We've been in the midst of suffering through a massive heatwave, which I have heard is affecting the entire southwest United States, so most of our energy has been directed towards keeping ourselves and our livestock cool.
And our appliances.
One of the things I managed to cajole Big Ag and Groceries to do this weekend (early one morning, before it got hot) was move our chest freezer from our sweltering garage into the cool, air conditioned spare room. It does not look great; there is no way to make a white Kenmore chest freezer stuck in a spare bedroom look chic, but I can at least say that since moving it, it runs far less often and probably with a lot more ease than it did in our 110 degree garage. Plus, since no one us currently using that bedroom, there's really no reason not to do this. We actually had a power outage for several hours on Friday night and that got me thinking about the year's worth of frozen veggies, plus the half-hog we bought from my sister-in-law. To have all that go bad would be not only a huge loss for us financially, but also a waste in terms of time, effort, and in the case of the hog, a life.
The freezer can go back into the garage in a couple of months, once we are clear of the possibilities of triple-digits, but I think I'm going to leave it there for now.
In other news, we've been putting gallon Mason jars filled with ice water into the hens coop to give them something cool to lean up against, and they are using them. Yesterday we fled to the beach, where it was only in the high 50's and I had to pull on a sweatshirt for our walk alongside the water. It felt good.
Triple digits are in the forecast until at least Thursday here, so we'll be doing all our chores before 9 am and hunkering down in the house for the rest of the day.
One of the best things about working at the winery is that on hot days, they open the barrel room up and serve in there, where it's always a brisk 65 degrees. Doesn't get better than that in heat like this. I worked Saturday, and will again next weekend, so it makes for a good choice on weekends: The beach or the barrel room ... your choice of where to stay cool.
Oh I'm not even going to tell you about my weather right now. It would be cruel. Very wise to move the freezer. Also should help keep that room cooler too, right? I hate nothing more than being hot. I would rather be frozen to the bone than sleep in an 80 degree room! The only time I'm pissier than when I'm dieting is when I'm hot! Stay cool!! You need a giant icy mason jar!
ReplyDeleteIf your weather is anywhere under 90 degrees then I'm very, very jealous. If you have rain, I'm also jealous! Funny about the chest freezer, though, it actually warms the room a little bit, since, like a fridge, it circulates its warm air OUT and keeps the cold air in. But it's a negligible amount of warmth compared to the money we save not having it run constantly to stay cool in the garage. I'm with you, the colder the better, especially if I'm working or trying to sleep.
Delete