The sale of the California land went through, with one or two small hiccups – and less the necessary fees, I have a portion of the payment for it in my hot little hand. The remainder is to be paid monthly over the next three years, which will ensure a certain degree of economic cushion for me … although a third of it has been already spent on a new HVAC system for the house. The original system installed by the builder was constructor grade, the wrong size, and so badly were the ducts and vents installed that the front bedroom was innocent of any cool air in summer or warm in winter, and the kitchen – at the other end of the house – was hardly any more comfortable, especially when the afternoon sun burned into the west-facing window. So, the first thing we did was to call a local firm who had done a replacement system for one of our neighbors. The neighbor has been singing the praises of the company for months. One of our other neighbors does home renovations of a pretty extensive kind, and he added a good report of this company, saying they were high-end, but worth every darned penny. Like Mike Holmes, of Holmes on Homes, they would do it right and do it good. And they would also file the necessary documentation which would earn us almost $2,000 in rebates on the electric bill, if approved by CPS, our local utility. And the most marvelous thing is that when the manager came to take the proper measurements and line out what exactly would be required, he said casually,
“And when do you want this all done?”
“Would tomorrow be too soon?” I asked.

It wasn’t. They came the next day on the dot of 9 AM, four of them in four trucks, laden with absolutely everything needed and then some. (Including a bag of decomposed granite and one of bark mulch … I guess to fix any landscaping disarranged by a new condenser unit.) It was my impression that it was more than four workers – because they were working everywhere, at full-tilt and all at once. It was the wonder of the neighborhood, for everyone saw the trucks, and at least three neighbors mentioned it to us later. They worked straight through the day, and wrapped it up at about 6:30. New vent covers, a larger return, new ducting, a new and smaller condenser outside, even a new attic stair (since the original was rickety in the extreme) – and all the old taken away. Good lord, there was a lot of it, and most only good for scrap, of course. We’ve been reveling ever since in the comfort of the house, and the relative silence with which it runs. No more hot spots, no more cold spots, no being awakened in the wee hours by the system kicking in with a roar … all very satisfactory.

The next step would have been replacing the windows in the house … I say would have been, because Blondie’s Montero is suddenly producing a very funny persistent wining noise from under the hood and accelerating and decelerating jerkily. Off to the garage tomorrow, with our fingers crossed that it won’t be something major like the transmission. I’d always thought that a crashing transmission would happen a little more gradually, but what I know about automobiles can be put into a small tea cup. I do know when something is WRONG, but as to what exactly is WRONG is most usually something I can only guess at. Sigh. She needs the Montero to function reliably, and we are resigned to having to use some of the house improvement funds to see that it does.

On the bright side, I have entirely finished with the formatting and last review of The Quivera Trail. I’ll have the print proof this week … so that’s to the good.