Summer is a quiet time in Blogville.

People are out and about during summertime, enjoying the sunshine and warm weather and holidays. Nobody is spending much time indoors in front of a computer.

Summer makes it a challenge to keep up on a blog. There’s so much to do on the best of days, with work to be done and errands to run, but then the summer calls me outdoors to tend to the garden, and hang clothes on the line, and go for a walk. So it’s hard to find time to sit down and write. But then, with nobody reading what you write, no feedback or comment and few visitors, it makes it doubly hard. It’s like talking to an empty room. It’s a conversation of one.

This summer it has also been challenging to find inspiration. There’s not much to write about sometimes, because I don’t do very much. The last few years there has been the infertility stuff that kept us constantly busy. But with adoption, there are great honking long periods of time where nothing happens. At. All. And I’m also taking some time after all the stress and drugs to just gear down. I’m spending more time at home, spending less money, and spending more time on my own. I’m slowing down this year, consciously. And so, consequently… I am boring.

You know how when someone is out in a sailboat, and there’s no wind to push them along, and the water is calm and still? It’s like that. I am becalmed.

Although in life, that’s not always a bad thing. It’s good to have quiet times. It’s a time to rest and recharge one’s batteries. Especially after the last few years I have had.

But for blogging? It can be boring.

And now, dear friends, I bring you a scientific study.

In every social situation, every home and community and workplace and society, you have certain power dynamics at play. Certain entities of a society, for example, are in charge, while others’ lot in life is to serve. Some lead, others follow. Some have the wealth, others toil in abject poverty. And generally speaking, how much power you have is indicative of your place in the social strata.

It is no different here at The House of Peevish.

And so, I sat down to examine the power dynamics here. And the results were fascinating. So I have listed below, from highest to lowest, where the real power lies in our household.

1. The Water Softener — I have come to terms with the fact that we are slaves to our water softener. When it is running well, we are lulled into a sense of well-being and peace. Our life is calm. And then, the salt runs out, or it is in need of a regeneration cycle, and suddenly, our world is thrown into chaos. Dishes are dirty! Toilet bowls fill with discoloured water! Showers are lacking suds! Oh, the humanity! And we are at the water softener’s mercy: Can you get more salt? Will this many bags sate its hunger? How many regens must I run until all is well again? I pore over each dish as it comes out of the dishwasher… “NOW will it be CLEAN? Are the soft-water gods SMILING on me today?”

2. The Air Conditioner — There are two chubby people living in this house: one who would be comfortable sleeping in a meat locker, and by that I mean he can only sleep in sub-zero temperatures, and the other who moans incessantly about humidity and breaks a sweat 2 minutes after she begins getting ready to go anywhere. We’d curl up and rock and weep if ever we were without air conditioning for any extended period of time. Bunch of pansies.

3. Opus — We’re not kidding anyone. We know she’s in charge. SHE owns US. If she so much as wheezes or looks at us funny, we’re all scrambling to get her to a vet and fussing over her. She spends our money with abandon. She has specially ordered food. We feed her like clockwork. She yells at us for every little thing. We suspect she uses our credit cards, shops online, and may be plotting world domination when we’re not around. We have debt equal to the GNP of some small banana republics, thanks to her. And yet? We love her.

4. Cinnamon — Second in the cat pecking order, she just recently entered “middle age” for a kitty — she’s 9 years old. And so, with that change in status, she’s looking to supplant The Bubby in due course. Right now, she’s a bundle of nerves and neuroses — but she’s crazy like a fox, that one. Because no one makes the Little Fraidy Cat do anything she doesn’t want to do “for fear of upsetting her”. Well, that and she’s just so darn cute.

5. Lucy — Low man on the cat totem pole, Lucy rules with a crazed fist. Beguiling and charming and playful, she gets what she wants through sheer force of cute. Either that, or she just sits on you and purrs.

6. Computers — Duh. We have 6 or 7. When we’re not using them to play games, do work or watch Doctor Who, we’re listening to music on them or chatting with friends. We love what they can help us do, all their toys and gadgets. We get endless hours of entertainment from them. And if one of them goes bust, it’s a major pulaver until it’s fixed again. I don’t know what people did before there were personal computers, I really don’t. I vaguely remember something about “going out” and “doing things”. Crazy talk.

7. The Internet — See item #6.

8. The Refrigerator — We love to eat. We love cold tasty beverages. ‘Nuff said.

9. BDH — Ranks higher because he can fix most of the items above, and what he can’t fix, he can play with better than…

10. Me — Thankfully, I squeak into the top ten by virtue of my ability to open cans and my Yoda-like use of Teh Internet. Also? I cuddle well, and make excellent baked goods.

YAY! It’s raining.

