Experiment 2

 

Got a call at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning from the library volunteer.  "Did you have a lot of people return books right at closing time?" she asks when I answer.  It was obvious she wondered why I'd left 30 books for her to put away.  I started explaining about Summer Reading Program, kids w/ popsicles, ducks, and the other meeting.  She was laughing by the time I took a breath.  When I said I was thinking of coming in at 10 when the library opened to help put the books away she interrupted me and said she thought I'd been through enough.  The library courier hadn't even arrived yet so she had time right now.  

This morning the phone alerted me that in ten minutes it would start to rain.  I closed all the windows I'd left open during the night, grabbed Whip, and we got in the morning constitutional just as it began to drizzle.  Only rained 1/4" before the sun came out again and a heavy smokey haze settled over the countryside.  Must be more Canadian wildfires.  I washed my sheets and got them out on the line.  Don't think they will pick up the smell but if they do it'll just make me think I'm sleeping next to a campfire.

One of last winter's experiments was to run the split A/C & Heating system in Mjolnir once a month.  It was sort of a last idea of what might keep the freon (or whatever) from leaking out of the system by the time I needed it in the summer.  Surprisingly that seems to have worked and, for the first time since Mjolnir was built, I didn't need to get a refill in the spring.  A second winter experiment was to see how much a block of oak would shrink in the dry air inside the house this winter.  My brothers cut a piece of wood similar to a cabinet door exactly 16" wide.  They drew a pencil line across it and assigned a specific tape measure to be used to measure it.  I put a picture showing the shrinkage last winter.  It took until last month before the board swelled again to it's original length.   It's been cool but humid this last week so I thought for grins I'd check the measurement again.  Don't know how to tell them it's almost 1/16th" beyond it's starting size now.