The Simple, Green Life is Tough
It finally rained again. There are pros and cons to rain. The summertime is the rainy season around here. Well, it’s more thunderstorm than rain. We had a few rainless weeks, and it was pretty nice having the sun to dry diapers and clothes quickly. I could wash up to six loads and get them dry by the time I got back home from work without the threat of rain or lightning.
But it finally rained again. We needed it, too. The grass is turning brown again, and our poor lantanas and pentas in from of the house were being baked right outside! That’s my fault, though. We have rainwater that we’ve been collecting since the first rains of spring. It doesn’t occur to me to water the plants except when it rains.
*head desk*
Now that it’s raining again, the clothes takes hours to dry. It’s so muggy and humid out, that even in full sun, the clothes is wetter than when it came out of the wash.
I’m totally exaggerating, but you get the point.
It feels hotter because of the humidity, so we don’t go outside anymore. We used to spend late mornings in the “fort,” reading books, watching bugs, and relaxing on the swing. But the threat of mosquitoes’ carrying off one of my kids is too much to bear.
I feel like a heel using the dryer on perfectly sunny days. We’re running the air conditioner now, so using the dryer just uses up more energy… Energy that is *free* when it comes from the sun! I’m at a loss. We could put up some clothes line in our basement and build a fire, but we don’t have a basement, and I’m afraid of fire.
Yesterday, I washed three loads, including diapers, and dried them in the sun. It threatened to rain, as it does on most summer afternoons, so I brought the half-dried clothes and diapers inside and used the drier on them for a few minutes. That may seem a little silly and takes more energy on my own part, but the clothes dried, right? Yes. I suppose that’s the point: to do little, silly things that make you tired of doing them, like washing diapers.
