Past Present Future in Everyday Ramblings
- June 29, 2021, 8:06 p.m.
- |
- Public
An hour before class yesterday. It was completely insane. Because it came so early in the season, we had no real time to acclimate but then how do you acclimate to record breaking heat? I went out just before to get the mail and realized it would be easy to stop knowing how to breathe in that kind of heat. I don’t know how the mailman managed.
I have never experienced anything like that.
I did a modest class and even with that by the end I was slick with sweat. The thing I really didn’t expect was how my brain wasn’t working properly. I couldn’t get anything done all day.
This morning, because the heat did break last night, and we are back under triple digit temperatures I left at 6AM to go water the garden. Nasturtiums, (which I remember being happy ground cover in our garden in San Francisco, back in the late 80’s when they still had fog there in the mornings) do not like high heat.
Everybody else is hanging in there. The marigolds have more flowers, the zinnias are trying to maneuver around the tomatoes for sun and the bugs don’t seem to mind the heat at all.
The cherry tomato is starting to fruit! Yay. I did have a cherry tomato once before out in the patio well until the unfortunate incident of the wild man and his power washer, which discouraged me for growing anything out there for years except the catnip plant Mrs. Sherlock gave me three years ago. This is really my first full on tomato growing experience.
My disposal stopped working a few days back and the idea of calling and dealing with maintenance seemed not available there in the big heat.
It was getting to the point that I needed to address it because even with baking soda and white vinegar the little particles of food…well. So today I called, and the guy was nice, but he told me to reset it first. Reset the disposal? What on earth did we do before YouTube? I found a video for my model, a woman doing the reset. It was like a crash course in disposal mechanics.
Anyway, I fixed it! Little cat paws in the sink knocking in a small plastic syringe that I was using for Diego’s steroids every day. I knew it had gone missing but…
Now if I can just get the maintenance guys to come out and put a new locked cover on the outside plug that the local addicts broke with a paving stone last week so they could charge their cell phones.
We were talking about the travails of the unhoused yesterday in the heat and one of my students was saying… “and they don’t have phones”. Most of them do.
They are good at survival. You can’t survive these days without a phone. Many of them have newer model iPhones than I have. If I were a philanthropist, I would buy a bunch of those inexpensive solar charging stations they use in Africa and hand them out. It would keep them away from the temptations at my front door.
This morning I had groceries delivered. It felt luxurious. It took months but I have learned, and the shoppers have learned, and my last two orders have been perfect. I so appreciate these shoppers and the fact that I can, on occasion do this crazy decadent thing of ordering online and getting delivery.
I was an early adopter and experimented with this in 1995 back when the whole thing was rudimentary in San Francisco. Back then before text, you had a dedicated shopper who learned your preferences and communicated by email.
Now my Fitbit on my wrist pings me with updates from “my” shopper.
Pretty soon there will be a direct interface say with whatever AR meeting I am in. They will probably let me pull stuff off the shelves and put them in my cart from home.
Good thing the garden is a ten minute walk away. :)
ODSago ⋅ June 29, 2021 (edited June 29, 2021)
Edited
I was in 117 degree heat once and my gosh how the heat fell from the sky and then rose from the ground. It was the upcoming heat from the ground that overwhelmed me most. I'm seeing the weather news and thinking about all of you in the west.
Marg ⋅ June 30, 2021
Laughing at the future shopping experience! My local supermarket is 10 minutes’ drive away and I still feel it’s too much of a luxury to get a delivered shop. I did use it a couple of times when I was ill though. These temps are just crazy - I don’t think I could ever adapt to that!
mcbee ⋅ June 30, 2021
I've been following the heat the rest of the country is having and feel lucky we are having mild temperatures. Ours will come, the temperature won't be that high but the humidity will be so high it will be like life in a steam room. In the meantime, you have the right idea with the dark room and light clothing.
Deleted user ⋅ June 30, 2021
I would be freaked out at the thought of someone breaking a socket cover and stealing my electricity, substance use disorder or not. That's a crime. Can you get motion detecting lights? Or would that be annoying to your neighbors?
Reminds me of a story... My father was an artist and every year he and his buddies would sleep in their vans for the big art show in the Village in Manhattan so they wouldn't lose their spots. This meant leaving the windows open a crack, which is an invitation to people to break in. One year one of the guys heard someone trying to get into his van, so he gets out a credit card swiper, swipes it back and forth, and says, "It's loaded. Step away from the van." And so the would-be thief ran.
noko Deleted user ⋅ June 30, 2021
A very effective use of a credit card machine. :) It is the building owner's power they are stealing. A number of us have begged for cameras in the common areas and more lights but no go. On top of that they often recharge their phones in the daytime when most folks are working.
Jinn ⋅ July 08, 2021
Sometimes I do not have a lot of empathy for the homeless here. They trash everywhere they go and especially where they sleep . The more assistance they are given , the more they want unless it means following any rules or participating in any sort of structured situation. They are angry , defensive and have been getting aggressive to people shopping , dining and working downtown here . They pee anywhere and seem to delight doing so . There have been several stabbings among themselves in the last few days. Syringes , empty liquor bottles and condoms litter the sidewalks. We used to have flowers, fountains , and tourists . Our “ fancy “ mall has now been taken over by gangs and there was a shooter there weekend . It makes you want to just stay in isolation in your house ; going out only when necessary. :-(
Jinn ⋅ July 08, 2021
We have been fortunate not to have any prolonged excessive heat , we have had floods of rain instead like 15 days straight .. Then we had four days of sun and tomorrow the rain starts again. 🤦♀️