That's hot
I can't get that phrase out of my head. It may have to do with our air conditioning unit being broken. It also may have to do with my brain being a little too warm. Our personal excessive heat wave has been here for 4 days thanks to the a/c deciding to quit on us. It began to go out last Friday night, perfectly timed just before that BIG derecho storm blew through DC. They made a big mess leaving our area in a disastrous state. These powerful storms came from Chicago, IL and swept down to DC. It was certainly unexpected. Typically when storms build in the middle west they tend to lose energy as they pass through our small mountains. Unfortunately that was not the case and did it ever blow into town. The storms hit us hard. There are still several thousand people without power all around DC. Being some of the few with power we have been suffering along with the powerless. I am thankful for the electricity we have. It is quite wonderful to have ice water on a hot day.
I noticed our house was not cooling as effectively last Friday but didn't take too close of a notice. It was incredibly hot that day. It wasn't until Saturday morning after taking a peek outside that I realized we had a problem. It was nice outside that morning. Cool, slight breeze, sunny. Perfect after storm weather. Inside our house was a good 15 degrees warmer and the a/c was running. I figured something was amiss. If it was so nice out there was no reason for our house to feel so stuffy. Turns out the fan had been running likely all night and was still going by breakfast. We checked the circuit and everything else that we could think of and it was a bust. I put in a call to a repair company. The soonest we could be seen is July 5. I tried 4 other companies. All four were a dead end. I could not get through to speak with a person, each time I'd wait only to be hung up on, or sent to recordings. It seems that with the super derecho it brought on a whole heap of more work for the heating and cooling companies. Oh the pains. So we wait. And wait. And wait. This waiting is awful. Fans have been set up all over. Still we broke down and bought a portable a/c unit. That has been keeping us from melting into pools of despair. We have been frequenting the pool and mall. Any excuse to get out during the peak heat is our plan. We have been doing well until yesterday. The heat has finally hit the littlest of us the hardest. Poor Adelynn has been so sleep deprived. She is just like her Mother, not a warm weather girl. Getting her to sleep at night or to take naps has been hard. She has been falling asleep almost instantly when we get someplace with air conditioning. Usually she falls asleep in the car before we get 10 minutes down the road. I don't blame her. Being in a stifling hot house for days is exhausting. The worst of it is she is getting bad heat rash. It is forming around her diaper area and on her legs. Keeping her cool is one thing keeping her cool and less active is another. We may be trying some diaper free time today. Although that proves to be an interesting situation. I suppose it is the baby pool and no diaper for her.
I've been thinking about the way back people as the big girls call them. You know, those people who lived way back when there were no fancy electric machines to make life easier. Being that we live in the nation's capital where people come visit the early presidential homes those times come to mind. Thinking about the way we dress now compared to 200 years ago does make you feel blessed. I can not imagine how difficult it must have been to be female in 1700 era society. The level of clothing required of a woman is quite crazy considering the summer temperatures in this middle south region. Have you seen the layers of cloth expected of a woman? My goodness. It's like wrapping yourself up in blankets. I may not have survived the social status expectations. The layers upon layers of cloth, heavy up to 20 pounds, sleeves and stockings. Wow. Amazing. I can see why ladies of certain social status, ok so wealthy, had their own rooms in their homes. I think that is where these women went to unload some of those layers of clothing to just sit and cool down. Oh the imagination I have when thinking of the ways people lived in the past. If anything being outside is much better than inside during the summer without a/c. Dining al fresco is the way to spend the evening meals. Having a decent shade tree does make a difference, although we don't quite have one yet. I survived childhood without a/c and we are making it slowly through this week. Being in a new neighborhood makes finding shade difficult. Oh to have a big old oak tree to lay under. I remember enjoying those moments as a child. I also remember dunking my head in a bucket of cold water. Actually that sounds like a splendid idea. Perhaps that is what we'll do today.
I noticed our house was not cooling as effectively last Friday but didn't take too close of a notice. It was incredibly hot that day. It wasn't until Saturday morning after taking a peek outside that I realized we had a problem. It was nice outside that morning. Cool, slight breeze, sunny. Perfect after storm weather. Inside our house was a good 15 degrees warmer and the a/c was running. I figured something was amiss. If it was so nice out there was no reason for our house to feel so stuffy. Turns out the fan had been running likely all night and was still going by breakfast. We checked the circuit and everything else that we could think of and it was a bust. I put in a call to a repair company. The soonest we could be seen is July 5. I tried 4 other companies. All four were a dead end. I could not get through to speak with a person, each time I'd wait only to be hung up on, or sent to recordings. It seems that with the super derecho it brought on a whole heap of more work for the heating and cooling companies. Oh the pains. So we wait. And wait. And wait. This waiting is awful. Fans have been set up all over. Still we broke down and bought a portable a/c unit. That has been keeping us from melting into pools of despair. We have been frequenting the pool and mall. Any excuse to get out during the peak heat is our plan. We have been doing well until yesterday. The heat has finally hit the littlest of us the hardest. Poor Adelynn has been so sleep deprived. She is just like her Mother, not a warm weather girl. Getting her to sleep at night or to take naps has been hard. She has been falling asleep almost instantly when we get someplace with air conditioning. Usually she falls asleep in the car before we get 10 minutes down the road. I don't blame her. Being in a stifling hot house for days is exhausting. The worst of it is she is getting bad heat rash. It is forming around her diaper area and on her legs. Keeping her cool is one thing keeping her cool and less active is another. We may be trying some diaper free time today. Although that proves to be an interesting situation. I suppose it is the baby pool and no diaper for her.
I've been thinking about the way back people as the big girls call them. You know, those people who lived way back when there were no fancy electric machines to make life easier. Being that we live in the nation's capital where people come visit the early presidential homes those times come to mind. Thinking about the way we dress now compared to 200 years ago does make you feel blessed. I can not imagine how difficult it must have been to be female in 1700 era society. The level of clothing required of a woman is quite crazy considering the summer temperatures in this middle south region. Have you seen the layers of cloth expected of a woman? My goodness. It's like wrapping yourself up in blankets. I may not have survived the social status expectations. The layers upon layers of cloth, heavy up to 20 pounds, sleeves and stockings. Wow. Amazing. I can see why ladies of certain social status, ok so wealthy, had their own rooms in their homes. I think that is where these women went to unload some of those layers of clothing to just sit and cool down. Oh the imagination I have when thinking of the ways people lived in the past. If anything being outside is much better than inside during the summer without a/c. Dining al fresco is the way to spend the evening meals. Having a decent shade tree does make a difference, although we don't quite have one yet. I survived childhood without a/c and we are making it slowly through this week. Being in a new neighborhood makes finding shade difficult. Oh to have a big old oak tree to lay under. I remember enjoying those moments as a child. I also remember dunking my head in a bucket of cold water. Actually that sounds like a splendid idea. Perhaps that is what we'll do today.
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