Pending Misery

Today is beautiful but only because it's fairly cloudy, which is keeping the temperature down in the 70s. Tomorrow is supposed to be much less cloudy and much more warm, causing an expected high of 84. Now 84 doesn't seem so bad. I've wanted summer to get here, but I was hoping our air conditioner would be fixed by the time the season finally arrived. It's not. It has not been working for about a month now, but it's been thankfully cool outside. Now, the temperature is expected to climb into a more seasonal range, and we aren't ready.

Our landlord is a very cool guy, but this is definitely knocking points off the coolness meter, especially when we are talking literal coolness in my house. I get awfully crabby when I'm hot, which I hear isn't all that uncommon since crime rates rise with the temperature. I don't intend to go on any shooting sprees, but I can't be held responsible for screaming at the top of my lungs over minor problems if I'm soaking in my own sweat from a uncomfortable 98 degree household temperature. Because that's what happens in our house when it's 85 degrees out, thanks to our big, west-facing windows.

The thing is, our landlord is very well aware of the greenhouse effect that occurs in this house, because he lived in it. I suspect our AC hasn't been a very high priority, since the weather has been so cool, but did he really believe it would last forever? If only he knew me and how that second head of mine can sprout up when I'm hot, then maybe he would have been down here long ago. Or maybe it's that the house won't be his much longer, which leaves me very nervous about some of the other things wrong right now.

We've always been good tenants. We keep the place up well enough and have only called him twice in the three years we lived here before the whole AC breakdown. Three years is a long time though, and things are beginning to show some wear that is normal or would have happened no matter who was here. Many of the windows in the house have broken seals with moisture between the panes. The outside faucet in back is leaking. There is some work to be done on the gutters. I hate to bring all this up now that we're buying the house, but they are things he would have to do if he were to sell it to anyone. We aren't complaining about the rusting porch railing or the peeling bathroom paint. Everyone tells us we should, but those seem like such minor things to me. Maybe they will seem less minor once the AC is finally fixed.

I have lots of worries about the house. We really need to get a house inspector to take a look at it and tell us what's wrong. I worry about the mold in the ceiling of the garage underneath the main bathroom. I worry about the crack in the wall out front. I worry about the rotting wood along the edge of the roof. There is so much we don't know about this place, even though we have been here three years. An inspector could tell us all those things. It's expensive, but everyone says it pays for itself. We could get the price on the house knocked down considerably, if the roof needs replaced or the bathroom floor is bad.

Meanwhile, the landlord said his lawyer has already drawn up paperwork for the sale of the house. We aren't ready to sign anything. We haven't even settled on a price. How in the world can there be paperwork already? We can't sign a darn thing until I have AC and until a professional can look at this place. There might not be a house left standing if it gets too hot, and I get too cranky.

Home ownership� what's so great about it?