The End-of-Summer Ritual

Summer is fun, but the heat can be overwhelming at times. To escape the hot air and humidity, we go indoors and crank up the A/C. For those of us without central air, we use air conditioners that sit in the window. These normally inhabit the closet or storage unit all winter long until the temperature gets so high that it becomes hard to sleep, and then they get dragged out and installed in the window again

Since A/C units can be bulky and hard to maneuver, it’s a production moving them in and out of the window, so it’s best done as few times as possible. Once it’s in the window, there it stays for several months. This seasonal ritual can be even more awkward and difficult if you have a small space in which to move. Our window A/C unit was in the bathroom, which sounds weird because we have a strangely laid-out apartment, but trust me, that was the best place for it to be.

Anyway, when the temperature finally dropped below 60 degrees several nights in a row, it was time to remove the A/C unit. Some folks leave it in their window all year long, but when you only have one window in the room where it’s located, the very existence of the A/C unit cuts down not only on the amount of available sunlight, but also the amount of available space! Our one-window bathroom is really small, and a couple of extra inches go a long way.

I have a bad back so my husband usually deals with the large, bulky appliances, but the day it was to be pulled out of the window I actually got home before he did and thought I’d surprise him and get it out myself. I’ve dealt with this kind of stuff before we started dating so it’s not like I’m completely helpless with large, heavy chunks of metal, so I grabbed the screwdriver and headed to the bathroom.

Once there, I noticed that the mini blinds we had on that window were broken. They were still just barely hanging on, but you couldn’t raise or lower them because the part where the string entered the top had cracked. I saw it, made a mental note about it, and then promptly forgot about it, intent on getting the two screws out that anchor the unit into the window. Once that was accomplished, I needed to raise the window so I yanked the cord to get the blinds out of the way – and they promptly fell down on top of me! That yank was the final straw for the cracked top bar, it totally broke and the whole thing came crashing down.

Nothing was broken, and no injuries were sustained, unless you count me chastising myself for being stupid and forgetting that the blinds were broken to begin with. I scooped up the blinds and temporarily deposited them in the bedroom, then went back to the bathroom window and proceeded to remove the air conditioner. This was actually the easy part! I got it out with no problems, and when water started dripping out of it I placed it into the bathroom tub to drain without soaking the carpet. Keep in mind, the bathtub is the same color as the air conditioner – white.

Satisfied, I went into the other room and not 15 minutes later my husband came home. Expecting him to be happy that I’d done a chore he normally does, I told him I took the air conditioner out of the window but the blinds had fallen down.

He stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me, aghast. “IT FELL OUT OF THE WINDOW?!”

He thought the air conditioner had fallen out. Fallen out of our fourth-floor apartment. No wonder he looked so frightened!

It took me a good five minutes to get him calmed down, pointing to the tub and the pile of wrecked mini blinds in the bedroom. I’m still not certain he’s completely recovered from that initial shock.

By the way, we have new mini blinds now. :)