Dust

[rejectomorph]

There's a house on a big lot up from my back-fence neighbors, and it got a new owner a year or so ago. Whoever owns it now has decided to use some sort of machinery on their acre or so of dry ground on this, the hottest day of the year so far. It is filling the air with dust. When I went out back I thought I was back in Los Angeles in 1965, choking on smog. Except it smells worse. It smells like dry dirt. I hope the dirt isn't infested with that fungus that causes San Joaquin Valley fever, or anything else dangerous. I can go back into the house, but the feral cats are stuck breathing whatever comes their way.

The house, by the way, is being air conditioned today. I finally broke down and turned it on when the indoor temperature hit 83 degrees. That was about six o'clock this evening. I wanted to wait until peak electricity use had passed, but it was just too sweltery. The problem is that I have the thermostat set to 80 degrees, and the machine has cooled the house to 76 and hasn't turned itself off yet. It should have gone off at 78. It's very enjoyable to be this cool, but I now fear that I have a broken thermostat. If so, it's going to be a huge pain to keep turning the machine off and on manually. I don't have enough money on hand to get it replaced or repaired, but it will have to be done before winter if it also affects the furnace. I'd have to leave it off altogether when I was sleeping, lest I be broiled in my sleep.

The bad news is that it will be about as hot tonight as it was last night, and about as hot tomorrow as it was today. The good news is that Wednesday should cool off a bit, and Wednesday night it could get below sixty degrees. I look forward with great anticipation to going outdoors in shirtsleeves and actually feeling cold. What a luxury that will be!.

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Bonus Internet Snark: Well of course Sergey Brin shat in his own mouth. Once you've permanently lodged your head up your arse there's nothing else to eat!

Comments

[daisydumont.livejournal.com]

I hope the dust storm, courtesy of your new neighbor, has passed without making you or the cats sick!

That Google+ article was interesting. I had been annoyed by the changes at Youtube without realizing the bigness of the issue. ('Bigness' is a word! I used it, so it's a word.)

[rejectomorph]

They are still using machinery today, but in the morning the wind comes from the south so their dust cloud is blowing across the playground of the charter school to the north. The school is probably closed for the summer though, so the kids won't suffer. I just hope the neighbors finish their grading project before the wind veers around this afternoon.

I'd have used "enormity" rather than "bigness," but it is pretty big. Google doesn't seem to realize that what harms a few tens of thousands is likely to outrage hundreds of thousands and annoy the hell out of millions. The horse "Don't Be Evil" has fled through Google's carelessly opened barn door, and not surprisingly the horse "Don't Be Flabbergastingly Stupid" followed it out. Run like the wind, freed ponies! The cruel Sergey Brin will never again be your abusive master!