TheBanyanTree: The Heat is On

[Margaret R. Kramer]

It’s unusual for Minnesota to sustain a heat wave for longer than a few
days, but this wave of hot air, which began last week, is continuing roll
over us and will keep rolling over us until the middle of next week.  It’s
also very humid.  As much as I hate air conditioning, I’m grateful we have
it in our home.  An air conditioned house is a sanctuary, just like a heated
house provides shelter in the winter.

The St Paul pools will be free to the public today.  They were free a couple
of weeks ago when we had an earlier heat wave.  Susan and I talked about
venturing to the one close to my house later this afternoon.  If it’s
crowded, we can always go to a beach.

This was a week where I caught up on things that were bothering me.  I
needed new glasses, it’s been four years since I had a new pair.  I braved
the eye doctor and got out of having my pupils dilated and got a new
prescription.  And now I have new glasses – one pair has fashionable black
wire frames and the other pair is celebrity-like sunglasses.  I was taking
my glasses off in order to read and now I can read with my glasses on again.

I think I accidentally threw away my CD magazine from my CD changer in the
car when we were packing.  I ordered another one and it came this week.  I
can now play CDs in my car again.

We have lots of CDs and DVDs and they were shoved carelessly on shelves that
were falling apart.  I found a great CD/DVD shelf at Best Buy through
intense internet research and I went and bought it this week.  Wonderful Ray
put it together and we artfully arranged our CDs and DVDs on the shelves.
It looks wonderful and helps tie the living room ambience, intellectual and
snooty, together.

I took my dead ipod out of my desk drawer and caressed it one more time.  I
called apple to get the paperwork to send it in.  The customer service
representative told me that it would be cheaper to just buy a refurbished
ipod than it would be to get a new one - $249 vs $199.  So I ordered a
refurbished one.  It should be here this week.  I have my nano for workouts,
but I would like the bigger ipod to set up and use as a stereo system.  The
dead ipod is in my drawer still and I’m not sure what to do with it.

The heat is on here in Minnesota and it’s on in the Mideast, too.  I watch
that situation with trepidation.  It seems to be slowing down, but it could
be a lighted fuse for something much brighter.  Our dear and insightful
(oops, I mean moronic) president has our military spread much too thin to be
of much help anywhere else.

Iraq continues to degenerate into a country beyond recognition.  Our
military personnel and Iraqis continue to get killed every day.  The Taliban
is taking over Afghanistan again.  What good did we do there?

Gas prices are skyrocketing.  We’ve hit over $3 in Minnesota.  I think it’s
a good thing, because we need high prices to conserve our energy.  Oil is a
finite energy source, which some of our insightful president’s friends
(oops, I mean moronic) seem not to realize.  They want to keep Americans
driving those SUVs because besides guzzling gas, they make a better profit
on them than on the smaller cars.  Americans in particular need to slow down
our consumption.  That’s why I feel guilty with my air conditioning on – I
try to keep the temp on it fairly high and set it up really high at night so
it doesn’t run all the time.  My little bit to help, but it’s not enough.

Our economy is stuttering a bit, too.  Home sales are down (Ray and I are
very happy we managed to sell our house this spring), job creation is
sluggish, and people are spending less (except me – I seem to spend money at
a fast clip – I personally support Target).

It’s been a summer of fires and storms and unborn hurricanes lurking in the
Atlantic and earthquakes exploding in the Pacific.  The people of the earth
seem restless and unhappy.  The heat is on.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
~Albert Camus