sweaty sunday

The beast. Loud and with only one setting—cold.

This ongoing heatwave has gotten to me. I am so over it. I manage to get the antique air conditioner working and I've used it the past three days. And last night.

I turned the air off at about 7:30 pm and the room stayed fairly reasonable until 10 when I went to bed. I didn't really open any windows, and the ceiling fans were running. My niece was still downstairs. I opened the windows in my room and turned on both fans and NOTHING was happening. Hot air was just relocating itself. I tried for an hour to fall asleep but nada. I grabbed my pillow and headed downstairs. Lydia was on her way up. I said "pj party in the living room".  And I turned the air back on. The electric bill will be painful.

This morning I was up at 5:45 am and it was already 78 degrees. By the time we went walking at 8 it was 82 and at 10 when we returned it was 88 with 65% humidity. As I type this at 11:42, it is 92 degrees and feels like 106. Gotta love global warming.

I really need to look into energy efficient alternatives to the "beast".

We walked at the Troxell-Steckle House on the Ironton Rail Trail. We headed west on the trail toward Ironton past the cement mills, and the shooting ranges. The shade was about 85% when we began. About 65% on the return trip.

This is a really nice part of the trail. It's wide and usually you can see the creek. There's things to look at which makes Lydia happy because she can take pictures. There even a port-o-potty. Like the other sections of this trail, this section is filled with Eagle Scout projects.

At one point there was a section of old bridge sticking out and Lydia moved off the trail to take a photo. Unknown to her (and me!) there were black-headed vultures (Coragyps atratus) in the tree. She must have startled one, which then moved and startled her. Okay. It scared the shit out of her. She was on her bird lookout the rest of the walk.

We didn't quite go to Mauch Chunk Road. It was just getting too hot. We needed energy to go back. Today on the trail there weren't many walkers/runners, but there was quite a few bikes using the trail.

Miles/Steps:       2.5

Weather:            82 when we started, 88 with 65% humidity when we returned. Sunny.

Bathrooms:        I-2.5 emergency use only.

Wildlife:             2 black headed vultures, assorted moths, and the sound of a frog. All the animals were hiding from the heat.