Coping with summer

Summer is just barely here, so I shouldn't be complaining -- but what the heck, I will anyway. Actually, today is nice. Supposed to be a high of 93 (which means our backyard thermometer says 100, but I'm ignoring it). It's windy, but not killer windy. The twins and I even took a walk to the park this morning. Oddly, there were no other kids there. I couldn't figure out why. Did their moms think it would be too windy? Have they given up on the park until fall? Has everyone left town? Anyway, we had a nice, if a bit lonely, time.

But in a couple of days we'll be back over 100 again, and then it'll just be yucky from now until October. It seems harder to deal with this year because we're in the new house and haven't figured out the best approach. The air conditioner works well, but is very expensive. So we decided to get the swamp cooler running, even though our landlord had recommended against it. Swamp coolers are usually on the roof in this town, as are air conditioners, and this has always puzzled me, because doesn't heat rise? And so wouldn't you want the cool air to come in down below? Or does cool air sink? Anyway, our swamp cooler is on the ground, which we thought might be a good thing.

The problem is that it is not ducted -- to be ducted, it would need to go on the roof, according to our handyman, because then the ducting runs through the attic. OK, whatever. Ducting would cost $4000, roughly, and of course we are just renting, so we decided to let it blow straight through the kitchen to the rest of the house.

Here's Rocket Boy, taking apart the indoors part of the cooler:

And here's the cooler all opened up and running (though you can't tell from the photo).

It bothers me that there is a straight path into our house from the side yard -- the cooler has cracks in it, and all sorts of creepy crawlies can come through those cracks. Every time we turn the cooler on, we suddenly find a gigantic cockroach nearby. At least not a gigantic spider. Yet.

The cooler in our old house was not particularly noisy -- of course, it was on the roof -- but this one is SO LOUD. Also, it has a bad smell. The handyman told us we might want to replace the pads, which are a bit mildewed, but that might cost $150, and we're just renting, so... instead, we put vinegar on the pads. It seems to have helped a bit. But there's nothing we can do about the noise.

Boos hate the swamp cooler because of the noise and the smell, and if we run it while they're around, they cry and yell. So we just run it in the evening after they go to bed, annoying ourselves, until it gets cool enough outside to turn the cooler off and put a (much quieter) fan in the window. I have it running right now, while I'm home alone, and it's annoying me.

It's going to be a long summer.

This past weekend we went out and about, looking for places to get cool. On Saturday we checked out some Kern River campsites, but they were very crowded and not appealing. Then we drove back east past Lake Isabella and took the time to go wading.

Baby A was nervous about the cold water at first, but he gradually got used to it and then didn't want to come out. Baby B, on the other hand, did not like it and did not want to spend any time in it (here he is running away from the water).

Lake Isabella has never really felt like our style -- it's crowded with campers and speedboats. Here's someone backing into the lake to pick up a speedboat.

So I don't think this will be our refuge this year either. But yesterday we did find a new place to go swimming, and we liked it a lot.

Gosh, it sure doesn't look appealing from the outside. It looks downright slummy. Also, it's quite hard to get to, you have to meander through town to find the open gates. But once you get inside, get this, it costs $1 per person, and the pool is fabulous! Huge, and with a very large shallow section, lots of room for kids to play and get used to water. Big stairs leading down, places to hold onto. And a whole other section for people to swim laps. It's one of the best public pools I've ever seen! In Trona! Of course, it doesn't seem to be heated, and that was an issue for Baby B. But as the summer goes on, and it gets to be 115, I think we should go to this pool every weekend. Seriously! So I'm happy. Just wish the swamp cooler were a little quieter...