Weblog 26

July 16, 2006~ 9:15am
I have officially 'been on vacation' since 3:00p.m. on Friday and it feels terrific! The only miserable thing in life right now is this dastardly heat! It's in the low ninties with humidity climbing almost to 100% most days-- and will remain that way for all of this week according to the forecast.

My son and his family will be arriving late late on Tuesday night, and I expect to see them Wednesday. I intend to do a HUGE pile of laundry and get this house in shape the next 2 days. I foresee a danger of disappearing into a sweat puddle with this miserable weather. (I'm a 'fall/winter' girl myself) - well, at least the laundromat will be air-conditioned. Housework will be the equivalent of a steam bath. Maybe I can clean naked, with trips into a cool tub of water....

The other thing that really sucks is that my air-conditioning system in my car is leaking freon. My brother-in-law charged it in June for me and it worked fine for a month; then just as the really hot stuff hit-- it's on the fritz again, so today's trek to the supermarket with my mother will be a real soggy, tempermental mess I'm thinkin'. (I tend to get short-tempered when it's hot and humid.)

In addition to it being sweltering OUTSIDE-- though my mum's apartment is nicely air-conditioned, she doesn't turn it on--DRIVES ME NUTS! When I talk to her early this afternoon before driving over there, I will specifically ask that she let 'er blast'! Matricide is a messy thing in this heat.


July 16, 2006~ 7:45pm
Alas, mum's air-conditioning is but a puny, puff of a thing. I stuck my hand up toward the vents and the air coming out was no where NEAR what you'd get from any self-respecting air-conditioner. The car was the equivalent of a blast furnace, and all my make-up had run off by the time I got back home and peeled these loathsome, clammy clothes off my back.

Cooler now, but tired from just damn contending with jungle weather. I cannot even think about going outside to 'recharge' my car's AC. Perhaps an early bedtime with a book-- then rising up at 6:00a.m. when it's relatively cooler to do that mechanical bit in the carport. Will drag my garbage out then too. On days when I leave my house in the afternoon and glance at my large thermometer nailed to the side of the house and it reads as '102', it's time for this gal to settle in next to the fan (and especially in the bedroom: door closed, window AC humming securely like a big, beloved cat.)

Oh Lord, this week is gonna be a 'trial' because of heat, I just know it. Kennywood now sounds like the 3rd circle of hell, walking on the heated asphalt, standing in line with sticky cottony-candied fingers and waving flies away. Feeling the tickle of fresh sweat on this middle-aged, stevedore's face...lol. "Honey, I'm Satchmo. Get me a horn"...and I'm so miserable, if it's GABRIEL'S...so much the better.


July 17, 2006~ 3:30pm
My plans went awry...lol. I didn't get up at 6:00a.m. because I had a hard time falling off to sleep last night and only managed to fall off near morning, so I slept till 12:30.

Been up a while, and about to start some 'cleaning': sweat or no, these tasks have to be accomplished somehow...

Oh Gawd...I'm such a slug. I should live in a teepee that could be swept out with a broom made of bramble sticks and be done with it. Laundromat tomorrow. This old house, today.


July 17, 2006~ 8:30pm
I got the damned car AC recharged, but how long it'll hold up, who can say. (My guess is....not long at all.) I HATE the cheap plastic valve that comes with the kit and hooks onto the low pressure valve (which is METAL) on the intake valve to the car AC system. Something tells me there's not a 'true' connection being made, and that's why so little of the damn stuff gets in: I waste as much as I use, I think. And the metal can never develops condensation on the outside, which it's supposed to do.

Oh well...it's working right now and that's all I can be concerned with. I put the kit away with the valve closed, wrapped in a plastic bag in my gardener's roll-a-long that has a compartment. Hopefully there'll still be some freon in there when I need it-- (and it doesn't explode for some reason)-though I would think that now the seal is punctured, the only danger from that can is that all the gas will leak out, becoming useless when next I need it.

I changed the bedding upstairs and used the dustmop and dusted 80% of the room. Gonna finish that at least tonight, and then do the kitchen floor, dusting and vacumming downstairs tomorrow in the morning while it's still cool, and taking the laundry to the laundromat. That should have me squared away for visiting on Wednesday. Man......this is a weird 'vacation'. LOL!


