Well, you knew this was coming: there’s been at least one heat-related death in King County, as reported by the Seattle Times. In nearby Tacoma, another man’s death has also been attributed to the ungodly heat that has gone unmitigated here by any real air conditioning.
County officials wring their hands & spout the usual blather about avoiding the direct sun & staying hydrated. They’ve opened several “cooling centers” in King County where you can go during the day primarily; but then you have to go home to your little heat box & try to pass the night somehow.
They’re talking a break in the heat wave today, & it was indeed more temperate as I drove in to work.
Of course “break” is relative: temps are forecast to be in the high 80s. & still no AC.
This place is basically a big bowl of suck. Melted suck.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Sleepless again
Folks--it's 106 degrees & my house has no AC. I'm headed into my third night of no sleep.
Definitely too hot to post.
Pray for a break in the weather.
Definitely too hot to post.
Pray for a break in the weather.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sleepless in Seattle
We’re having a heatwave out here, & it’s wiping me out. All this week temps are in the 90s & up to 100.
Hey, chick, you say—it’s summer, whaddaya expect?
What I expect is some semblance of civilization in the form of air conditioning & that is conspicuous by its absence in this berg. The cheap-ass rationale is that it doesn’t get hot enough here to warrant installing it in businesses or residences.
Evidently, despite Seattlites’ pretentions to being the very icons of eco-guardianship, they haven’t heard of global warming. Last year during the week I moved into the Rambler it was over 90 degrees for ten days; no AC there, either.
In Virginia for at least the past 15 years no builder would dream of putting up a house without central air. Even my home, built in the 70s, had it. &, boy, am I jonesing for it now. I got about four hours of fitful sleep last night, & don’t have any reasonable prospect of more through Thursday at least.
I suppose this balances out December when you had to go in to work because that building had power & heat, & your house didn’t.
How many ways can this place blow?
Hey, chick, you say—it’s summer, whaddaya expect?
What I expect is some semblance of civilization in the form of air conditioning & that is conspicuous by its absence in this berg. The cheap-ass rationale is that it doesn’t get hot enough here to warrant installing it in businesses or residences.
Evidently, despite Seattlites’ pretentions to being the very icons of eco-guardianship, they haven’t heard of global warming. Last year during the week I moved into the Rambler it was over 90 degrees for ten days; no AC there, either.
In Virginia for at least the past 15 years no builder would dream of putting up a house without central air. Even my home, built in the 70s, had it. &, boy, am I jonesing for it now. I got about four hours of fitful sleep last night, & don’t have any reasonable prospect of more through Thursday at least.
I suppose this balances out December when you had to go in to work because that building had power & heat, & your house didn’t.
How many ways can this place blow?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Palin, chapter 2
The Republican bimbo-in-chief has cut her losses & run from the now-mundane business of fulfilling her obligations as governor of Alaska. As she promised on 3 July, Sarah Palin made one last round of barnstorming the state & public picnics & then walked off into the metaphoric sunset on Sunday.
Too bad Walt Disney’s not around to stage those events—I have this vision of Pollyana’s town fair.
La Palin has said that it’s a far, far better thing she does than she’s ever done before (no, not in those words; literature’s not her thing), because if she didn’t leave now, 18 months before her term ends, Alaska would be burdened with a lame duck governor!
Now, politics is not my thing, but isn’t that, you know, part of the whole game? Being a leader the entire term you were elected to? If she were to be, God forbid, elected to higher office, would she bag the last couple of years there, too?
Of course, she’s got Other Things on her mind—conning supporters into shelling out for her various legal defense actions, offering to campaign on behalf of Republican candidates around the country (office not specified), let a ghost writer pen her autobiography.
Jury’s still out on what her own political plans are. Well, we know what her aspirations are; whether the Republican party will remain in a state of fugue & support her remains to be seen.
What I want to know is: what happened to that $100,000 Neiman-Marcus wardrobe the ‘Pubs bought for her?
Too bad Walt Disney’s not around to stage those events—I have this vision of Pollyana’s town fair.
La Palin has said that it’s a far, far better thing she does than she’s ever done before (no, not in those words; literature’s not her thing), because if she didn’t leave now, 18 months before her term ends, Alaska would be burdened with a lame duck governor!
Now, politics is not my thing, but isn’t that, you know, part of the whole game? Being a leader the entire term you were elected to? If she were to be, God forbid, elected to higher office, would she bag the last couple of years there, too?
Of course, she’s got Other Things on her mind—conning supporters into shelling out for her various legal defense actions, offering to campaign on behalf of Republican candidates around the country (office not specified), let a ghost writer pen her autobiography.
Jury’s still out on what her own political plans are. Well, we know what her aspirations are; whether the Republican party will remain in a state of fugue & support her remains to be seen.
What I want to know is: what happened to that $100,000 Neiman-Marcus wardrobe the ‘Pubs bought for her?