Tuesday, July 21, 2020

How Did They Do It?

Honestly, the heat hasn’t been that bad. 
Not as long as all I do is to literally sit in front of a fan. If I get up and try to do something it’s fairly horrible. 
Last night after supper Mr. Moon drove to town and retrieved a portable free-standing air conditioning unit that he remembered had been left behind in the bank building we own after the tenant left. 
We were to be saved!
The thing looked almost brand new. It weighed a thousand pounds but my husband somehow got it into our house, into our room and vented it out a window and plugged it in. It is an LG and as their appliances do when you start them, it sang a cheerful little tune and began to chug away. 
Ah lah! Hurrah! 
And then it and all of the lights on that particular circuit died. 
The man spent a good hour trying to figure out a remedy for this problem with different outlets and industrial extension cords and even a call to Vergil who knows a great deal about electricity. 
Alas. It was not to be. 
By this time we were both soaking wet with sweat and - dare I say it? - a bit irritated. 
Okay. We were in a foul mood. 
I took a tepid shower and laid on the bed with two fans on me including the one that would power a small aircraft and it wasn’t bad. And I really slept fine. 
My husband, however, did not. He reported tossing and turning and feeling tortured all night long and he was not in a great mood this morning. 
He had to go into the office which was probably a blessing because of course they have AC. I got my bean picking done early and was sweaty as a nasty little beast by the time that was over. Then I ate my breakfast and went to the dump and paid our water bill and stopped at the post office where I ran into a neighbor. 
“How are you?” she asked and I said, “Fine except that our AC...”
That was as far as I needed to get. 
“Oh no!” she said. 
“Yep,” I said. 
We commiserated and I said, “How did they used to stand it?”
“How did the slaves do it?” she asked. “How did they work in the fields?”
We didn’t know. We do not know. We will never know. 

I got a few things done around here today but not much. Even making the bed felt like a grand achievement. As I said yesterday- we are so spoiled. I finally settled on the couch (with a fan on me) and shelled peas and watched “Indian Matchmaker” which is a series about yes, an Indian matchmaker. She is from Bombay (I think) but she has clients in the US too. It’s the perfect show to watch while shelling peas. It turns out that Indian matchmakers have resources which American matchmakers do not. Astrologists are important because if two people have clashing signs, don’t even go there. Also, face readers who can predict what sort of a marriage partner a person will be by simply studying a photo. This particular matchmaker also utilizes a life coach for a client if needed to straighten out a particular problem blocking the way to marital bliss. BUT she also has to deal with mothers. Especially mothers of sons. One mother is so daunting about when she wants her son to be married despite the prospect of an actual bride (the wedding will be in December!) and how a prospective daughter-in-law will behave (this is my house and she will follow our practices!) that I can’t imagine anyone agreeing to marry the son who states on camera that he is looking for a girl just like his mother. 
Arrrgghhh!
And sometimes one has to wonder if the matchmaker should be seeking a partner of the same gender as a client but I don’t think that would go over well, especially for her clients in India. 
And so it’s an interesting show for someone as shallow as I am and I find myself wondering what astrologists and face readers and even life coaches would say about Mr. Moon and I as a couple. 
He is home and still a little out of sorts but he’s cut up a watermelon and proclaimed that he will be sleeping upstairs tonight. I’m making a salad for our supper. It will be fine. Perhaps tomorrow the new compressor will be in (inshallah) and the sky is turning dark and the breeze has kicked up and thunder has rumbled quite nearby. To get rain would be such a blessed relief. 
I feel certain that I am not the first woman living in this house to have that thought. 

Thank you for visiting. I really do mean that, you know. 

See you tomorrow when hopefully it will be cooler. 

Love...Ms. Moon



35 comments:

  1. I hope that part comes soon. stay hydrated!

    xxalainaxx

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    2. Nope! Nobody is. It's for airheads.

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  2. what is an air conditioner? HAHA I just had to! blistering hot up here today- 68 degrees , a just right breeze coming off of the water. I just do not know how we can stand it!
    I like the idea of matchmakers- they do research , vet, before any of that hand holding stuff can even happen. Probably wise, saves a lot of guess work.

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    1. Exactly on the matchmaker. The meat of it all gets revealed right away and the rest is the mystery of chemistry.

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  3. When I was having to deal with a very hot house I found that an icepack on the back of the neck was very helpful. I had fancy "snake" icepacks that fit in a holder that could tie around the neck. But I think icecubes in a baggie wrapped in a bandana tie would work too. Hope you get the AC fixed soon!!!!!

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    1. Sounds messy but in a pinch I know they would work!

