Wherein I Eat My Words
(Something I do so often, I now sigh inwardly when I hear myself say something, resigned that the words will later be stuffed down my throat.)
It’s hot, here. Remember how I’ve been saying that it only gets hot for a few hours in the afternoon and cold at night so there’s no point in me getting an air conditioner?
Yeah, no.
I about died today, it was so hot. I jumped in the pool, but long story short, it was too freezing to stay in, even though I was boiling hot. So in my wet swimsuit, I sprawled in my bed, poured a glass of water on myself, and sat there comatose.
(Don’t worry about all that water in my bed. It evaporated in ten minutes.)
I’d read about homemade air conditioners, but I didn’t have the copper tubing. So I did this:
Oh? Those black blobs? I was too hot to redd up the camper, so I cleaned it with black paint in Gimp, to make you think my countertop was all clean and organized and I didn’t have clothes hanging all clutterly from a hook over the window.
The ice water stayed cold for several hours, surprisingly, and it did actually cool it down about fifteen degrees, I believe. Down to where I could think again, at least.
It didn’t help that I’d been in the sun for eight hours, driving with the top off the Jeep and hiking in the desert. It was 100. 100!
My cats, shall we say, were not at all pleased:
The other two were hidden somewhere, away from the heat.
So I called Mr. Moneymaker.
He reminded me that I’d said it was only a few hours of unbearable every day, and that I’d said I loved the heat, that it was no problem.
I said f*ck that.
So this afternoon I’m buying an AC. This camper will be a nice 68 degrees. Maybe 65 degrees. Maybe 60 degrees. I’m so hot, I want to be an ice cube.
I’m hoping the cool air will increase my productivity, which has been extremely sluggish. And I have to eat my words one more time, because I am DYING for three days of rain and cloudy skies and thunderstorms.
No rain until the monsoons in July, I hear.
Are you staying cool? I heard there was a hot spell out east, too!
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Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
Come to Wisconsin! It’s beautiful today by us. But for a few days this week, I had the AC on. I wondered how you’d get by in Arizona without AC.
Edie, it’s so dry, that it doesn’t feel as hot as it would up north with humidity. But I am enjoying my AC very much!
Yes, we’ve had a mini-heat wave in the northeast. I always tell myself I don’t need to buy an air conditioner because there are usually only a few days during the year when it is really necessary. Alas, yesterday was one of those days. Not 100, but over 90 and humid. Last year I think we had only a day of two of 90 and those in April. At least the camper should be pretty easy to cool I would imagine.
It’s awful early for a heat wave, there, Eric! 90 and humid is much worse than 100 and dry, I bet. I’m a wimp. The camper doesn’t cool as well as I’d like–too porous–but it cools well enough! (86 at the moment. In dry weather, that’s nice.)
I can’t do heat. 100 degrees? I’d die.
Get the AC. I think your cat looks like he’s sweating and I’ve never seen a cat sweat before.
Hope tomorrow is better!
70 degrees here in Jersey, but I hear the rains are coming tonight.
I know, Aimless! LOL! She has allergies, unfortunately. Poor thing. I envy your rain!
Oh, poor baby! I would simply melt. I am the grossest, sweatiest person in the world. Guys at the gym mock me. It’s awful. I would just be a sweat pool. I’m so glad you’re getting an air conditioner. No one will mock you. Plus, some words taste good. Like “fluffy” or “nougat”. Don’t you think?
LOL, Robin! I turn red in the face, and people keep asking me if I’m okay. I am! I mean, it’s normal for me to get red when exercising. Oh well.
Fluffy? Nougat? I think I want to go off this diet I’m on!
We have not turned our AC on yet – yeah for us!!! I’m hoping that we will at least get to sometime in June before turning it on – it’s always a goal to be one of the very last in the neighborhood to turn on the AC
In OK, there would be about a month of 100+ weather. It was dry heat, but no way could I have survived without AC. When you would walk out into the heat, it felt like stepping into a very hot oven.
Sorry you are missing rain – I’m surprised, but yet, rain can be comforting. Love you!
That’s awesome, Mom2Brie! I have a selective memory, LOL, but I recall being comfortable without it last summer in Ohio.
I’ve been using my coffee maker (which I think uses more electric than the AC, because it always trips the thingamabob), and I bought a frig and an AC. I think my days of $18 electric bills are over!
It definitely feels like a hot over out there!
I love you! Give Brie a squeeze for me!
I love the cold. There, I said it. Sure, seeing flowers bloom and not having to wear heavy coat and boots is a plus, but I really hate shorts, sandals and tank tops. Give me a pair of jeans and bulky sweater and I’m good to go.
It’s been in the eighties here all week. YUCK!
LOL, Kath! I can’t sleep without lots of covers. It’s a comfort/safety thing, so I’m really happy with the cool nights here.
But I do love shorts, sandals and tank tops! I hate being cold!
Yikes! Heat sucks, seriously. Stay in front of the fan and watch out for heatstroke.
Buying an AC unit sounds like an excellent idea.
It’s been unusually cool here on the west coast. I still have five blankets on my side of the bed up in Seattle. I’m down in Santa Clara right now for a convention, and it’s supposed to get up into the seventies this weekend, which isn’t unprecedented for the area at this time of year, but is darned unusual. I think we got all your coolth.
Angie
Bought! Yesterday. It didn’t work yesterday, and this morning only a little, but then I moved it and it’s working much better.
Really, Angie? Nice! I love being loaded with blankets while sleeping. I’d ship you some of our heat if I could!
Oh Natasha! My coolest wishes go out to you. I think it’s a great idea to get an AC. It’s so much better. The first house we put an offer on didn’t have AC, and in hindsight, I’m so glad the inspection fell through and we ended up buying another house with central air! It doesn’t really get too hot for that long during the year and we don’t use it all that much, but when we do use it, we are eternally grateful for it!
Your kitties will also be so much better off! They are desert animals, true, but with all that hair…dogs look happy when they pant, but cats look downright miserable, don’t they?
Stay cool, chica!
Definitely, Darcy! I sit in front of it, because it doesn’t cool down the camper all that much. But it keeps me cold. Woo-hoo!
Are they? You’re right! I didn’t think of that!
I like it warm,. When it is too hot I use a pedestal fan, strip nake and don’t move.
Nice, Bernita! Without the AC, though, I have to keep the windows open, which makes stripping a problem in an RV resort with people walking by. (Believe me, I wanted to!)
Once the heat & humidity of the Louisiana Summer arrives (which will be soon–it’s already well on its way,) 100F will be cool in comparison. I don’t do well when the humidex is at 120F. I really don’t.
Yikes! Yes. It has to be cooler here than there. Humidity is a killer!
You don’t want to be an ice cube. If you were an ice cube you would melt away. Then I’d be all sad and stuff.
Hah! Aren’t you sweet, Zoe!
It’s truly bizarre how completely we’ve switched lives. Now you understand why I just couldn’t do anything some days. And we had 80-90% humidity.
LOL, Melanie! That’s AWFUL! At least I don’t have humidity! And I totally understand how you couldn’t do anything some days. My productivity has plummeted with the heat!
I would just get so angry some days because I’d be so cranky adn hot and sweaty but I wanted to be productive. Ugh.
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