indi vs. the sun, part five billion
Jun. 12th, 2009 01:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sisalikAs I've mentioned before, this house is not well insulated. Which goes with all the other things it is not well: Designed being the prime one (who the fuck jams a water heater between two load-bearing walls?), and I think Planned can stand on its own here but it might fall under the Designed category, and Being A Place Where People Are Happy would also qualify, cos, I swear the land or something is jinxed.
Those of you within email bitching range got to hear about the problem I had last 'winter,' which is that yoga-in-your-underpants sort of sucks when the cold leaches in through the floorboards. My knees would go all stiff and hurty. I can't see the ground between the boards but I wouldn't be surprised if I could. Instead the boards are (badly, there's huge crackspaces between them) nailed to sheets of cardboard or something, and then there's 18 inches of crawlspace (I assume this is where all my socks and Riley's tennis balls are), and then there's the ground. For some reason, Florida Cold gets into my bones - in places with Real Cold, my internal heater kicks in. Not here.
I cannot wait until we move. I am, in all seriousness, going to offer the buyers a discount if they (a) plan on knocking the place down and (b) will let me pull the stick that controls the first swing of the wrecking ball. TAKE THAT, HOUSE OF MISERY.
Now it's summer so I have the problem in reverse. Instead of the cold getting in, the hot is, and the hot is so much worse than the cold because while I can put more clothes on - or get hockey socks to keep my knees from locking up during Cold Yoga - I can only get so naked. Which isn't very, considering that I am not the only human in the house. And even if I was, Riley has unfortunately learned that the funniest thing ever is to stealthily poke a naked human butt with a cold wet nose. We flail so amusingly, us humans.
To compound this problem, the AC is not the best ever, because it's old and crapular and Not Well Made, just like the house. It runs better at night, because then the sun is not heating up the BLACK tarpaper/shingles/whatever on the roof, and who thought that was a good idea?
My theory is this: if I blast the AC all night and make it painfully cold, some of that has got to last through the hot hours, those being approximately noon to 8PM. I tried this yesterday but I didn't get it cold enough. So I attempted it again last night. So far... not so bad. I don't know how long this will work before the thing melts down or freezes up or - knowing my luck - does both, but hopefully I will be living elsewhere by then.
By the way, that thing they did on the Simpsons is something we do in reality. If it's really hot, or if you're hurt somewhere, a bag of frozen veggies makes for a great ice pack. Peas are the best, they're small and they don't clump.
The weird thing is that I love summer in its transitions - the first amping-up of heat and then the long slow fade when the fire-giants lie down to rest. The times when the sun is going up or coming down. The wash of air that comes before a thunderstorm and the jumpy skin from all the static electricity it holds. It's just the sun-filled middle of the day that does me in -- but the gators like that, so I'll deal.
Those of you within email bitching range got to hear about the problem I had last 'winter,' which is that yoga-in-your-underpants sort of sucks when the cold leaches in through the floorboards. My knees would go all stiff and hurty. I can't see the ground between the boards but I wouldn't be surprised if I could. Instead the boards are (badly, there's huge crackspaces between them) nailed to sheets of cardboard or something, and then there's 18 inches of crawlspace (I assume this is where all my socks and Riley's tennis balls are), and then there's the ground. For some reason, Florida Cold gets into my bones - in places with Real Cold, my internal heater kicks in. Not here.
I cannot wait until we move. I am, in all seriousness, going to offer the buyers a discount if they (a) plan on knocking the place down and (b) will let me pull the stick that controls the first swing of the wrecking ball. TAKE THAT, HOUSE OF MISERY.
Now it's summer so I have the problem in reverse. Instead of the cold getting in, the hot is, and the hot is so much worse than the cold because while I can put more clothes on - or get hockey socks to keep my knees from locking up during Cold Yoga - I can only get so naked. Which isn't very, considering that I am not the only human in the house. And even if I was, Riley has unfortunately learned that the funniest thing ever is to stealthily poke a naked human butt with a cold wet nose. We flail so amusingly, us humans.
To compound this problem, the AC is not the best ever, because it's old and crapular and Not Well Made, just like the house. It runs better at night, because then the sun is not heating up the BLACK tarpaper/shingles/whatever on the roof, and who thought that was a good idea?
My theory is this: if I blast the AC all night and make it painfully cold, some of that has got to last through the hot hours, those being approximately noon to 8PM. I tried this yesterday but I didn't get it cold enough. So I attempted it again last night. So far... not so bad. I don't know how long this will work before the thing melts down or freezes up or - knowing my luck - does both, but hopefully I will be living elsewhere by then.
By the way, that thing they did on the Simpsons is something we do in reality. If it's really hot, or if you're hurt somewhere, a bag of frozen veggies makes for a great ice pack. Peas are the best, they're small and they don't clump.
The weird thing is that I love summer in its transitions - the first amping-up of heat and then the long slow fade when the fire-giants lie down to rest. The times when the sun is going up or coming down. The wash of air that comes before a thunderstorm and the jumpy skin from all the static electricity it holds. It's just the sun-filled middle of the day that does me in -- but the gators like that, so I'll deal.
