Day 4523

After another long, hot day we finally have a working air conditioner again. The house was so hot that I think it's going to take all night for it to cool down. We've making progress though; one degree at a time. I don't know how people lived here before air conditioning. I guess you get used to it. I grew up in a house without central air conditioning. We had an attic fan, but no AC. I don't remember life being particularly bad, although I doubt I could live this way now. We would open our windows at night and the attic fan would pull in cool air from outside. When I first moved to Texas I knew someone who didn't believe in air conditioning. They had a large swimming pool in their back yard and would just jump in the pool when they got hot. To each his own I guess.

The HVAC technician was very nice. I tried not to waste his time by asking a bunch of stupid questions about how air conditioners work. I'm always very curious about mechanical things. The HVAC company used to be a client of mine. We don't talk about that now. At some point just about everyone decides they need someone young and hip to do their web site. It's not true of course, but try telling that to the kids who are running ad agencies these days.

At some point Janet bought a fan because the house has been so hot for the past several days. We discovered that Dawn loves sitting by the fan. She really doesn't like hot weather. We were uncomfortable, but we were more worried about Dawn than us. She's not a young dog and excessive heat can be hard on dogs. I ended up cleaning windows today because every time I tried to open windows to get a breeze blowing through the house, I discovered lots of spider webs on the other side. We have quite a few frosted glass windows in our house. They let light in, but block ugly views of the neighbor's house. You never really know what's on the other side of these windows until you open them.

The only way I was able to complete my long walk today was by walking early. I started right after breakfast, just like I did yesterday. No wonder Dawn likes her sunrise walks. This is the only time of the day when it is actually pleasant outside. It really wasn't bad at 10 AM though. I soaked my hat in water before I left the house and that helped a lot. I don't think I'd like to be an air conditioner technician in the summer. By the time the guy arrived late in the afternoon it was pretty miserable outside.

I'm getting messages almost every day now from the star tracker people in China telling me to do exactly the same thing that I've already explained to them doesn't work. The messages are so similar that I don't know whether we're having communication problems, or if I'm just being answered by some sort of automated system. The star tracker still doesn't work but I'm not giving it a lot of thought right now. It's going to be a while before I can get out to the observatory again.

This week has gone quickly. I hope nothing else goes wrong. Actually, the refrigerator seems to be working again. I don't really have an explanation for why it warmed up so quickly yesterday, but I suspect that we might have accidentally left the door open. We'll see how it runs during the weekend. I can always call the appliance repairman on Monday.

It's time to make another grocery list. I wonder how expensive things are going to be this week.

Haley is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day