Heat

If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen, right? Humph. Comox has been the fire pit of God's kitchen this last few days - and is only looking to get warmer. Ugh.

I am NOT a hot weather person - everyone who knows me knows that I love the cooler temperatures of spring and fall. Heck - I'll even take winter over this!

The big trouble is that, in the heat, I do not sleep well. I had this challenge in Toronto when I was there - summers are hot and humid and, when you have the slightest chance of a cool summer night, your neighbours tend to screw that up for you by having a party that night.

I'm not anti-party... I''m just truly a pro-sleep person.

:-)

So yesterday, with the mercury predicted to soar up to at least 34*C (that's around 93*F) with no wind and no cloud cover at all (more of a yellowish, murky haze if you actually spend time looking at it) I decided that I would just have to bite the bullet and do something that I was CERTAIN I wouldn't have to do once I reached beautiful Vancouver Island again... have an air conditioning unit.

Yup. I went to Canadian Tire on my lunch break and bought a Plasma Cool Portable Air Conditioner - all of their air conditioners are on sale right now, and so I didn't spend the full price, but yes, I did spend more than I could have, had I been more willing to research, shop around and all of that other stuff that seems to disintegrate into thin air when I'm feeling, well, THIS HOT.

After work I brought it home, unpacked the box, set it up and then went back downstairs to wait for the two to three hours time that is recommended that you wait before plugging in any refrigerant-type of unit. This lets the freon settle in the unit and allows it to run properly. The kind man who helped me load it into my car (it weighs 34 kilos / 75 pounds) told me I should really wait four to six hours before starting it but I only managed 3 hours of wait time before sleep was imminent and my bedroom needed "help."

It's loud, true, but it works beautifully and I slept well - and so did Jasmine.

The other major bonus is that, when I have to leave her home for the next few days in the heat, this will also help Jasmine stay cool. Double-coated black dogs FEEL THE HEAT and so Friday when things were hot and humid she was in some distress when I got home... she's fine now, but, like me, the heat isn't her friend.

Today I am off to Nanaimo - it's my Dad's birthday and we're meeting for a big family lunch (there will be 8 of us) to celebrate. On my way home I'll stop at Home Depot again to pick up another one of the shelving units I got for my kitchen recycling station. This one will be installed in the upstairs bathroom to hide some of the clutter up there, and then the open-edged shelves in there will be put to use in the storage locker to help tidy that area up some.

Happy Sunday all - and I am hopeful that in my next blog I can share my amazing news!