Friday, July 8, 2011

In the Sultry Gully

Cheese Louise it's soggy here. Not a breeze, the air hangs miserably inert. Oh, sure the trees and plants love it. It couldn't be greener. But every breath is like when you were sick as a child and your mother made you lean over a basin of boiling water with a towel over your head. The single long-stemmed rose that only opened on Monday is already dead! It's too wet.

I'd really hoped I could do without an air conditioner. It is pretty countrified here in Moist Meadows. Usually that's enough to keep it cool, but no. This is a gully. Maybe they get the winds up on the hills behind us or across the way. We get stagnation. And mold. This reminds me of a little house of a guy I knew in Florida. His cement shower was black with mold. I bleached the hell out of it before I'd set foot in there. And 2 weeks later it was all back. Yuk. I've been keeping it at bay here, with a can of trusty Lysol. But with all this beyond uncomfortable humidity I may have to break down and buy an AC. Dammit.

Air conditioners are, I suppose, not all that horrible. Yes, they emit nasties, use a lot of electricity, harbor icky spores that blast out into your upholstery... but is my single unit gonna make much of a difference to the ozone layer? Wouldn't it be better to be somewhat drier, breathing easier, not inhaling Lysol and not bitching on my blog about how friggin clammy this place is? Well, I've argued myself closer to it, anyway.

4 comments:

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

In Georgia, AC is pretty much a necessity. No kidding, when I'd come into the house from cutting the grass on one of our hot, hot, hot days, I'd collapse to the floor like a drama queen and say in my best Greta Garbo voice, "Thank GOD for air conditioning!" Now that my hubby is retired, he cuts the grass, thank goodness. I cannot hack the heat and humidity. Some days, it feels like you're not so much breathing the air as you are chewing it.

Austan said...

I moved to New England to get away from sweltering heat, and it followed me. I spent half of July in Atlanta once; I'd just lie down and die there now. We got off the plane on July 16th at 2 in the afternoon and when we walked out of the airport I thought I was gonna drop. You deserve an award, living there.

CarrieBoo said...

I felt like I was right there with you, Austan. Moldy cement walls. Ew! It's hard to think when it's like that. Just something to take the edge off would be nice. I have a turbo-fan I bring around with me, and this house came with AC which is a life-saver on the worst days. I'm thinking you at least escape our Ontario winters! I once researched the "best" climate to live in... somewhere in the States it was. Sounded lovely, but not much work to choose from. Tis always the way!

Austan said...

Who'd ever think it'd be like this in Vermont?! We don't get winters quite like you do in Ontario, but right now I say bring on the howling winds and snow! 10 degrees sounds good!