The Air That I Freeze

     Almost two weeks ago, my mother's air conditioner finally died, after over thirty years of service, give or take.  It was one of the few things that survived a flood from 2003.  Since that time, it had slowly started to fail.  The dial to the speed control broke, and it was replaced with the fan control dial.  The air quality intake broke, never to be used again.  The original store stopped selling the filters, so hacks were made.  Another dial broke, so the temperature dial would do double duty if something needed to be changed.  The post to the speed control started to act up, so the panel for the controls had to be removed, just so that the dial could be used to turn the thing on.  Finally, two weeks ago, there was a spark when the air conditioner was turned off, or at least a burst of light was seen.  Therefore, the search was begun in earnest for a new one.  The first few days of the search centered on the internet, specifically on sites for local stores.  Some of the best ones for the size and space needed were out of stock.  Considering that it was the weekend didn't help much either, as new shipments would be delayed.  At least there was a brief cold spell coming in, preventing the need for air conditioning for a few days.  Phone calls were made, both to stores and air conditioner professionals, for advice.  Finally, my mother made her choice based on all of the available information.  However, there was one problem.  The store that was settled on didn't have the right model in stock.  It seems that the person she talked to over the phone was mistaken on some points, particularly the price of the right model.  Well, my mother then went to another store, without mentioning to me what she was planning, and purchased a different model without asking me for my input.  She had used my car for the trip and had the new one placed in my trunk for me to remove when I drove her back home.  Yeah.  Now, the box clearly had a picture of having two people lifting it, yet I had to do it all by myself.  Now, I'm not really big, but I'm stronger than I look.  Still, I could just barely lift this thing that was probably around half my body weight and trudge over to the base of the porch steps.  Even with the straps on the box, there was no way I could easily lift that thing up those steps.  I had to place the box on each step between lifts.  Then, I just left it on the porch and scooted it over to the door and over the threshold, further dragging it across the floor to a spot where it was out of the way.  I am fortunate that the only problem I had was a tight, left forearm.  I could have seriously hurt myself.  Now, because it was so late, I was going to wait at least a day to remove the old air conditioner and put in the new one.  Well, my mother tore into the box the next morning to get the manual out to read before setting anything up.  I would have preferred she waited, but I started reading the thing after I got to the store.  Among the details found in the safety measures was a tidbit about how the air conditioner had to be the only device on the dedicated outlet. Now, the old one wasn't and couldn't be done that way, as the only window only had the one outlet and it he to be shared with other devices that also couldn't be moved.  This might explain why there had been some flickering with the lights whenever the old air conditioner was on.  Well, when the man that was going to take the old one away and help put up the new one came the next day, he confirmed that we couldn't put the new air conditioner there on that outlet without moving something, which was impossible.  However, in the clean up that preceded the installation that was now not happening, a second outlet was found.  This second outlet ran on a different wattage.  Neither the original nor the new air conditioner could work on it, but a older model that the man had could work on this second outlet, and he was willing to sell it to my mother for about half the price of the new one.  Well she took the offer, and he helped me lug the new one back to my car's trunk so it could be returned within the proper time frame.  The following, third night, we left work early so that we could meet the man to have his model installed.  My mother enlisted him to help clean the windows after the old one was removed and before the new one installed.  Some parts hadn't been touched since the air conditioner had first been put up.  The new model was put in, although its air filter was so old that it had deteriorated and workaround with a homemade filter was put in.  That first night, the new model worked, although a felt slightly sick at times that night.  Maybe I could detect a bad smell that no one else could.  Anyway, it hadn't been hot enough to try it since, so the long-range use still has to be worked out.  The old one was taken away and disposed of properly.  The cold always makes me feel better anyway.