Day by Day

Tuesday, June 9

I'm trying a new technique here, blogging each evening before I go to bed, putting down whatever happened during the day.

Hot. Hot is what happened today. The mercury topped out at 97º this evening at about 7. During the day, the heat was dry, so it wasn't too bad. But I did turn on the air conditioner for the first time around 5:30 p.m., as the brick walls of the house keep everything nice and cool. Upstairs was a different story, warming up more like around 3:30 in the afternoon.

This is another aspect of getting to know the house, as I mentioned in my previous post. When do you shut up the windows on a hot day? How long can you keep cool on the insulation alone? I do know one thing: no matter how hot or sticky it gets, my summer shelter of last resort will be the basement.

Speaking of the basement, I used the laundry shoot and the washer and dryer for the first time last night, finally doing two loads of laundry that were sitting there for a week or so. I really like the laundry shoot, as it cuts the laundry carrying in half. I do have to devise some kind of receptacle in the basement, though, because it all ends up strewn around the toilet in the downstairs "bathroom" (really just a niche in the laundry room with a toilet, sink and shower stall).

Also, yesterday I had ants in the kitchen. The little, tiny kind (the ants, not the kitchen). I had left a croissant in a plastic container on the counter overnight, and some scout had discovered it. I cleaned up the kitchen, put the sugar canister on the top shelf (even though it has an air-tight gasket in the lid), and the sugar bowl in the refrigerator.

I cleaned everything up, having killed the pests with squirts of 409 cleaner, but they persisted overnight, still wandering the Formica vastness of the countertops looking for the rumored goodies. I can see that I will need to have a different modus on kitchen operandi here in the Midwest.

I was sitting outside in the back yard, reviewing my grocery list at about 8:30 this evening when two very friendly dogs came galloping into the yard with the neighbor in pursuit. I can't remember the dogs' names, but the neighbor was Kate, daughter of Connie, who I had met earlier. Kate is also a friend of Connie Thompson's, who is a friend of my sister-in-law Pam.

Kate had lived in Southern California, then Palm Springs (which people in Palm Springs do not consider Southern California, much as folks in San Diego feel about their city), and had returned to La Crosse in the last year or so.

On my grocery trip, I picked up a can of ant spray and, sure enough, they were still at it when I dragged the bags in from the car upon my return. I gave the window sill a light but thorough dousing and hope that they won't find other points of entry anytime in the near future.

Any food stuff with any potential access was either stowed in the refrigerator or in the oven, as I don't think I'll be doing any baking anytime soon (but I do have to remember to check before turning on the stove). I can see why glass containers with sealed lids are so popular here.

It's 3 a.m. and it's finally down into the upper 70s, so I think I can sleep, with assistance from the ceiling fan. Things have gotten more humid as night fell, but it has let up some in the last few hours.
But heat or humidity or wind or rain or thunderstorms, things happen and then move on out of the area, and another weather pattern moves in, so you don't have to put up with anything for more than a day or two (tomorrow's high is forecast as 84º, and the day after it's back into the mid-70s).

So it's off to bed. We'll see how this blogging technique goes (like will I actually blog tomorrow, or will I forget and you'll have to wait another week before hearing from me again?).