I got a text from the a/c guy Monday evening saying he’d be by at 10 am Tuesday. About an hour earlier, the a/c came on
It’s a miracle. Yep, a/c came back on like nothing ever happened. I told the guy all was well, and to cancel the service call.
The next morning (yesterday), it was out again. I texted him back that it was out again.
Today is Wednesday, and have not heard from him yet. I guess my allotment of miracles expired.
Yesterday, I began emptying the mulch into the garden…10 bags did not go very far, so we’re up for at least 12-15 more.
I decided to throw out my old seeds and just get all new ones; eventually.
I can still plant the watermelon seeds, as they are the freshest. No wait…they have been inadvertently thrown out…and folks wonder why I walk around mad all the time..
Remember that garden pic with the compost barrel? Well, it has been resurrected as I put in the first round of kitchen scraps, with some shredded leaves, and the same amount of dirt from the garden, and spun it a few times…some water too.
The tomato bed used 7 bags of mulch, and still could used likely 7 more. I put the others on the onion bed; not near as thick as the tomato bed. Oh well, it was just a guess.
I had to dig out my hedge trimmer to cut away the brush from the outside a/c unit as it had grown all around it. That brush that puts out those orange berries are abundant here around the house…the wife likes ’em; I don’t.
I then found a leaf blower (technically) to blow out the area as well…why oh why did I not keep the leaf blower I had in the RGV? This one was crap. I cleaned out enough of a space so he could pull the cover off the unit and check the breaker on the wall behind it. The rest will have to be dug out by hand…anyone care to guess what critter likes living in dead leaves? Les scorpion.
My new sprayer arrives today, and will use it to sterilize the soil in the bird bath garden as well as some fine tuning in the aisles in the garden where we walk. Then will top with used shingles.
I think I may throw my bush and pole bean seeds into the ground by the trellis to see if they may after all be viable…okra too..seems a shame to throw them all out.
There is still plenty of time to plant. It would just be nice to get rid of one dark cloud hanging around, and trade for another.
No word from the outlaws as of this moment…that can change. I think the wife is kinda acting like a referee keeping them separated from me and my outbursts. That’s the trouble with being passive aggressive; one never knows when the subject will blow up.
Any of you remember that old book by Erma Bombeck called “The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank” from the 70s? It’s true. I am fairly certain that the green patch of weeds and grass out back is above the leech field for said septic tank. It’s like an oasis out there, in the middle of a desert.
Which reminds me to get the mower out and cut those things down before they flower and go to seed.
It’s always just one more thing.
extexanwannabe 
I hate intermittent problems that occur in equipment. It makes it so much more difficult to find the problem and repair. As for the seeds, I would go ahead and give them a try. I had some that I kept in a tupperware container in my shed for about 6 years. My daughter used them and most of those came up okay.
Try soaking your seeds in a hydrogen peroxide solution to increase the germination rate.
https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/2022/05/using-hydrogen-peroxide-to-boost-seed.html
Very good information there…thank you!
Will do. I planted the beans and pickle seeds, as per your suggestion…what the heck…
The motherboard in the A/C usually won’t shit the bed and then come back up. If your thermostat is dark I’d look at the power to the air handler part of your A/C. The breaker outside is for the condenser fan and compressor ONLY. The air handler gets it’s juice from a different circuit. My air handler is actually just plugged into an outlet adjacent to the unit. Could be something as simple as the plug being partially backed out of the outlet!
The leach field; do you normally notice plant growth over the leach field at your place? Reason being, you have an extra person living in the house and it might be putting a strain on the septic system. If you’re seeing green over the leach field and haven’t before, the field is probably topping out. The next step is the septic tank backing up into the house! Young’uns who have grown up in houses on city sewage never learn the need to caress a septic system. They shower and flush at abandon. They leave the water running when brushing teeth and washing dishes. They wash “loads” of laundry consisting of a shirt and a pair of socks. They also dump stuff down the drain that shouldn’t go there. I’m jest sayin’ because I had to shell out $6.8K last summer to have my leach field replaced. In previous years I had noticed grass over the field but it always died off as soon as the weather got hot. It didn’t die off last summer. The septic tank ended up backing into the house late in the season. You can’t unsmell that! The leach filed was waterlogged. CHING-CHING! The tipping point was the 37-year-old manbaby moving back in… ‘Sound familiar?…
We have one of those thermostats which are battery powered. About a year ago, the outside compressor would not cycle on, ran hot air only. You guessed it – the battery in thermostat had died and would not signal that cool air was needed. A/C tech only charged $40 for the service call – not bad for 5 minutes of his time. Took more time getting his tools out of his truck.
Mine is one of those “Nest” thermostats. When I had the issue with my A/C, the t’stat actually had a message on its screen saying “Not receiving voltage on terminal R.” It has an internal rechargeable battery for offline things like this. I bought that t’stat because it was net-enabled, but it actually helps troubleshoot some HVAC issues, and logs HVAC use over time. Worth the money!
That sounds like a great product.
What a break! Many places will still stick you for a service call regardless of how long it takes them, or what they find.
I learned my lesson from Mike’s Plumbing and Electrical…no breaks from them.
Sounds familiar indeed…the bunkhouse has its own septic tank, albeit a much smaller one.
No, the green patch is not manually seeded. Over the years, it remains green and the wildflowers and weeds seem to proliferate in that area. It’s about the size of your garage.
This property handled 22 inches of rain in a deluge a few years ago…the yard did not flood at all, nor the house. That tells me that the leech field will likely last…but always something to consider.
No one knew about the green patch until after the yard guy quit. He was out here twice a week, and all he did was mow, so the grass never got high enough anywhere to show a particular area doing better than another.
Damn! 7 grand…sounds like a worthy project for the man baby and a shovel.
Other than weeds the easiest thing to grow is beans and radishes. Many garden seeds will keep for 3 or 4 years if you don’t store them in the hot attic or let them get moldy. Your beans should do fine.
Radishes; yeah they grow fast…pickling cucumbers too…beets too are very easy..