I'm Roasting in an Oven Here...

I think that time of year has officially hit me now. Ya know, when the kids' bedtimes get all screwed up... when I don't get much done around the house... when going to the swimming pool is the highlight of the day (although I dread walking up the hill to get to it). The time of year I am talking about is SUMMER. Okay, so the calendar says that summer isn't officially for another month or so, but as far as I am concerned, it's arrived early, at least for the next few days. After all, it reached 92 degrees here today, and in the humidity here, that's like very VERY uncomfortable. That shattered the previous May 15th record of 86 degrees set back in 1970. Youch! Tomorrow, it's supposed to be in the mid-80's, but back in the 90's on Wednesday. I'm just glad that, by the end of the week, we'll be seeing temperatures back down in the 70's.... much more comfortable. The normal temperature for northwest Oregon this time of year is the mid-60's. There's the evidence of global warming for ya! And the thing that really ticked me off today was when we went to the pool, the management hadn't completely cooled down yet, so it was WARM. EW! It isn't fun to swim in warm water when it's like 90 degrees outside. I can't get mad at the management for that one, though... they've been pretty good about fluctuating the temperature of the pool to coordinate with the crazy weather we've had lately. It's been cold in the hot weather and hot in the cooler weather. Just a few days ago, it was pretty cool outside, so a warm pool would have been welcoming then. It must take a lot of electricity and time to cool and heat that pool, even though, as pools go, it's pretty small. They're trying. I only hope that the pool will be at a more agreeable temperature tomorrow.

Everyone in my family is asleep right now except for me. I can't sleep because it's so blasted hot. Instead, I'm sitting out on our balcony with my laptop, typing up this blog. Even though a bug just landed on my screen (that was weird), it's a much more agreeable temperature out here. I just wish the cool air could be shoved into our apartment. All of the windows are open, but it isn't doing any good. That's what we get for living in a poorly insulated apartment. It's difficult (and expensive) to heat in the winter time, and impossible to cool down in the summer time. I suppose if we got one of those window air conditioning units, things would be better. But the good ones are expensive, and then our electricity bill would probably be just as high as it is in the winter. Lots of people around here do have them, though. Something to think about... well, probably more like DREAM about. Oh, well. Looks like we'll have to pull out our window fans (they're hiding somewhere up in the rafters of the garage) and maybe get another standing fan. At least we don't have to worry about pets in this heat... last summer, with the chinchillas, it was a nightmare trying to keep the temperature cool enough for them. I'm sure they were on death's door more than once because of the heat. I sure hope they have a good home now.

Hmm. What else can I write about. I'm just sort of rambling here. Oh, yeah... here's a story of the day for everyone. One of those "Facts of life" stories. It actually happened on Friday, but who cares! We were at the zoo. I rode in on the MAX with the kids, and we all met Daddy at the front gates. It was a beautiful day with a gentle breeze-- not too hot, not too cold. After passing the napping sea lions and the otters, we went over to take a peak at the polar bears. The zoo has two of them. We could only see one, and it was taking a snooze by the big viewing window. One other family was looking at it, and disappointed that the bear wasn't up and moving around, they walked away. Right after they left, the bear decided to get up and take a poo poo and pee pee break right in front of us. Jasmine about freaked out over the whole thing, commenting on how disgusting it was. Of course, that's about all she could talk about for the next five minutes or so (she still talks about seeing the giraffe go poop like two months ago, so I'm sure we'll hear more about this)! I think all little kids, in one way or another, are fascinated by that gross stuff. We explained to her that every animal goes potty. It's inevitable... every time we go to the zoo, we're bound to see at least one animal relieve itself in one way or another. This time was no exception... in fact, we got a double dose. The polar bear and an elephant. Note: Elephant pee smells REEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLLLLLY gross, even from like 100 feet away when the breeze is just right. Enough said!

So I think I'm tired enough now to go inside and go to sleep. It's almost midnight, so I'd better give it a try.