Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

It's just as well that I have to start work Monday morning at just after 3 AM PT due to some technical issues that I need to supervise for the Day Jobbe, because it's apt to be tolerably cool then and I should then be able to bail out by Noon or so.

Kayla went out to breakfast this morning at 6:30 AM and did some errands, getting back home by about 9 AM before the full heat of the day hit. Then we spent the next few hours working on Westercon site selection issues. I am in overall charge of the two Westercon Business functions for BayCon 2025/Westercon 77, while Martin Pyne is chair of the Business Meeting and Kayla Allen is head of Site Selection. I expect that Kayla will have something more to write about this on Monday.

I think it peaked at 36°C, which, being just below body temperature, is where things are getting dangerous. The swamp cooler can help, but it's still not much fun.

Now to see if I can get to sleep in this afternoon heat, as my bedroom is on the west side of the house so gets the afternoon sun. I keep a piece of insulation in the window to try and keep it dark and to reduce the amount of heat. I also fill the tank on the swamp cooler and point it into the bedroom when I go to bed under these conditions. Then, after sundown (I hate daylight savings time) and when things have cooled somewhat, if I wake up (likely), I can open the windows and get some cross-ventilation going.

I spent most of Sunday sleeping or working on editing a future RLMS episode, so there wasn't much about which to write.

Today we had some daytime errands in Reno, so we had to venture out into the 38°C heat. Fortunately, the Astro's repaired air conditioning continues to hold up.

Most of the errands were a bust, but we were able to get a new pair of shoes for Lisa from SAS Shoes. This is a replacement for the pair that some of you may recall was the cause of some confusion as we had to rely on friends to collect them from the SAS store in Reno on account of we were already in Tonopah getting ready for Westercon 74. So that pair lasted two years, and that's pretty good. Lisa needs to get this new pair broken in for Westercon 76 in Utah and also more importantly for the Europe trip, which is likely to include a lot of walking.

As the first warm spell of the year moves in, I'm staying indoors a lot. Today was not bad, but the rest of the week includes forecast high temperatures in the high 30's C. We'll probably have to break out the evaporative "swamp" cooler and set it up for the season. I do like that we'll be spending a significant chunk of this summer away from home going to places like Iceland and Scotland where it's not so likely to be as hot as it here at home.

delosharriman suggested installing insulators behind the thermometer on the back porch so that it would pick up less heat from the post on which it is installed, to reduce the amount of heat radiating from the post, which gets direct sunlight on the opposite side from where the thermometer is mounted.

( Lisa Did So )

Still, the humidity remains at a mere 12%, so the swamp cooler still cuts the worst of the heat as long as we keep ventilating the house. OTOH, the AQI is also still running at around 160 (unhealthy), so that same ventilation brings smoke into the house. I keep the fans with their air filters in the open windows even when I'm not using the fan itself, in order to cut the amount of smoke coming into the house and getting into our lungs. We went to Lowe's this afternoon and bought more air filters, too.

Despite my complaints, I know it could be and is worse elsewhere, especially with what appears to be much of Siberia ablaze.

Lisa has been sleeping in the travel trailer, which has a full refrigerated air conditioner and thus gives her a lot more control over her environment. Unfortunately, we've lately been having problem with the A/C fan unit, and last night it quit entirely. When it first started giving problems, she thought it just needed cleaning, and indeed after she blew out a lot of the dust it started working again, but now nothing she does will make it work.

( Inside the A/C )

Getting a replacement fan is the problem. As the folks at the local RV parts sources told us, parts (and air conditioners) are badly back-ordered. They take it for granted that all parts and all new air conditioners are exclusively made in China ("Everything is made in China") and there are huge delays due to the pandemic and the Trumpy Trade War. Dometic, the company that manufactured the air conditioner, has the official replacement, which is indeed Chinese; however, the original fan motor was made in Mexico, and we figured out the OEM, even though the company has since been bought by a different one. Even so, that part is shown as back-ordered/out-of-stock everywhere we've found it online. However, we did locate what seems to be a replacement motor ("installed but never used") and if we can confirm that it's the actual OEM part, we'll order it. Unfortunately, it will take at least a week to get here, and that's making life difficult. The only think helping right now is that thanks to afternoon thunderstorms every day for the past several, the temperatures are slightly less hot (highs around 35°C instead of 40° still aren't what you'd call "cool") than they were the week before, and when the clouds blow away, it cools down into the mid-to-high teens overnight. If we hadn't built the shelter over the trailer, it would be an outright oven right now. Keeping it in shade all day long means a great deal.

This afternoon we bought several additional box fans, after one of those we already had also broke down. Lisa thinks that in this case it's the switch, not the motor, and may try to repair it someday, but we needed more fans now, not later.