Have you ever seen a backyard so in need of a good rain?

My garden is so happy.

(That red maple in the background is Norman. We named him Norman because he was so tiny when we bought him, and we wanted him to feel inspired.)

Sometimes I like heavy work. It can be good for the soul.

Today I went grocery shopping, which in and of itself isn’t always such heavy work to do. But today I decided to get a few tasks done that required a bit of hard work. It was one of those weeks where we needed to stock up on some big items for the house — expensive but necessary.

First up: water softener salt.

Now, water softener salt comes in big bags of 20 kg or more, and around here, we usually have it delivered by strapping young lads whose job it is to haul these big heavy bags to and fro. Well, I forgot to order the salt, and it could be weeks before someone comes by to deliver it. And sure enough, the dishwasher is showing signs that we’re running low. So I thought to myself, surely I can handle picking up a few bags.

So I went to the grocery store. I walked up to the bins outside and surveyed the bags. 20 kg, they said — not too bad, I thought to myself (having no idea how heavy 20 kg really IS — I mean, 20 can’t be SO bad a number…can it?) I went in and bought 3. Did I need help with those? the woman behind the till asked. I told her that no, I’d do it — if I couldn’t handle loading the bags into the cart and then into my car, I sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to get them from the car down to the basement and into the water softener.

I went out and hauled 3 bags into a cart. If I were about 6 inches taller, or didn’t have the arm strength of wet spaghetti noodles, the job would have been much easier. (Although, if I were 6 inches taller and had strong arms, I would have had a career playing professional volleyball somewhere and married some rich athlete/movie star/famous person, and I’d have a staff to do these things for me.) So, bags in cart, I headed to the car.

I was parked beside a van. Now, this van was peopled with two construction-type guys, who I am sure are used to doing heavy work for a living. And yet, as they watched me hauling these heavy bags from cart to trunk, did either one offer to help? NOOOO. Bah – screw them, I didn’t NEED their help anyway.

Next up: water.

We have a water cooler. So, consequently, from time to time, we require a big old 19L jug of water to fill that bad boy. And today was one of those days. Off I went to return the previous jug, and said I’d like to get a new one. Did I need help with that? the clerk asked. Heck no, after 3 big bags of salt, I could handle a measly 19L jug of water. “No thanks,” I told her.

Let me tell you, 19L of water? Is HEAVY, man.

By the time I got it out to my car and loaded into the back seat, my fingers were permanently bent into an L shape from the handle of the jug.

Next? Groceries.

My grocery list today consisted of everything heavy: 4L bottles of distilled water for the cats, 2L cartons of milk, jugs of detergent, a super-mega box of baby wipes, cases of Diet Pepsi for BDH, bags of rice and sugar, bags of potatoes and onions, bags of apples, mangoes… How in HELL does everything heavy run out all at once, I ask you? That light little box of pre-cooked bacon could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, but I managed to get it all bought and paid for and bagged and into the car.

And then: The Unloading.

Bag by heavy bag, I hauled that stuff in. AND put it away. And brought the jug of water in and set it in the foyer. And then I went back and got the salt. I hauled it downstairs, bag by bag, and hoisted it up and poured it into the softener.

DONE.

And then I collapsed on the sofa with muscles turned to jelly. It’s a wonder I can move my fingers to type this.

Although I have to say, I’m pretty proud of myself. That heavy work, it’s good for the soul.

GAH. I am lacking in inspiration today.

I think in this infernal heat and humidity, all my get up and go just got up and went. It’s hard to be inspired when the weather is like this.

I wanted to hang my laundry out today, but the weather is unpredictable. Although it’s bright and sunny right now, the forecast says there’s a 70% chance of thunderstorms and rain. So, it’s a day to run the dryer, which doesn’t help matters much.

Even with the air conditioning, you feel a definite drag on these humid days. You feel tired and perpetually in need of a shower. If we could just get a big old rainstorm, the humidity would break. The air would be more fresh, and I think I’d feel a little more inspired. And we could really use the rain on our brown, crispy lawn and on my long-suffering gardens.

But although it’s in the forecast, we live in the Bermuda Triangle of weather: it’s forecast, and it blows this way, and then… disappears. We never get weather like that here. So, I don’t expect a good rain — just more heat.

These are the days when you want to have a long, cool drink. They are days for cool dinners, salads and cold meats and iced tea. Days when you want to have a fan blowing on you, and the lights off, and walking around barefoot.

Of course, these are also the days from which Canadians get one of their most common, most-often-repeated sayings.

It’s not the heat… It’s the humidity.

*snort*

I have to go to the dentist today. I don’t want to.

