It's like a heat wave...and possessed electronics

Well, it's been a steamy few days here in the ol' Hoogestraat household, and I haven't been too thrilled about it. Yes, I bitched about all the rainy cold weather, but seriously, is it too much to ask for to have a normal summer? We went from the 50s/60s and pouring rains to the 90s and baking heat. What happened to the 70s and 80s?

To add to the fun, our central air conditioning hasn't been working properly. Last summer it died right before we went on our honeymoon (in early August), and we never needed to use it since then, so it sat there, unfixed. Until now, that is. Well, technically it's not fixed. I just figured I'd give it one last shot, and turned it on partly out of desperation and partly out of confidence. And sure enough, it's providing enough cooling air to temper things in here a bit. The dogs aren't panting so badly, and I can sit here at the computer without sweat pouring down my face (yes, it was that bad). I'm hoping the thermostat continues to drop and we hit a nice comfortable range. I'm not complaining in the meantime, though. I'm pretty tolerant of heat, but for some reason it's really been bothering me during the last few weeks.



In other news, my electronics have been on the fritz today. I sat down this morning to do a little blogging and to work on my freelance project, and discovered that the mouse was feeling kooky and didn't want to work properly. That doesn't sound like much of a problem, but if you can't even open up your hard drive or select options in windows (like restarting, or running a virus scan), then you're SOL. It makes it LOTS of fun trying to do anything, much less draw detailed illustrations or edit photos you've uploaded.

So I've spent the better part of the afternoon trying to fix what's wrong with it, and not getting very far. I was able to switch the primary mouse button to the right button instead of the left, so at least I can select things again, but it keeps freaking out and those little windows that pop up when you right click on something are flashing constantly. Needless to say, I've been unable to blog or do much of anything, except throw this post up to complain. I have lots of catching up to do, especially since I wasn't able to blog all weekend due to a Father's Day party I threw. Hopefully things will return to normal soon, especially since I have a deadline Saturday and LOTS of drawing left to do! I wonder if there are solar flares or something going on right now....

Hunkerin' down

There have been rather bad storms moving through the area today, and another one is on it's way now (the one that's almost covering DeKalb on the map). So I'm trying to stay off the computer and get chores done for the moment. If a tornado comes, it'll be a comedy of errors trying to seek shelter with the animals. I can't imagine how I'll get the two dogs and two cats to squeeze into our first floor bathroom and sit still, while chunks of my house get ripped away by the gale-force winds....

Weird stick in the yard

This stick was standing upright, jammed into the ground, when I got up yesterday. We had some bad storms move through the area that night, and apparently this branch was thrust into our yard during all the hubbub. I went outside to touch it, and found that it was really shoved into the dirt pretty good. It's still standing out there today, in all this mucky rain, like some sort of alien monument set up for mysterious reasons. Weird.

Rain, rain, go away

I was so spoiled by the last several days of endless sunshine, and now it's raining again. Right after I bought my patio set, too. Sigh....

Freeze!

One thing I gotta say for such frigid temps outside...when a girl wants a Bloody Mary (like I did last weekend) and has no ice in the house, the miserable cold becomes her friend.

Just fill up a tray with water, stick outside your front door...



...and voila! Instant ice cubes, Chicago-style.



Now if I can only find a way to stay WARM, especially inside my house, well, I'd be a happy camper.

Photo of the Week" Oooh yeah, snow!"

Otto grinning over a freshly killed branch a few winters ago



When someone is this happy to be out in the snow, how can you get mad at the inconvenience? I'll remind myself of this when I'm heading out this afternoon during rush hour, and I begin my long and torturous ride home.

(Note to the snow gods: please hold off the storm until Pete and I are safely home tonight. Please? I'll be eternally grateful, and maybe even fashion a cute but misshapen snowman in your honor. Thank you.)

Bitterly cold

Right now it's a balmy -2 degrees F, with the wind chills at -29 below here in Warrenville, and I feel like curling up in my robe and slippers and just hibernating. But I can't, since Pete and I have a wake to attend this afternoon, and Christmas shopping to do. But I think I prefer to just admire the sunny yet windy day through my front door, rather than actually go out into the elements. Brrr!

I'll be posting pix from last night's movie experience later this evening. My Internet is being slow and goofy, which is very frustrating when I'm trying to catch up on my favorite blogs. Maybe it's slow due to the icy weather?

The ice storm cometh

If we thought Tuesday's afternoon commute was bad, well, today's commute will make that one look like a romp through the park. Or so they're saying. I can only hope the storm holds off til later tonight, and that it's neatly wrapped up and the roads are cleaned by the time Pete and I leave for work tomorrow morning.



Um, yeah, right.