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  4. Waiting for the part: the story of your life at the moment. Thst matchmaker movie sounds like fun. I think there are worse ways to find a partner. All my Indian friends have arranged marriages, and they turn out no worse, afaik, than finding and selecting your own. And some seem very content.

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    1. It’s true! It’s all pretty much a roll of the dice, isn’t it?

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  5. I hope it's soon. I too wonder about how people did it in the past. Do you remember when a business actually advertised that they had air conditioning because not all had it? I guess I'm giving away my age with that one!

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    1. I remember that too, Bonnie! And I remember what it felt like to go into an air conditioned building. Heaven!

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  6. My husband and I binged Indian Matchmaker over 2 days. I was also wondering if one of the people was being matched with the wrong gender but you are right, India is not the place for that. Those mothers were brutal. My mom oversteps a lot but never like these women! I hope your ac is fixed soon, I am in Ohio and haven't left my house because of the heat. We keep our temp pretty high but I definitely had to lower it to bear it today. -Sarah in Columbus

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    1. That one mom with all the jewels and saris for her future daughter-in-law! But hell- it still wouldn’t be worth it.

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    2. No it would not be worth it.

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  7. I hope you get that part tomorrow, so sorry you are hot and irritated. The ice around the neck helps.

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  8. Wishing you good air conditioner luck!

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  9. I wouldn't want to be around ME in those circumstances. Can handle a lot of things, but not being hot. After 10 minutes of activity outside in this kind of heat and I can pass for a cooked lobster. Bright red. Even stepping back into a/c house, it takes hours for my face to lose that ghastly color. Might have to do with growing up in UK.

    Hoping the compressor gets there soon. I'm still waiting for a dishwasher delivery that keeps being delayed...

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    1. I would give up a dishwasher for the rest of my life to have AC but it’s still an annoyance!

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  10. I hopüe by now you got the AC fixed.
    I can handle heat but humidity is hard. And I should talk. When we had arrived to live and work in this tropical African paradise 3° south of the equator (Seychelles), I would dream of opening a window to let in a cool breeze.
    But since you asked, we did it. We had no AC and we got used to it after a couple of hot sweaty weeks. The temps stayed in the 90s most of the time and after a year we would feel cold when it dropped to below 80 during the rainy season. Most houses were built with airing gaps just below the ceiling all around and all windows were louvre windows. Also, it rained a lot and we had the sea within walking distance almost everywhere.
    I know I would not want to do it now, no matter how romantically I paint the memories. But my point, you adapt, bodies adapt, we are programmed to.

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    1. Yes- we can and will adapt but I have to think it works better when we’re younger.
      And that picture does sound romantic but I can imagine the reality only too well.

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  11. Agree with the recommendation for icepacks. This sounds very odd but it has worked for me during AC breakdowns: wear a pair of light cotton DAMP socks to bed. Not sopping wet, just damp. Ideally, pair with a fan right next to your bed. Creates my own personal air conditioner. A damp washcloth on head would help, too.

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    1. Oh god. I cannot wear socks in bed. I can nearly wear them out of bed in winter! But I believe you!

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  12. There's a reason very few people lived in Florida before the advent of air conditioning! And perhaps it wasn't as hot then -- maybe rains were more frequent or more reliable. (I've heard people say this.) Anyway, too bad the portable unit didn't work. It sounded like such a good idea. I hope this repair gets done FAST.

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    1. I think the climate has changed a little but as I said- I sure can remember being unbearably hot.
      We had our hopes pinned on that unit. It was not to be.

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  13. The question "How did they do it?" reminds me of a book of essays I have that were written by an old man in the '80s for a North Carolina newspaper about growing up on a sharecropper farm in the 1930s. He grew up in southeastern NC, not far from the area in northeastern SC where my grandparents were born into sharecropping families and his writings remind me of them and the stories they told. Summer was a miserable time to be alive in those days for people working in tobacco. If people managed to grow up and grow old they were TOUGH! I'm far too soft to survive the things they did.

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    1. I feel the same way, Jennifer. I am too soft. I am in awe of those people who lived like that and survived.

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  14. how did the slaves do it? they had no choice it was work in the fields or get whipped. this is and has been so far a very hot summer here. but we finally got a little bit of rain today. not nearly enough and the ground will be dry and cracking again as soon as the sun comes out.

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    1. Our rain was so heavenly. Maybe one of these storms forming will help with your rain situation.

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  15. Indian Matchmaker sounds like a show I would find diverting. I was imagining sitting and watching it with you while shelling peas and discussing human nature.

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  16. I don't know how the slaves did anything. I guess by becoming numb and trying to find consolation in religion. I found something on YouTube, still doesn't really help me understand though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3Fk9pqybCA

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.