Hot day

Whoa! No a/c in Texas in July is NOT fun. Last night I noticed the house was hot, but when I went to turn the thermostat down, there was no cool air coming from a vent. So I did what my a/c guru recommended--turned the fan to on and the unit to off. He said it was probaby freezing up. One of his repairmen came out, added freon, and said if it happened again we'd have to look into it further. The bill I got said a new unit may be needed--oh, joy! Well, it's happened again. I turned it on about 6 a.m. and it lasted until about 9, when I could hear it begin to labor--the sound I'd heard yesterday. Turned it off until 2:00, turned it on again, and it cooled things--not cold but an improvement. I had to turn it off again about 5:00. Now I'm waiting to turn it on until I go to sleep. In the evenings I have to close off my office to keep Scooby in with me--which makes it hotter. I did just open the vent windows in the kitchen. For security purposes most of my windows won't open--a hardship at a time like this. I've put in an emergency call but of course nobody will be in the a/c company office until tomorrow morning.
A dinner guest tonight--a woman who's a good friend and has had a hard time recently with the sudden loss of her husband. Fortunately, we could eat on the porch, with the fan on. The fan in combination with a natural breeze made it quite pleasant. We chatted animatedly all evening until just before dark, when she said it was time for her to go home. I understand that feeling completely.
I fixed another good dinner, if I do say so--egg salad sandwiches with capers and tarragon from my front porch, plus watercress and smoked salmon--wonderful combination. Sliced tomatoes and avocado with more tarragon and a dash of vinaigrette, and a bowl of sliced fruit.
Finished reading a mystery I really enjoyed today--one of those I hated to see end. It is Judy Hyzy's new series, and the first book is Grace Under Pressure. I was reading along on my Kindle without realizing I was getting close to the end until I came to that climactic scene where the heroine is in real peril for her life. Also did some work on my Texas foods book. So it was a good, if hot, day.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Jacob is still fascinated by this video, and the first thing when he came in this evening was that he wanted to look at "Who Let the Dogs Out?" This is a picture of him singing along with it, belting out "Who, Who, Who?" The Burtons came for the Japanese chickenburgers they missed earlier in the week, and it was a pleasant evening, even though Jacob got kind of whiney.
Other than that it was an ordinary but pleasant day--I had lunch with my friend Fred, who said he's just read Jonathan Alter's (no relation) The Promise, an assessment of Obama's campaign and first year in office. Fred says although Alter is clearly biased toward Obama, he is also clear about the mistakes he's made and the problems he's run into--mostly Congress, both sides of the aisle. The subtext, especially throughout the last half of the book, is that Obama is clearly smarter than most members of Congress and they resent that. It got us off on a discussion of the general resentment of intellectuals in this country--while not counting myself as an intellectual, I clearly see that as a problem in our society. Then again, think of Socrrates--civilizations have always resented the intellectuals among them. Fred better watch out, because he is one. We ate at Nonna Tata, a country Italian place where I had my favorite dish: brasola.
I did a bit on my mystery tonight--slightly under 400 words but enough to keep me in touch with it--and decided what would be my next exploration in the Texas foods book, so I'm moving ahead. I looked forward to a long, fairly lazy weekend, so maybe I'll get some work done. As always, I'm distracted by reading--this time its Julie Hyzy's Grace Under Pressure.