July 18, 2006~ 11:45am
Had my coffee. Woke up at 10:00 and stayed up, puttering around on this computer a bit and getting mentally steeled to start cleaning this downstairs. Hotter'n Hades today. In the mid-90's, and I'm sure I'll be limp as a dishrag and sopping before too long. Right now I am stationed in front of the fan, but it won't take too much movement to get the sweat pouring....

It felt good to sleep in the cool bedroom though. Had a solid 8 hours- on clean sheets, with no dust bunnies big as my fist hiding under the bed. That felt good for once, to know the dust was chased away and all the surfaces including mirrors were shiny clean. Ah well....guess there's nothing to do now but to start. Off I go.


July 18, 2006~ 11:30pm
I would imagine that my son has arrived in his rental car from the airport and it getting squared away at my daughter Holly's house. Can't wait to see these guys...it's been 3 1/2 years! The house is officically cleansed. Most nooks and crannies, manhandled the refrigerator out from the wall and even cleaned that tarpit. Oooo-La-La!... ... There's no way this dishrag of a woman looks like that when she cleans. Oh, no...bum knee, hobbling about, sweating like a longshoreman, no makeup, baggy shorts, Yep. More like this one

the Charwoman. LOL...and just about as peppy and sooooooooooooooo attractive! I also lugged a LOT of laundry up to the laundromat- "Ye Olde Wash House"- I swear to God, that's what it's called! Western motif. Wagon wheels, indian serapes on the walls, even a longhorned steer skull! (They must think Georgia O'Keefe may pop in to do some undies.) Alas, I clogged their triple-loader with some crumbling rubber-backed rugs. Damn washer just stopped --still halfway full. I swear to you, that backing was dry and brittle, but NOT crumbling when it went INTO their industrial flaying machine. The fat, bored lady behind the counter did everything but make me wear a dunce cap. "LOOK at that water! You must have waited too long to clean these!"

"Well, I didn't bring them in here 'cause they're CLEAN..." I shot back. She made me schlepp those sodden things out of the drum, put them in a slop bucket and haul them outside to hand wring. "Not THERE! That's where customers WALK. Take that stuff out in the parking lot and do it!" Hand- rung, those rugs weighed a hundred pounds, I kid you not. A waste of 4 bucks on that load, and rudeness to boot. Then I twisted my knee hauling that crap out of the back seat in its garbage bag, so I gimped around here, sweating, all night long. Bumped the sorry mess down the cellar steps and slung them over the line. Hope tomorrow is funstuff with the family crew. I have the digital camera charging. Just hope I can walk.


July 19, 2006~ 9:30pm
I needn't have fretted. My little grandsons were as friendly and open as can be. I believe I made contact with each of them right off the bat, and it soon felt as though we'd known each other forever. Eli, the five year old, was mulling it over as I pushed him on the swing- "So you're my daddy's mom....." and I told him, "Yes, Eli. And I drove to Ft. Benning Georgia to see you when you were only 4 days old." "My brother was born in Italy." "Yes he was", I said. "And Gabe was born in Olympia Washington." "Right again, you smart fella!", and he was all smiles and big Paul Newman deep blue eyes.

I also didn't get weepy, which is nice. I hugged my son in what felt like a deathgrip...LOL! It was SO good to see him! And his wife Nicki is everything a mother-in-law could hope for: bright, good-humored, terrific mother, easy to talk to-- I spent much of this afternoon and evening feeling blessed indeed. My knee finally began to nag when the cake was brought out after dinner- I noticed I was having more pain getting up and down from the chair, so I called it a night. And damn! I left the camera over there, or I would've posted a picture or two.

Tomorrow is a trip to Kennywood, our beloved amusement park in this part of Pennsylvania---for the whole BUNCH! Leaving at 10:00 a.m. so I'd better get some shuteye and rub some liniment on my knee. Last night, I grabbed my old bottle of Watkins Red Liniment, a wonderful product that's been around since 1868; in fact, ALL their products are reliable. Their thick Petro-Carbo salve is great for any kind of itching or dry skin, and no one would argue about the full-bodied flavor of their double-strength baker's vanilla made from pure Madagascar Bourbon beans-- (whatever that is, it's sure good.)

I know the liniment worked immediately last night, and I'm sure tonight will be the same. I just love old products- lines that have been around for a long time and haven't changed their formula or their look. It makes me feel cozy right down to the ground.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I'll be roller-coastering, ferris wheeling, junk food eating, hot and happy Grandma. Whoopie!! The whole brood!!! Yeeeeee- Ha!



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