Friday, July 31

August Really Starts Tomorrow?

There was some intense rain last night. It poured down on the roof loud enough to stir me from my sleep. I enjoy the sound of rain. I fell back asleep and woke up with the sensation of something furry brushing against my arm. I am not sure if it was a nightmare or if it as a real animal in my room. I'm hoping it was more nightmare and less reality. I looked around and once I had the light on, I could see a softball sized hole in my window. Some tape on some cardboard, which had been covering the hole, came loose during the rain. I tried to patch up the spot and go back to sleep.

In the morning, I made a few calls and tried to get the spot patched up. Ultimately, a trash bag and duct tape seemed to fix the problem. However, I had to make the unpleasant decision to temporarily discontinue use of the portable AC unit. I'm not a big whiz on air conditioning systems, but I do know that the portable units tend to have installation kits for windows, so a duct or hose can go up to the window (blowing hot air out) and have plastic or another material cover the part of the window around the duct, so the window isn't just sitting there, with a 4” tall rectangular opening. The cardboard had been covering the rectangular hole until all the rain arrived. I'm wondering if maybe a trip to Home Depot or another hardware store might help me find the right kit and materials to fill up the window space so I can use the AC again.

Jeff, one of the divers I mentioned earlier, just had an article published online. It's a pretty interesting read about coral bleaching. The abstract and link to a PDF can be found here:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/t8474w3380q1814q/