It was 101F yesterday. Today, it was 106F. I caught a sunburn on the ankles simply walking between the train, work, lunch, and the train again wearing my loose cotton dress. Our funny old air conditioner at work couldn't process cool air fast enough, apparently having been installed during the Truman administration, so work was on the tropical side with the inside temperature hovering around 88F. The train was late this evening because the southbound tracks near San Mateo buckled in the heat and they had to run trains on only one track. John came home early to hose down the dog and open up the house a bit. When I got home I gave both cats a cool bath to their utter disgust. Cold water all around, and plenty of electric fans.
"It doesn't matter that your house doesn't have an air conditioner," countless real estate people said cheerfully when I questioned this lack. "It's so foggy here in the summer you don't really need one!" They are monstrous liars. This is a record-breaking heat, I'll give you that, but this isn't the first set of above 90F days we've had since moving in.
Still, I am in a good mood. It's not humid, you see, so I don't feel hideously dank and sweaty. I wouldn't want to move faster than a stroll, or have to run errands or sightsee in it, but I quite like hot weather these days. I'm not sure if this is because eight years in the South acclimated me a bit, or if incipient geezerhood has changed my body. Perhaps soon I'll be complaining about the cold when the temperature drops below 70F, and contemplating a winter home in the desert.
Despite the warmth I got a lot of chores done tonight. I pottered around watering plants, I cleaned up after bathing the cats, I changed the cat litter (I am trying out a new kind of sandy clumping litter, one without a scent which I hope will please Natasha as well as me), I took out the garbage and recycling, and I filled out my voter registration form, my DMV change of address form (hmm, missed the 10 days after moving deadline, there), and wrote a letter requesting my transcripts from the University of Washington. I've already received a faxed copy of my transcripts from Middle Tennessee State University, and the paper copy is being mailed.
The MTSU transcripts are fun. I see they accepted 64 credits for transfer from my first stab at college in the mid-seventies. I earned 18 more in three semesters at MTSU while working part time. I got four A's, two B's, and one shameful, heartbreaking F in Intermediate Algebra. That F naturally brings down my GPA abysmally. However, I am technically eligible for admission, and I feel sure any advisor worth her salt will admit me so I can replace that F with a passing grade. I'm applying for Fall 2000. I'll be taking Intermediate Algebra at night. They offer courses beginning as late as 8:30pm, can you imagine? There's a lot to be said for choosing a "commuter university."
The sun is down now, and the air is faintly, perceptibly cooler. The cats have dried out completely from their baths, and Dixie is enjoying the tall grass at the back of the yard where I have failed to whack them with my new Grass Hog. I've eaten three popsicles and drunk a litter of club soda. I think I'll go out and join Dixie on the lawn. I really miss the fireflies. They'd be at their finest right now if we still lived east of the Rockies. I can still remember how beautiful everything looked on a warm June night. There's nothing more magical than a twilight lawn bedecked with tiny, blinking circles of faerie light.
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