Melting

[livingdeb]

My first boyfriend had asthma. So long as he can always have access to inhalers, he can be fine. He can live.

I live in the deep south. So long as I always have access to air conditioning, I can be fine.

Our air conditioner went out for 3 1/2 days earlier this month. We noticed Saturday afternoon that although air was blowing out, it wasn't cold. We tried turning it off for a while in case it had frozen, but when we restarted it, it didn't work.

Sunday was for researching, as the parts store was closed until Monday.

Monday we got new parts and Robin installed them after work. Still no dice.

Tuesday we called a professional who fortunately was able to come out the same day and also actually fix it the same day. Now we know there's a maintenance task known as "cleaning the coils" of dirt--not just keeping the vines and weeds out.

It got up to 90 degrees inside. (Fortunately, we are weatherized and have curtains and even window tinting.) But even I am a splatted lump of inaction at that temperature. Also, our electronics were getting hot. Robin's cell phone refused to charge, to save itself. But we don't seem to have lost any electronics. Our refrigerator couldn't keep up; things spoiled more quickly. Potatoes outside the fridge also spoiled quickly. Chocolate chips started melting together in the pantry. I actually opened the doors and turned on the attic fan the last morning to cool off the house a bit. When 87 degrees feels refreshing...

This felt just as bad as previous emergencies: 1) when we were snowed under and the electricity went out (at least we still had gas, but we didn't want to open our fridge and we couldn't get anywhere), and 2) when we lost electricity, but other parts of town still had electricity so at least we could access hotels for CPAP-assisted sleeping. But this time we lost only one appliance. I guess having window A/Cs would be a good backup plan, as well as a way to just lower the temperature in the bedroom at night without turning down the thermostat for the whole house.

On the other hand, looking for a cool place to hang out, we finally investigated our local community college branch and found that, at least on Sunday afternoons, it has big empty places with tables where we can play board games. Woo!

Comments

[reedrover]

Ugh. Big sympathy about the a/c. I’m glad you found alternative places to cool down.

My mother’s cousin invested in a gigantic battery that will power his CPAP for multiple days after the last power outage at his place. He’s ok being hot but he doesn’t want to die in his sleep.

Board games! Did you play any, or just scout the territory?

[livingdeb]

Robin got a battery, too, but it immediately ran down and was completely useless the one time we tried to use it.

We didn't play at that time, but have since met some friends there once to play Wingspan.

[reedrover]

I own Wingspan, but I have yet to play it. *frustrated*

[livingdeb]

That is sad! Wingspan is our favorite game, partly because of our house rule that when you attract a bird into your sanctuary (play a bird card onto your mat), you have to say something interesting about that bird. If you are like us and don't know anything about birds, you can just read the fact printed at the bottom of the card. (Sadly, attempting that is a vision test--you will find out which of your friends need reading glasses!) And when you play with birders it's extra fun.

I like how the theme is quite good and even if you don't do my house rule you can learn or remember things about birds, like, oh yeah, they don't just have bowl nests in trees, woodpeckers have cavity nests, and right, some of them eat worms but seagulls eat fish and owls eat rodents, etc.

I like how there are many ways to get points and you have to learn to go with the flow of what is available to you, so it feels different every time. I do like resource management games.

And it's also pretty and fun--the birdfeeder dice roller is fun, the eggs are cute and realistic while also possible to keep from rolling all over the place, and the paintings of the birds on the cards are amazing.

There's a bit of a learning curve, but the directions are good and the starter cards and scenario they give you is good.

So, I do hope you get to play it soon, if this sounds fun to you. It is possible to play it by yourself, not only by pretending to be two different players but there's also a solitaire version involving an automaton, but that adds to the complexity and is not ideal for a first game.

[reedrover]

It sounds like a fantastic game, and yes, I need to make more of an effort to gather people to play it. I like your house rule, particularly as it adds focused depth and conversation to the game.

Years ago we had a woodpecker nest in a standing dead tree right along the path where I walked to feed the girl goats. Every day, the nestlings would stick their heads out and scream at me about breakfast. It was cute in a loud way. The dogs never even looked up.