Owning a flashlight is probably one of the requirements for adulthood

We, like many in ABQ, have an evaporative cooler a.k.a swamp cooler for our A/C. The annual maintenance is one of the many challenges that as been thrown as us in the How to Be a Grown-up game. We're getting better about the hook-up in the spring. We buy the new pads early and usually get up on the roof to do the maintance and turn it on before it gets freakishly hot.

What we're not so good at doing is getting it disconnected in the fall. We've been in our house for six years and I think Paul has only actually unhooked the cooler once during daylight. That was the first year we were in the house and the builder did it for us. So I'm not sure that actually counts. Since then, we always talk about how we need to get up on the roof starting in mid-September and it isn't until we notice a weather report showing that it might actually dip below freezing that we finally do something about it.

We've had a cool fall and haven't needed the A/C in over a month. But, you guessed it, it wasn't until tonight that we decided to do anything about it.

At 8:00, Paul came downstairs declaring that he'd seen a weather report on the Internet and he'd decided to disconnect the cooler. It's a short process--10 minutes or so--and probably more exciting in the dark. Which is a good thing because WE DON'T OWN A FLASHLIGHT. How can people not have a flashlight? I'm not sure but we've managed to do it. I'm sure we have this conversation every year at 8:00 on a random night in October when Paul is headed onto the roof. He finally scrounged up a Mini-Maglite that thankfully worked and unhooked the cooler with no surprises or belly flops off the two-story roof. And because I'm no longer in charge of the task of turning on the heater after I managed to screw it up and had to call out a repairman who basically hit the heater with a rubber mallet and charged us $75, Paul did that as well.

Of course, when the heater kicks on, we'll be reminded of another of the many Things We Need to Get To--fixing the vent in our bedroom that has rattled for six years.