A conspiracy and a dolphin sighting...

You'd think it was a full moon.

The air conditioner guy didn't call back yesterday, until into the evening... and then, only to tell me that he wasn't going to make it.

No shit, Sherlock.

Our builder arranged for another guy to contact us this morning.  Morning came and went - he didn't.  Another call; this guy is supposed to be our here "sometime this afternoon."  In many places, that means: the guy will show up during the afternoon.  Around here, it means: I will tell you this afternoon, so I don't have to talk to you anymore.

I suggested to Joan that I go pick us up some lunch.  She needed something from the grocery store.  "One of us has to stay here, just in case someone actually shows up to look at the a/c - I do the running."

Traffic was light through town.  I stopped to order some chicken, then went to the store.  I parked by the cart corral, because most carts here get left in the lot, never getting near the corral.  Imagine my surprise when I came out of the store - someone in a ratty car wanted the parking place where the cart corral was... they had pushed the cart corral with their car, until they had room to park.  Seriously?  There was no shortage of parking spots, but it may have necessitated an additional 5 or 6 steps.

I drove the short distance to the chicken place, picked up my order, and headed back out to the truck.  The parking lot there was pretty full when I pulled in.  I'm guessing the order was given to "block the red truck!"... two cars were slowly vying to block my progress... one I might be able to get around, but two?  The guy who got to the stop sign first decided this would be a good time to let everyone else go first - even people who were a block away.

"Come on - my chicken is going to get cold!"

I managed to get around that guy and made it to the main drag.  That "no traffic" situation I had on the way over was now a LeMans start slow-race.  There is no way they could clog up both lanes without someone coordinating this; traffic behind me was non-existent... it was only the 6 or so cars right in front of me that were determined to slow my progress and insure that I had to stop at the only 3 stoplights on my way back.

When I turned towards the bridge that goes across the ICW to our island, I thought I was home free.  Only one car in front of me... and they decided to stop on the bridge to watch some dolphins playing nearby.  I am all about the dolphin-viewing - the first I've seen them since we got back.  But, did I mention the chicken?  The chicken that was turning the light brown paper back into dark brown as the grease permeated?  I gave a polite, short beep on the horn - just a friendly reminder that they were stopped in a traffic lane.  You would think we were in Yellowstone, the way these people gave up on any vehicle control or movement to watch the wildlife.  The guy "waved me around" ... I was looking down the ICW and could see an excursion boat coming... they can't open the bridge if some dumbass is stopped on it... this guy was holding up traffic on land and water.

On the bright side, the dolphins were easy to see, right there by the bridge.  I think they could smell my chicken.

I got home and asked, "Did the air conditioner guy call?"

Ever the optimist.  ;-)

Another couple months, and we should be due for our first norther; that will drop the temps.

------------------------------

On edit: the results...

The third guy was the charm - he actually came out when he said he would.  One in a row.  The compressor was froze and the unit was low on the refrigerant.  A service call and a bit of the pink refrigerant.  Blissful cool air.  After two sweaty days.  I may be able to soak in my hot tub without worrying about heating up the house.

We asked why it would be low on refrigerant, since it was worked on in May: "I'm thinking that whoever did that work may not have put enough refrigerant in.  It didn't take much, but a bit low is all it takes to freeze it up.  Probably didn't do much good for you all summer."

Swell.

On the bright side, we can sleep tonight without having the fan set on "Gale Force."  ;-)