how does your beagle stay cool?

We've had AC problems, too. The pan that collects condensation rusted out (the AC unit is 30 years old) and we've had water leaking all over our carpet for over a week. We finally got someone to come look at it on Tuesday. Yep, that's broken. I'll order a new part. That's $75. Doh. But our homeowner's insurance is paying for a new air conditioner (yay!) that will be installed next Monday (AAAAAHHH). For a few days there, before we knew where the leak was coming from and whether it would hurt the AC/do unknown electrical damage, we had to turn it off. It was just about then Texas summer decided to rear its ugly head. We put the pups' kennel in the kitchen on the linoleum and put a small fan blowing indirectly on them. They seemed to weather our few non-AC days better than we did ^_^ We've got a bucket solution going for us now until the new unit is installed, but we're still keeping the air a little bit warmer than is comfortable and the fan on the dogs in the kitchen. When we do have a fully functional air conditioner, they stay in the kennel room (the dining room we never use) where the ceiling fan is on 24/7/365. And we're going to have to go carpet shopping sometime in the near future... the leak gave us a serious mold situation in the hallway right by the AC unit.

Spock, Bones, my boyfriend, and I feel the air conditioner drama pain. After an AC leak (rusted-out pan) that ruined our hallway carpet, our insurance company had a new AC unit installed on Wednesday of this past week. The air has not worked since (meanwhile, the leakage had stopped and the house was nice and cool BEFORE we got the new unit installed).

We called Thursday to let the repairman know that the AC was not blowing cold air, or any air at all; he came by Saturday to fix everything, but as far as we can tell, fixed very little; sometimes you can feel a puff of cooled air if you put your hand to the vent, but it is clearly not helping, and the dogs wander around the house panting and looking at us dolefully.

It hasn't been fun for my boyfriend and me, either. We threw a birthday party (in the works for weeks) for a friend Saturday night; the afternoon before the party, I vacuumed, swept, and mopped the floors to get the house ready in the 85-degree heat (I would have done the brunt of the cleaning MUCH earlier in the week if I had known the AC was going to be taken away Wednesday). The party was short and mostly took place outside, and friends brought fans over to help keep the air moving. It's worse again today, and all fans in the house are going full-blast. We had planned on installing ceiling fans today and replace the one in the dogs' room to make sure next time the air broke down, we wouldn't be nearly so miserable, but we can't even do that thanks to the heat!

Our poor beagles are bearing the brunt of the AC drama, though it hasn't been easy on my boyfriend and me, either. It's 87 in the house right now; we just got back from PetSmart, where I took them to experience a half hour of AC in the car and in the store (and they picked out treats and two new toys, saw two other beagles, licked about 10 people, and wound their leash around mommy's legs as much as possible). When we got home, I filled up their water bowl with ice. At night, they are sleeping in their kennel without bedding in the kitchen with a fan blowing on their cage.

If the AC guy comes back this week and can't give us our cool house back, I'm going to cover him with peanut butter and tell the beagles to get him. Of course, I don't know how much torture being licked by two puppies can be unless you're allergic to dogs. Let's hope guilt over their suffering will motivate him to finish the job this time!