Month: July 2013

Our Solar- and Wind-Powered Clothes Dryer

Our Solar- and Wind-Powered Clothes Dryer

I was about to write that we do not have a dryer. Of course we do! It’s our clothes line. All of our laundry is hung out to dry. While it sometimes would be nice to run things through a dryer – to get dog hair off, or to get the last bit of moisture out of clothes, to name two examples – we do not need one, even in winter. Our clothes get dry, they take much less wear and tear, and of course our hydro bill is far smaller than it would be,

I’m glad we do not live in a community which forbids clothes lines. What an absurd notion that is!

Froggy Dog

Froggy Dog

It’s remarkable to me that at eleven years of age, Kendal can still lay down with his rear legs splayed out like this for a minute, not the ten or more minutes that he sometimes does.

Harvest

Harvest

The same wheat field, late yesterday afternoon. Photo was taken with my PlayBook hence the indifferent quality. In addition to these two combines a third was in another part of the same field. Because there was a high likelihood of rain last night many fields were being combined, and that continued late into the evening. Here in my town we had three rounds of thunderstorms. Some farmers were probably working right up to, even into, the first downpour. To a farmer rain is more than the inconvenience it is to an urban dweller, more than even a flooded basement. Too much rain, too little, rain at the wrong time can mean little or no income.

Wheat Field

Wheat Field

I am fortunate to live in a small town and to work in a rural area. This wheat field, spread out in the hot baking sun, will be harvested in a few days. Rural life has its own pace and rhythm, slower than the fast sometimes frenzied pace of the city, more in tune with the weather. I am very happy to live the pace.

Heat

Heat

All this week we have been locked in a warm and humid airmass. Daily highs have been 30 or better and humidex readings around 38 or better (that translates to about 88 and 100 Fahrenheit). The past few nights have provided little if any relief. Teh current forcast has the temperature and humidity dropping some beginning Saturday.

For now we seek relief by sitting on the deck in the late afternoon and evening, where it is actually cooler than much of the house is. We have a window unit air conditioner in the bedroom and that makes sleeping much easier. The dogs endure, panting away. They don’t seem to go in the bedroom when we are away.

It is summertime so weather like this is expected. I believe that complaining about it only makes me more uncomfortable, even miserable. We endure it and look forward to a break in the heat. Enduring is a more positive, more self-encouraging way, than complaining and whining, to get through the unpleasantness that life sometimes brings us.

Play Ball

Play Ball

Time for the All-Star Game. It’s a spectacle, and as a team sport it’s meaningless except for deciding the home advantage in the World Series. Still, it’s a great show.

Taking it in is certainly different from past years. As a kid I listened to it on AM radio. More recently, watching on network and then cable TV. Now I have no TV except over-the-air and the signal is bad. So I’m listening to espn.com and watching mlb.com Gameday. I’ve got a hot dog and a beer.

Play ball and Trout doubles down the right field line!

Mood light

We like our Uco Candelier candle lantern. We can navigate with only one candle lit and read when all three are lit (if we get really close). It is a pleasant light source as the evening sky darkens.

Let us have lettuce

Let us have lettuce

When you run out of room in the garden, you improvise.