Too hot already!

Well, here we go. Temperatures are expected to reach way up into the 90's today.  A heat advisory is in effect for the area for the rest of the week. And it's not even June yet. Ugh.

This afternoon we're going to set up the dogs' little portable A/C in the garage. We're trying to figure out some way to close off part of the garage with tarps, so that the cold air can be concentrated around their bed. Attempting to cool the whole area is expensive and not very satisfactory in terms of temperature. The ideal solution would be to just let them live in the house, but we can't. George might be a danger to Marco and we hate to risk it. Ginger's behavior is exemplary, but she doesn't like coming in the house, having been born out in the country on 14 acres of land with two ponds and plenty of fields and woods to explore. Even after we moved to town, she preferred to spend her days in the back yard, watching the sun rise, napping in the shade, patrolling the perimeter of the fence, etc. The good life for a dog!  Although I'll bet that if she got a taste of the climate-controlled house in the hottest part of the summer she'd quickly learn to love being inside, at least in the summer.

Now that George is here, though, with his prey drive and destructive chewing habits, it's necessary to keep them living in the garage and back yard instead. (Side note: not only do they have a portable A/C for the summer, they have a heater for the winter, a big cozy bed, fans, access to the laundry room, access to the back yard, and a view right into our den via the back door. They're hardly roughing it even if they're not "house dogs").


I need to prepare our house for the onset of hot weather, too. The houseplants that live in the front living room and dining room will have to be moved, so that the blinds and drapes can be drawn--we hardly use those rooms and they have hot westward facing windows. Gregg can't sleep unless the house is super cool at night. Since his lung surgery 5 years ago, he wakes up occasionally in the middle of the night struggling to get a deep breath and gasping. After about a minute of acute anxiety that makes him jump out of bed and pace around, everything goes back to normal and he can breathe again. These episodes are more likely to happen if the room is warm. So power bill be damned, we have to crank down the A/C at night, even now. It's in the daytime, when we're mostly at work, that we need to be conservative with it. Combining our cooling needs with the dogs' makes our summertime power usage soar. No matter what we do, our next four or five bills are going to be scary.

And don't get me started about how uncomfortable being outside will be for the next 5 months. Even at night, it's so hot and humid no one wants to go outdoors.

Yay for summer in South Carolina! (Not).