Thinking About Summer

I was reading an article this morning that said something about the price of gasoline and I started to think. Working from home has been a bit irritating the last few months. I'm not sure why but the cold weather had me not wanting to do anything at all which was bad after I took almost the entire summer off. At the moment it's still cool enough to leave the windows open at night and turn the fans in them on during the day to keep comfortable.

The last few days I spent a lot of time thinking about the phrase " I stepped in through the open window." It's bothered me for years and I couldn't put my finger on it until I took a long look at the windows as I was standing outside enjoying the breeze and thinking about awnings to block the sun. I had to stop and look at the windows. In order to step in the screen would have to be cut, the windows are designed so that the sills cover the bottom of the screen and it will not pop out to step through. Disturbing revelation but a revelation none the less.

Anyway, the weather is warming up so it's time to begin once again thinking about air conditioning. The last time that I was in town gas was $3.04 a gallon but I heard the news say this morning that it's gone up 10 cents in two days. That was a shock to the system because I was already having trouble paying for gas since it hit $3 a gallon. Well a quick search of the prices for my area confirmed that gas is between $2.96 and $3.19 a gallon. Guess who is fortunate enough to live on the side of town that usually has higher gas prices.

Recently I began thinking that getting out of the house a little bit more would be good for me. The recent increase in the cost of gasoline makes me not so sure though. To top it off insurance is required by law which means I get to pay for coverage on something that I won't be able to afford driving for much longer. Then there's the cost of cutting the grass. I get to cut it this summer because the riding lawnmower is tore up so that means I'm walking behind one. I may end up spending some time walking behind an old fashioned one to cut the grass. I'm the the one that wanted to go as far off grid as I could so it's my own fault.

The warm weather means that I'd love to be outside and need to be outside doing yard work. I have to spend the majority of another summer inside. I'm hoping the longer days mean that I can be inside working during the hottest part of the day and outside during the coolest part of the day. It's still cool enough to have the windows open so while the youngest is at school I"m leaving them up higher. I tried to open them earlier and the youngest is smaller than I thought so an inch or two is as high as they can go when she's home.

Last summer the air conditioning was not cooling properly so I called the people that had installed it. The duct work needs replacing and they do not perform that particular service anymore. This means that I have to find someone to replace it for a few thousand dollars or spend a few hundred on a window unit to cool the house. I have to invest in a cover for it to shade it from the heat as well. It's going to be a long hot summer and I'll be outsourcing cool air for the most part.

I've decided to perform an experiment this summer to see just how much money I can save. I want to see how far off the grid I can go and still get things accomplished.