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Monday, June 21, 1999
The high today was 103 degrees and it was still 100 degrees when I got off work at 5:00. I figured I would just ride my bike slowly home and then sit quietly in the air conditioning at home. Well, my tire was flat so I walked it over to the other side of campus where I could get the tire aired up. It was so hot. I got to the air pump and I didn't have a quarter, which was all it would take. The library was just a little further so I walked the bike there and, since I was there, looked for a couple books I wanted. One was in another library and another was in the process of being reclassified to be for library use only. It's nice having access to a large research library, but sometimes it is hard to get a book that's in demand. In fact we have several libraries around campus. The bad part is that I can check a book out for six months, unless someone puts in a request for it, and I forget I have it until I get an overdue notice. After the futile search for a book I did find a money changer and got a quarter. I walked the bike back to the air pump and pumped it right up. I don't know what caused the flat but it stayed hard and I just crossed my fingers. I was very glad that the ride home is mainly down hill. A couple hours later all the lights went out. The electricity was totally off for several blocks. It was nice walking around the apartment complex in the new dark with no lights on. We so rarely can walk in the dark without lights and I enjoy it. The apartment was heating up fast, though, and I was glad when suddenly the lights came on nearly an hour later. It would have been miserable without air conditioning and no fan. Whenever something like this happens I wonder how the pioneers could stand it, especially the women with their multiple layers of clothes. We feel like we're dying if we don't have AC, yet they didn't even have fans. I do remember that when I was a kid we would drive through Texas and Oklahoma in August in an unairconditioned car. I suppose we were hot but it's just the way it was and I don't really remember the heat. I do remember how wonderful it was to stop for slices of watermelon that were sold along the highway (this was before interstates).
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