The joys of home ownership...

It's been a warm week at our house.  Our evaporative cooler decided to have a mind of its own last Sunday, and turn on by itself while the switch was off, and short out and trip breakers and lots of lovely stuff.  Dave searched everything he could, and we finally had a visit from the electrician yesterday.  The bad news:  whomever put in the swamp cooler jury-rigged the thing: no ground, reversed polarity, wrong gauge of wire, and it is a providential blessing that we haven't had a fire.  However, repair will require a new cooler (or at leasy new motor and pump), complete new wiring, and a new hole in our pro-panel roof.  The electrician estimates 2 guys for four hours.  Yikes! Do you know what electricians cost these days, Gentle Reader?

Then this morning, I returned home from working out at Curves to find a back hoe and two utility trucks in front of my house.  They told me they were repairing an electrical fault that was affecting someone else, but was located in front of our house.  Well, in the process, they ripped through the natural gas supply line to our house, sending gas steaming and smoking into the air, and we soon had 4 more utility trucks, along with an ambulance and a firetruck, and our street blocked to traffic.  What excitement!  They now have a huge trench in the street in front of our house, and we, of course, have no gas (so no stove, oven, or hot water.) But the welder is on his way to put a new fitting to the main, and then they will relight everything for us.

At times like this, I long for the home where things don't break or wear out, where the Builder does everything right and with the best materials.  Can't wait for that kind of home ownership!