Hommel Mangas
It seems that someone in the family hadn’t noticed how old our furnace and air-conditioning were getting.
It seems that while we were working and praying for our neighbors hit by the tornadoes, counting our blessings and cutting up and moving the trees that came down in our yard, we were oblivious.
Even after the sheer that blustered through five days later and knocked out our electricity for a while — we still hadn’t noticed. After all, the hubby and I both enjoy sleeping with our windows open, breathing in a fresh, cool breeze. Sixty-five degrees or below is optimum.
We weren’t really sure there was a problem until July 2 — when we had a family outdoor graduation gathering. Fellowshipping outside under the shaded canopy of age-old trees and playing in the water were an easy distraction.
We were absolutely positive July 3. We had celebrated our youngest daughter, Phoebe’s 27th birthday with dinner downtown after work. Later that evening, our eldest daughter, Alex, visiting from Cincinnati left the extra upstairs bedroom and slept downstairs in the walk-in basement —where it was cooler.
Our air conditioner was blowing, but only room temperature air. Seems like we forgot that we had installed our new furnace and air-conditioner even before our 27-year-old was a twinkle in our eye.
And we most absolutely and positively noticed the heat and humidity last Wednesday when it hit 92 degrees.
The furnace sticker told the truth. It was Sept. 7, 1993 when we had been new-to-us home owners for three years, that we installed a new furnace and air conditioner. Alex was 2 ½ and Chloe was 11-months old. I’m not sure how we forgot about how old the furnace and air conditioner were. They sure grew up fast.
I remember putting baby powder on my baby brother Chris, to cool him down or maybe cover up the little baby beads of sweat back in the summer of 1973 on Rose Lane. That was the cooling down technique back in those days. Along with the old metal-bladed fans.
We’re installing a new 90% efficient heating and cooling system next Monday. He stymied a little of my guilt when he said “most systems only last 20 years — yours lasted nearly 30 years!” I’m still counting my blessings.
Sept. 7, 1993 — how the time flies.
Janet Hommel Mangas grew up on the east side of Greenwood. The Center Grove area resident and her husband are the parents of three daughters. Send comments to [email protected].
