Cooler

It was somewhat less hellish today, and late afternoon brought some clouds. They probably won't provide any rain, but at least they provided some shade for a while and then a colorful sunset. The night air is quite pleasant, and still heavily scented with jasmine. If today was a watering day I'd put a sprinkler on just to hear the sound of it. Actually, I could do it after midnight, when it will technically be a watering day, but I'll probably be asleep by then.

Tonight I intend to shut the computer down before I nod off. The last two nights I didn't, and it sat there devouring electricity until morning. As I usually fall asleep with the television on, that made two big appliances eating power all night. Maybe I need some sort of switch for the television that knows when I've gone to sleep and turns it off automatically. Too bad cats can't learn to operate a remote. I could train Portia to turn it off when I go to sleep. Or maybe not. I can imagine Portia turning the television on to watch animal planet whenever I go away. In fact I wouldn't put it past her to order pay-per-view movies. No, maybe a switch would be better.

If the clouds do bring a storm, it will undoubtedly be electric. I'm especially not eager to have a thunderstorm after reading this post at Snopes. This paragraph is most distressing:

"In August 1988, as Eleanor Loux of Exeter, Rhode Island, brushed her teeth at her bathroom sink, she saw a bolt of lightning leap from her toilet. The resulting ball of fire then bounced off walls and the ceiling in her bathroom until it dissipated. Surprisingly, Loux was not injured. Her bathroom, however, was another story — the ceiling was cracked and the bathtub had charred rings in it. A utility pole outside her home had been hit by lightning, which sent the resulting charge through neighborhood power lines and metal water pipes."

I will never again take a leak during a thunderstorm.