Wilting...

...just like the rest of us. 

My weather app says 104F (40C) and the heat wave, which has been predicted for days with many dire warnings, has now arrived. There is an 'excessive heat warning' which I guess is worse than 'heat advisory' which it what it says for Berkeley at a mere 86F.

We are blessed by the fact that it does cool off at night, and if we stay out of the noonday sun it is quite bearable without turning on the AC.  We sat out on the porch with our coffee and the Sunday papers first thing this morning, and if we open the windows in the evening, the house cools off pretty quickly by the time we go to bed. It is also a 'spare the air day' meaning that we are supposed to conserve our electricity use during peak time, but what that really means is 'spare the aging and poorly maintained power grid' so that the power doesn't go out. 

Sounds a bit like a third world country to me....Ascertaining whether we can use power from our solar battery during peak times is turning out to be more complicated than it seems like it should be.

We have something like 25 or 30 recessed lightbulbs  in the ceilings throughout the house, and the latest technical challenge is turning out to be wading through the myriad choices to get the right LED replacements. The hope is that while saving power it will also save me from John's obsession with turning the lights out, even if I am still outside taking Spike for his 'last call'. The subject of leaving lights on is one of those sources of marital discord that has the potential for becoming much more heated than is justified. 

Work has begun, slowly as usual, on Susan's quilt. I think it will involve triangles and stripes both challenges to my ability to turn a concept into a reality...whatever the quilting equivalent to dyslexia is called.