Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Who is Evolet?

I'm borrowing this non-running thing from Irene...just because I thought it was funny. Who is Evolet? Apparently my ultimate Halloween Costume requires that I wear a sheet. 


I've really got nothing else to write about. I'm waiting for the washing machine repair-person to show up to (hopefully) fix my ailing beast which burst water all over the laundry room floor over the weekend. It's a tough call...do we fix an 8 year old washer that does about 10 loads a week or get a new one? In the end, we are opting for repair (if the repair-dude ever gets here) mostly because a house-call repair is far more convenient than having to do all that buying a new one entails.

As soon as Walter gets home, I'll get on the treadmill for a quick run...and because I know you turn to this blog for my frequent weather/humidity report and accompanying whine...

It's almost November and it was 91º today/18% humidity. As opposed to Saturday night's drip-fest, today was dry, dry, dry. For those not in SoCal, we get these fall heat spells brought on by the desert winds, the Santa Ana's. The wind switches course from the lovely off-shore, tropical ocean breeze, to a dry wind that blows from of the dessert. The winds and the heat makes everyone restless and cranky. I've had sinus issues and a headache from the high pressure for three days... Currently, it's 4:00 pm and it's still almost 90º...again I ask...WTF?

Joan Didion (one of my favorite writers) wrote of the Santa Ana's, "...that the Indians would throw themselves into the sea when the bad wind blew.... and one woke in the night troubled not only by the peacocks screaming in the olive trees but by the eerie absence of surf. The heat was surreal. The sky had a yellow cast, the kind of light sometimes called "earthquake weather."  

In another essay, she writes of a California "...haunted by the Mojave just beyond the mountains, devastated by the hot dry Santa Ana wind that comes down through the passes at 100 miles an hour and whines through the eucalyptus windbreaks and works on the nerves. October is the bad month for the wind, the month when breathing is difficult and the hills blaze up spontaneously. There has been no rain since April. Every voice seems a scream. It is the season of suicide and divorce and prickly dread, wherever the wind blows..."

Raymond Chandler wrote of the Santa Ana's that "every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husband's necks."

Both Didion and Chandler have it right. Everyone is cranky. The heat is oppressive and the threat of fire is very real...I'm hoping it passes soon. It seems like it's gone on forever this fall.

Now...where is that repairman? And where is my knife?

18 comments:

  1. For some reason, the Santa Ana's seem very poetic to me. Something about the name perhaps.

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  2. The worse thing about a Santa Ana is having to work without airconditioning, wearing nylons, while having a hangover from the Monday night winefest. ERROR, ERROR, ERROR!

    The only good thing was knowing that Madge and her secretary also had the same illness as I!

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  3. LOL. You know it's slow when you when you have to resort to writing about the washing machine. HAHA!

    It has been unseasonably warm around here this season!! Where's FALL anyway?/

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  4. So THAT'S why everyone is so cranky! I thought it was just everyone at my house... Even my critters are acting weird.

    Evolet? I'm still trying to figure out who Eve is on mine. Oh, I found that on another blog.

    Did the repair person ever show up?

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  5. oh yeah...the repair guy showed up...$250.00 later and a new motor...but less than a new machine and now I can catch up on the laundry...sigh

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  6. Yeah, that's still plenty cheaper than a new machine.

    I'm so with you on the weather here. My sinuses have been killing me, but I'm told cooler weather is on the way.

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  7. I love the Santa Ana descriptions...especially the screaming peacocks.

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  8. I don't know who she is?!? ROFLMAO! I got Hannah Montana of all people. YIKES!

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  9. This will help. It was 29 degrees when I left my house this morning. 29!?!

    Have fun with that laundry...

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  10. we're getting the gorgeous climate this week. for once people will actually wear their halloween costumes on the outside instead of under coats, hats and gloves.

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  11. Carrie Bradshaw, Hannah Montana, Tinkerbell or Elizabeth Swann. Decisions, decisions...!

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  12. there is nothing like 91 in november to make me cranky---no matter the cause.

    Miz, who loved your tip about the pretrick or treakers run. I may do that...or at least pretend Im going to :)

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  13. LOL...I took the quiz and I could be Samantha Jones or Baby Mama. hahaha
    Have fun with your costume. I have NO IDEA who that is. lol.

    I am glad you were able to repair the beast. Mine just went too and the repair guys said it was on its last leg. sigh.

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  14. Oh yeah....91 in November??!!! I am sooooo looking for a house in California.

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  15. Hmm... I got Hannah Montana from the costume quiz.

    Better to spend money on an old washer that works. They build really cheap "disposable" ones now so if you wanted to get a good one you'd have to spend a LOT.

    Love Joan Didion! I have read that second essay a number of times. Amazing writer.

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  16. I dare anyone to tell me Global Warming isn't real. I dare them.

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  17. hey...will post later but just wanted to pick your brain. I'm coming down to San Diego on friday and staying the night. Doing 2 college visits with my son on friday: San Diego State and Univ of San Diego. Any ideas for a nice dinner place for my son and I?? and possibly my girl??? and then possibly a 4 or 5 mile run on saturday morning??? let me know? I'm exhausted from a brutal month of work and my running has fallen to shit so it would have to be a flat run!!! ANd then maybe I could meet all of you...for a drink friday night????

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  18. I hate laundry. I'd just leave the machine broken :)

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