Some September Coolth At Last

That massive sigh of relief you heard just now was the Flatlands headed into a week of highs in the 80’s F/26+C.  This is the first time our highs have been below 90 F/32.2 C in weeks and weeks.  You will also hear my budget breathing a sigh of relief as well.  My electric bill last month was almost three times what it is in the dead of winter (gas heat), and that’s with my AC thermostat set on 80 F/26.6 C.  My mom keeps telling me it’s all the fans I run that’s driving up my electric bill, but when the AC is not on, my electric meter is barely moving.  The minute my AC kicks on, the meter starts spinning like a top.  Here’s the facts, mom:

"Whereas a 2.5-ton central air conditioner (1201-1500 sq ft) uses about 3,500 watts an hour and a window A/C unit typically uses between 500 to 1,500 watts an hour, a ceiling fan uses only 15 to 95 watts an hour depending on its size and speed."

I had been craving tuna salad with elbow macaroni for a while now, but it has been just too durn hot to cook a pot of pasta.  I’d had a package of elbows sitting out on the counter for a week waiting for the spirit to move me, and finally at about 10 p.m. Saturday night, I was moved to get out my pasta pot and cooked the whole package.  (I’ll eat the rest plain, just tossed in a drizzle of olive oil.)

The bowl I usually use when I make a batch of tuna salad is just big enough.  But when I add pasta, I have to apportion the ingredients into two bowls.   I use two cans of tuna, plus a small can of sweet peas, chop a small white onion and a couple of kosher dill spears, plus a small can of sliced black olives.  A small can of diced carrots adds some color, but I didn’t have any.  I use regular old mayonnaise to dress it.  I’ve been scarfing it down by the bowlful.

I’ve started putting the sleeves on that little baby top I’ve been making.  It already has a matching hat and I’m going to make a matching pair of booties for it once I get the sleeves done.  The original pattern doesn’t call for sleeves, but they’re easy enough to add.  Instead of binding off the sleeves, you just take those stitches off onto a piece of scrap yarn, then pick them up later.

Of course, now that my US6/4.0 mm 9-inch circular needles have been freed up, I’ve started another project, the “Kinzie Baby Top” also by Marianna Mel.   She has a gazillion free patterns for really cute baby things on Ravelry.  I think I’m going to put long sleeves on it too, but I think I’m going to do them just plain stockinette for a long sleeve tee under a short sleeve top kind of effect.

I’ve been reading the Lord John books by Diana Gabaldon, she of Outlander fame.  Lord John Grey is a secondary but key character in the Outlander books who proved so popular with fans that he got some spin-off books of his own.    I’ve read all of them but one, but that one’s in the budget for this month.  The Lord John books make reference to events in the Outlander books, and that’s frustrating to me because I want to know all the things about him!  I like her style of writing, and she tells a rouser of a tale.  I’ve about decided to suck it up and start reading all the Outlander books including rereading the Lord John books as they fall into the overall Outlander chronology. It’s going to be a question of timing, though.  Those Outlander books are freaking door stops!  If you haven’t read any of Gabaldon’s books and want to dip your toe in to test the water, try one of the Lord John books.  The novels are only about 80,000 words or less, the novellas are much shorter, as opposed to 300,000 words on average for the Outlander books.   Like I said, real door stops.  And there’s 8 of them.