Saturday, July 7, 2012

On the other side of the heat wave

We survived it but it was a thoroughly miserable experience without central air conditioning.  The a/c in my bedroom wasn't even cooling off the bedroom much, let alone the rest of the house.  I tried for one day to cool off the house with the a/c on high I managed to keep the dining room at 85F.  Tom had some comforters on the floor and napped there but at night moved back upstairs.  At one point during the week the upstairs temp was 105F.  Which is what the outdoor temps were so...

We had at least 4 days with a heat index of over 103, two when the heat index was 105.  Zach and I stopped in to split a breakfast at a restaurant and their a/c wasn't working very well at all.  They had fans but unless they actually were blowing on you, you were sweating. 

Mostly I just stayed home and closed off the bedroom with the curtains and stayed right next to the a/c.  Hannibal and Professor also slept right next to it since my bed is butted right up against the window.  Occasionally it wasn't cool enough in my room so Professor went to Zach's room, which you can actually shut off from the rest of the house.

I didn't cook because the one time I tried, the temp in the kitchen went up 10 degrees.  No kidding.  The past two days the temps in the dining room were at 90.  I can't imagine what it was like for people who can't afford a/c at all.

As a result of the heat, I stayed offline most of the week, going on occasionally to check email and pay bills.  I found I really liked not being online much.  I knitted, read, worked on other crafts and today got a lot of work done on laundry and cleaning.  I'm going to make this the standard from now on.  I'm only online now while supper is cooking.  Then I'm off and back to watching my dvr stuff and knitting on a baby sweater. 

I"m drying the white clothes in the dryer today because socks and underwear get so stiff and feel uncomfortable when dried on the line but from now on the rest of the clothes will be hung out.  We've got to go into frugal lockdown now.  We've used up nearly all the financial cushion since the first of the year and I just can't afford to go any lower.  Groceries and utilities are the only things we've got that are flexible so from now on, no snacks and use only fans when we're in the room with them.  And meals cooked from scratch, clothes out on the line and fewer trips to town.

And now that supper is done...I'm off.

TTFN

4 comments:

Rue said...

We are getting the heat now. I never had any air conditioning until a few years ago. It was pretty crazy during the summers, laying around with cold cloths on my back trying to stay cool. I'm very happy to have it now.

I'm glad the temps have come down a bit for you and that you've found ways to get things done. I like the idea of limiting computer time. I don't get on it as often as I like now though. Always running!

Kathy said...

We survived for years just using the a/c on the most miserable days of the year...mostly in August and only for a few days. Nights here usually are pretty cool so sleeping wasn't a problem but this year has been awful. And I can't believe there are still people out there claiming global warming is a myth.

I am enjoying the time spent offline more but I thought I would use Sundays to catch up on things I haven't read on the internet. It's a lazy sort of day anyway. :)

knittingdragonflies said...

I have found that if I put the cloths in the dryer for just a bit, it softens them up and then I can dry them on the line.
I know, being online is like tv, it can eat up a lot of time. It is nice to slow down and just enjoy doing things again.
Take care
Vicki

Kathy said...

I should get back to using the clothes line. I'm just too danged tired. :(