Perpetual Ruminations

Wednesday

Another day winding down, and another day off about over. I did get quite a bit done today, but not as much as I wanted. Of course, I didn't get much time to do anything in here, but that's typical, lately. I have a bunch of stuff I need to do for work yet, too. That's the bad part about my job, so much of it can't be done while I'm at work, so I have to take it home with me.

But, it's nice to have the A/C in again, and it's a lot better than the last few years. We just have a couple of window units, and in the past had one in the living room and one in the bedroom. But, that didn't do much for keeping the downstairs cool, except for the bedroom, if the door was shut. So, we use to hang a blanket in the kitchen doorway, so we could get the living room cooler.

Last year I managed to put one unit in the kitchen window, but it wasn't sealed the best. It's a side mounted window, and it was just a hassle trying to get the A/C unit to fit in the window at all. But, we did manage to get it in, and half secure. We used a roll of duct tape to seal it up, and it did the trick. This year I cut a section of plywood to mount the unit from, and just had to figure out a way to mount the plywood to the window.

That was a challenge because of the way the window is set up, but I figured out a way to put a couple of runners in the window track, after removing one section of the window. I put one oak runner in the top track and one in the bottom track, the set the plywood up in place and attached it to the runners. It worked pretty slick, and by dinnertime we had the kitchen cooling nicely.

But, I had run out of time and did not get the other A/C unit in the living room window. That one fit a little better, but because of the way it was built for old fashion wooden windows, it did not work quite right in the vinal window that is in the living room. Again, we managed to get it sealed up pretty good, but it was not attached securely and was always needing some adjustments.

I did the same thing here, I cut a piece of plywood and mounted the A/C unit to the plywood, then set that up to the window and attached it to the window frame. This one worked a lot better, because it was easy to attach it. Because of the weight of the unit, I knew it would be difficult to get it up in place and try to hold it and fasten it in. So, I made a bracket that the bottom of the plywood could set into, then just stand the whole thing up into place. It was a bit of a job to lift the unit and plywood up as high as we needed to, but once we had it up, we set the bottom in the track and then stood it up. Rhonda held it in place for a few minutes while I put the screws in to secure it. Then, it was just a matter of sealing the space between the plywood and the window.

It's a pretty wide gap, so our foam tubes are not big enough. I'll have to measure it and see what I can find after work on Friday, so we can finish sealing it up. For now, we just put an old pillow in the space. It was a tight squeeze, so it should seal up pretty good. It's running now and cooling down pretty nice in here. The best part isn't just getting it cooler, it's drying out the humidity so it's more comfortable.

After we finished that project up, it was time to clean up and start dinner. I cooked the meat up while Rhonda heated up the rice and re-fried beans. We had the wraps warmed and filled them full of seasoned beef and onions, then some cheese and a bit of re-fried beans. The rice was on the side and the rest of the re-fried beans topped  off the rice with a bit of cheese on top of that. It was real good, even if it wasn't authentic Mexican.

After, we finished our Bible study and then fed the dogs. Now it's time to finish this up, then go out and enjoy a fire again tonight. I'm not going to sit out as late as I did last night, but for a little while will be just fine. It's kind of a cool night, and it's going to get cooler, down into the fifties, so the fire will feel nice, and it's always enjoyable to relax in front of one.