversation worked it's way around to our going to Disney World next month. AFTER he proceeded to give me the 'lecture' about not riding the rollercoasters, he also gave us the names of some restaurants, since he'd just returned from Orlando.

I really like this doc. He has a warm and easy way about him. He has to lecture me about the rides, BUT he also knew from my reaction that I was going to ride them anyway, so he offered some suggestions about how to keep my neck stable throughout the ride.

He's a good guy.

It helped that the doc had had a few of these shots himself, along with giving them. He described what was going to happen and some of the possible side effects.

I don't know about you, but this was what really put my mind at ease . . . that and the happy juice they injected me with prior to inserting the catheter to inject the steroid. Now the meds could take 7-10 days to kick in, which is pretty good timing . . . pre-vacation, yanno. 

I was out of there in less than a minute after the injection.

If you are told that you need a steroidal spinal injection, and you have access to modern technology, don't get your panties in a wad like I did. It's easy-peasy.

Anyway, we get home and I'm cold, so I move the thermostat up to 78 degrees from 74 degrees. A couple hours later, I turn it down to cool off the room because our fur-beast sleeps in there at night.

Even with a haircut, Maggie still gets very hot.

The temp doesn't change. The AC isn't blowing hot air, but it certainly isn't blowing cold air either!

All I can say is thank goodness this summer has been unusually cool and not the 110 degrees of the previous summers!

It dropped to 76 this AM, but I'll need to call the air conditioning guys to set up an appointment.

My only fear is that we'll need to replace the unit--it's almost 18 years old. Just what we need. That kind of expense along with all the medical ones I'm incurring this year.

*sigh*

My monthly horoscope did mention a huge expense at the end of this month.

Wouldn't you know, this would be the first time it was right!

Later, Peeps

Why Dinosaurs are Extinct

Here is Maggie.

Maggie is an almost three-year-old, unassuming Old English Sheepdog. Happy with life, a butt wiggler since she has no tail, i.e. bobtail.

Here is an innocent purple dinosaur, unaware of what is about to happen. Notice the tag. The tag reads, "with chew guard technology". *snort* See the top of Maggie's head behind the dino head? Yes, she was eagerly waiting to rend the critter into pieces.

Narf, num-num-num.

In less than three minutes, a breach has happened.

Ten minutes later, the annoying squeaker has been located and removed.

Over the next few hours, guts have been removed through the tiny back hole. Also stuffing from two of its legs. Yes, those are two different pictures.

I don't think the dinosaur tasted as good as the dragon did.

Later, Peeps!

2011 Pool Opening

Pool in winter

About thirteen years ago, we put in a pool.  At the time our entire back yard was grass, all grass--no pond, no trees, no anything--so a pool was an ideal space filler.

This picture was taken a couple of winters ago (no fireplace!), but you can see that the cover is spring-loaded and attached to the deck.  The cover is made up of a mesh material.  Mesh has tiny little holes in it, thus all sorts of dirt, pollen and various other funk falls through, but it keeps the majority of leaves and other stuff out of the pool (organic debris stains the plaster).

cover removed

Last weekend--Saturday, we 'opened' the pool.  This means we took the cover off and had to start vacuuming the funk off the bottom.  Oh, and when I say 'we' it's that royal kind of we, where my hubby does the work. And I watch and click some pictures.
 

vacuuming funk from bottom

 When you vacuum the bottom of the pool, you don't want to put it through your filter as it will just glump it up and you'll have to constantly clean the darn thing, so it goes to waste.  Luckily we have school property behind us and it has a huge water drainage system, so our water goes down there.  Plus if you looked at old Platte's of the school and neighborhood, you would notice that the back part of our yard was a pond.

 Slowly running the vacuum helps keep the funk on the bottom and doesn't stir it up too much.  At the same time, we needed to drain the pool.  There's a product that is put in Chlorine tablets called 'conditioner', which causes a cynuric acid build up.  This doesn't harm the swimmer, but it does cause the chlorine to become basically inert, which means it doesn't do it's job of sanitizing. The only way to get rid of it is to drain the pool and clean the plaster sides. 


partially drained









At this time, we noticed a 'verde gris' mottling on the plaster.  This is usually caused by copper that is pulled out of the water and it stains the pool.  Again, it isn't harmful, just not as attractive to swim in.

After we drained 1/2 the pool, and the child and her friend decided it would be 'fun' to play in the 55 degree water and, of course, managed to get soaked, we filled the pool.  Two hoses going full blast took it about 18 hours to fill up. 

next morning

We couldn't run the pump while it was filling, so it's still cloudy, but you can see the dots on the stairs.  The hubster had power washed the stairs, but the neighbor's maple tree was puking little yellow whirlygigs and they stained the stairs.  The chlorine will eventually fade them.

Monday/ kreepy krauly

Here is the pool today--Tuesday.

Tuesday morning with Maggie

And that my friends is what opening a pool looks like.  Now all we need to do is turn the heater on and have some glorious sunshine and we are ready to party this summer!

Later, Peeps!