Syd's Air Conditioner

Every cat loves empty boxes.  Syd is no exception.  Yesterday Bill Piper brought my new air conditioner up the steps and placed it under my kitchen table.  Syd tried to open the box because he hasn't had an empty box to play in since last summer when we moved in here.  I got my free air conditioner from The Breathing Association on Tuesday as a result of my doctor writing me a prescription.  I now have an official diagnosis of COPD which is a treatable condition but requires that air quality be monitored and in the case of this house improved.  They will come to the house in a few days and inspect the plaster and debris that the workmen left in the heat ducts last summer that I breathed all winter every time the furnace kicked on.  They didn't quite believe me on Tuesday when I described the problems with the house to the caseworker.  I am hoping they will give me an official report that I can use in conjunction with the pictures I have already taken of the holes in the attic (covered in tar paper and roofing shingles but never repaired) as well as the flooding, black mold that has been effecting my health since I moved in here last summer.  Perhaps something can be done legally to help offset my medical bills.  The Breathing Association also paid $80 towards my electric and gas bills.  They also provide home healthcare assistance and it may very well be I can get some help with my upcoming move in addition to legal aid.  They were surprised to learn that my landlord was uncooperative with the weatherization program which would have only improved the house.  If I were to be uncooperative with the changes they recommend I would be denied any further assistance.  So it was imperative that I get someone official to look into the situation (debacle).  My HEAP and PIPP programs will very likely follow me when I move, and  I would have signed up for these programs last year but my landlord told me she was going to put in Central Air as well as replace the furnace.   Her empty promises have cost me a year and have compromised my health.

These folks at the Breathing Association have saved my life this summer.  My energy bills from November through March are now paid in full.  My gas and electric were over $600 and it cost me every cent I had to keep the utilities on.   I pity the people who move in this place after me.  They will find out that this house is a sieve that will not hold heat, and will only deplete their bank account and compromise their health.  It was unethical for my landlord to reconstruct the house without insulating it, repairing it, and only making cosmetic changes.  It is unethical for her lawyer to try to sell the house for 3 times it's appraised value!  Yesterday I noticed a Morning Glory growing out of the bottom corner of my door frame.  I started pulling it out and it was over 15 feel long before I broke it off.  It is not clear where it originated, or what is wrong with the door frame that would cause this.  I suspect large holes in the walls (which should have had blown insulation prior to replacing the door) being filled with nature instead!  I so wish I was staying long enough to take this woman to court and expose her for the slum lord she is!