rips…

cold in Florida too…

Florida may be the only state in the US that hasn't had snow so far this winter, but it sure can get cold here too. Freezing cold by night in periods actually, something that so far has hit citrus fruit production hard in central Florida.

Right now – early morning of January 13 – it isn't too bad in my area. Measuring around 1°C in front of the house at 6:30 AM, and no wind. That's hardly enough to make a Norwegian think it's winter.

Sure, it is a bit cold being outside taking night-pictures. The resulting pictures came out fine though so one ended up on this page.

Now, since I am writing about winter temperatures: even a hardy Norwegian like to have reasonable high temperatures indoors when it's cold outside, and that's a bit of a problem right now. For the second time since I moved in 3 weeks ago, the air condition system has stopped working. That means “no heating”, and that is too bad even for me.

faulty heating…

The air-condition system has been repaired once – just before new years eve, but the underlying problem wasn't solved well enough it seems. Although the main units in the system are fairly new and should work fine for years to come, the previous owner apparently didn't get the old power cables replaced when new units were installed. Now that old cabling is causing problems that I have to address.

I am not totally unprepared for that flaws and weaknesses like this may pop up when buying an old house. Not that this house is all that old – it was built in 1984, but for certain items and infrastructures that is old enough to make me look for weak points when I inspected the house.

The electrical system looked good even when inspecting in some details, as apparently only one power-outlet in the house was damaged by use. The rest seemed to be in good conditions, and nearly all appliances have been replaced in later years and are working fine.

The problematic parts of the air-condition system are hidden from view in the attic, so they slipped by me during inspection. Even the repairman looked all other places before finely finding where the fault were. Whether there are more cable failures up in the attic, or somewhere else, I don't know at the moment.

options…

Luckily the house is equipped with some heating options. The fireplace is tested and found to work just fine, and the range in the open plan kitchen/living-room area is a pretty efficient heating source too – when used with caution.

Right now the early morning sun is shining straight into my “Florida room”. In a little while the air in that room will be much warmer than in the house itself and I can open the curtains and doors on both sides of the fireplace, start the local fans, and take full advantage of all that natural heat.

No matter what, I have to get this “dead air-conditioning” problem fixed once and for all as soon as possible. I didn't come to Florida to catch a cold.

Update: got my air-conditioning fixed within hours. Old cable will be replaced next week to prevent reoccurring failures.

confusing matters…

As the place is slowly heating up, my mind can shift focus to less serious matters – like my present address for instance. No, I haven't moved, but the signing-off address below isn't the same as on previous pages. Confusing, isn't it?

Truth be told, I'm pretty confused myself. Around here everyone say the area is called “Weeki Wachee”. so that's what I am calling it too now. The confusion kicks in when trying to inform others about my mail address…

When I order items from Amazon I have to write “Brooksville”, or else they have no idea where to send anything. Some post-offices insist on correcting my address to “Weeki Wachee”, but if I give that address some correct it back to “Brooksville”.
Writing “Weeki Wachee, Brooksville” works some times, but at other times one or the other name gets striked out – reportedly to avoid confusion. Which name that gets striked out seems like a lottery though, so I'm not sure who is most confused regarding this “name” thing.

If the above sounds nonsensical to you, you're excused – it doesn't make sense to me either. One day I may figure out what my correct mail-address in the US is. In the mean time I'm just very, very, happy for every piece of mail that correctly ends up in my mail-box, and every ordered package that gets delivered at my door.
So far so good – thanks to ZIP codes I guess.

I can do without the add/junk-mail that also ends up in my mail-box though. I wonder if they have a way to block most of that shit from being delivered here in the US, like what we have back in Norway. Should go under “home improvement…”

sincerely 
farm assistant

Weeki Wachee 13.jan.2011
last rev: 14.jan.2011