A portable air conditioner unit is on order—buying an air conditioner in hot weather is not my first choice for shopping. I made a decision based upon a combination of articles about these units in general and by reading some of the reviews from certified buyers in a couple of sites. I also went by a store and looked at what they had on hand (not much). It's still a crap shoot. Getting it and having it set up before the knee goes under the knife is the goal; if this first one doesn't work it will be returned and I have a second one I would choose (returning the first would happen after recovery but within the 30-day limit).

A catastrophic machine failure is a great way to loose a night's sleep. I had to conclude that I'll work on what I can do something about for now (the temporary cooler) and I need to actually write up a replacement plan for some of these things to do them before they fail. Both air conditioners, water heater, those are big ones. Fix the bottom end of the sewer line before it backs up again (the new part is sound, but the bottom end is where tree roots still get in and cause backups). The foundation is the biggest one and that won't come first. Sometimes the house just grabs you by the short hairs and you have to struggle to fix it without getting hurt in the process. I'll work on a plan.