HOT, HOT, HOT

Our basement is a construction zone; however, last night when we realized that our air conditioning was not working correctly we decided that sleeping in the basement amidst the construction was the only way to ensure a good night of sleep.

We're under a heat advisory here in DC. Temperatures are close to 100 degrees and the heat index is well above 100. It was 94 degrees at 10:30 this morning. Saturday and Sunday were just as hot. We knew we had some circulation problems in our house (namely because it was cold upstairs all winter long), but we had no idea we'd be unable to cool our house down to a reasonable/livable temperature when summer arrived.

And summer arrived aggressively this year. The last few weeks of May were so pleasant - cooler than usual and no humidity. This past weekend we went from days with temperatures in the 70s (perfect for opening windows and enjoying the lovely breezes) to temperatures near 100. There was no time prepare (physically or mentally) for summer. And we were unprepared (physically and mentally).

When we turned our air conditioning on yesterday, we found that no cool air was reaching our second floor. Today I had an HVAC guy come to check things out. He found what is likely our problem (ducts that are too small running to the second floor) and made some suggestions for correcting the problem. Unfortunately, he is SUPER busy at this time and won't be able to get us an estimate for several days. In the meantime, I've closed all of the vents in our basement and first floor in an attempt to direct all of the cool air to our bedroom. I'm charting the temperature changes upstairs. In about an hour after vents downstairs were closed the temperature had dropped three degrees. A monumental improvement. Unfortunately, our upstairs is still in the mid-80s.

To avoid the heat at home, I've ventured out to the library. I'm going to go home by 3:30 to check the house temperature again. Then I'm going to make a quick run to the grocery store (it is always so cool there) and then to the pool. Hopefully the temperature in our house will drop below 80 before the sun sets.

If not, David and I will again camp out in the basement tonight amidst the construction. The risk of harm from being around the construction is much less than the risk of spending a sleepless night sweating in our bedroom upstairs. Plus sleeping in our basement reminds us of the good old (cool summer) days when we lived in a basement apartment in Columbia Heights.

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David update: To simulate what it is like carrying another human being (another 98.6 degrees) in one's belly during these hot days, David pledged to walk to work with a hot tupperware container of pasta stuffed into his shirt. I appreciate the sympathy and had a good belly laugh...

Food: Baking is out of the question this week. We're going to have a raw foods week in our house. There will be two kinds of gazpacho (cucumber mint and tomato), salads, veggie sandwiches, and wraps. The oven will not be turned on.