Normally I don’t mind going to the dentist. Cleanings don’t bother me, and I have very good dentists, so if there’s something more to be done, we work around my rabid fear — my abject terror — of dental needles as best we can.

This is progress for me, since I determined at the age of about 12, after some fairly horrific appointments as a child, that I would never again go back to the dentist.

I went back when I was about 19, when my dad found a dentist who promised me he would not use needles and promised me it would not hurt.

He kept his promise. It never has hurt. Although when I was about 30, he came in carrying a needle when a filling had to be done.

I looked at him in horror. He gave me That Look.

“Oh, I think you’re old enough to handle it now.”

Well, how does one back down from THAT? And it wasn’t so bad, although I am still terrified of dental needles and cry in the chair if one is required. But I do it. I know it’s good for me and has to be done.

But today? Today they are measuring pockets.

Those of you who know what this means are cringing right now. If you don’t know what it is, let me explain.

This is a diagnostic procedure where they take a probe and stick it down between your tooth and your gums to see how deep the gap is. That gap is where bacteria can develop and trouble can start, so they try to keep the pockets from getting deep.

It is also a really, really uncomfortable thing to endure. As I am sure you can imagine.

For me, it’s even moreso, because I have some very deep pockets, where damage has been done. These are really sensitive and sore sometimes. So jamming a probe in? Excruciating.

I cannot tell you how much I dread this appointment.

I know it’s good for me. I don’t care.

I am going to take a big hit of extra-strength Tylenol before I go in to try and numb the pain. Maybe I can sleep through it.

I doubt it.

It’s the perfect Sunday: a billion degrees humid outside, with thunderstorms threatening all day long. So there’s nothing to do but stay inside in the air conditioning.

Yesterday we spent the day out watching High Performance volleyball. It was awesome volleyball, and in between matches we sat out in the sunshine and had a lovely picnic lunch that BDH had planned as a surprise. It was a perfect day (except for the sunburn I got).

So today, we are really tired. With thunderstorms rumbling overhead and humidity outside, we’re “forced” to stay indoors and since we’re tired, there’s nothing to do but rest and relax. I had a long nap with The Bubby, and BDH has spent the afternoon saving the universe from evil. There’s been no cooking to do, since we had lots of picnic leftovers and a snacky-grazing-sandwich type of day. And tonight we’re going to curl up and watch our Doctor Who DVDs and relax. I’ll do some knitting.

I love these days.

This month, I am embarking upon what I like to call a Home Economics Study. Although truthfully, it’s nothing so grand as that. I just like the big name.

In actuality, I am using a clothesline to do my laundry. But doesn’t Home Economics Study sound more impressive?

Our neighbours have gone away for a month on holiday to Europe. We’ll be keeping watch on their house during that time, and in an effort to make the place look occupied, I have parked my car in their driveway, and I’ll water the plants. And then I thought of their clothesline. If there’s laundry out, the place will certainly look lived-in. But my thoughts were much more selfish than that.

I’m going to use their clothesline while they are away to see 1) if it saves us any money, and b) if we like using it enough to put up our own. It’s something I have considered for a while now, but wasn’t convinced. My experiences with clotheslines as a kid certainly didn’t make me a fan. But we need to save money. And, in the event that we decide to go with cloth diapers for Mystery Baby, it would sure be a good way to dry and bleach them.

My first foray into using the clothesline went badly this morning. The comforter and sheet I hung out first had dragged on the ground (the clothesline overhangs a deck, so technically, they brushed along the deck) and so they got all kinds of schmutz on the bottom. So I had to rewash them.

But the second load are drying quickly in the heat and sunlight, and I’ve learned to manage the big items to keep them up off the deck. It is a bit of a warm task, hauling loads of laundry in and out, but it’s not too bad. And if we can save a little money, we can more readily afford the air conditioner, so it’s a worthwhile trade-off that way.

I picked up some lovely cheap laundry soap that comes with fabric softener in it, so hopefully this aids in my cause, as well. I never did like the way clothes come off the line all stiff and crunchy when I was growing up.

Also, I am concerned about the dark stuff. We dress in a lot of black and red around here — partly because we like black, and partly because they’re the colours of our old volleyball club (and Team Canada!) and we have lots of gear. I am kind of hesitant about putting out the dark stuff because I don’t want it to get bleached. I remember stuff on my line in Japan coming in discoloured from the sun and the pollution. So I am not sure about that stuff yet.

Another thing? We live by a conservation area. Birds have dirty feet. And they like to poop. And there are lots of bugs.

So there are some perils to clothesline life, to be sure. We’ll have to see if the benefits outweigh the issues.

There are a few issues to work out in my study yet. But we’ll see if it’s worthwhile, in the end. Maybe we’ll be a clothesline family yet.