Beating the heat!

June 12, 2008
Broad Brook, CT

The rains from last week stopped, just in time for the first "heat wave" of the season over the weekend, and it's just beginning to cool off. I won't say it is "getting back to normal" since it'll still be warm this week, but much better.

The weather cleared out on Saturday morning, and the temperature jumped 20+ degrees inside an hour once the sun came out. We fired up the air conditioning and headed back inside. On Sunday, we took a short trip with Pat & Al and Mike & Lynne Bower to the shore. Yes, in Connecticut it is "down the shore", just like New Jersey. Of course, it's Long Island Sound as opposed to the Atlantic Ocean, but the effect is the same. It was hot and steamy for most of the day, with temperatures and humidity levels both up in the mid-90s. As is often said, "it's not the heat, it's the humidity"; I'll take the "dry heat" of Arizona any day. As we started to pack up late in the afternoon, we saw the thunderheads growing, and within 15 minutes we were in the midst of a heavy downpour. It rained about 2" inside 90 minutes, which was OK with us as we'd stopped at a "clam shack" for dinner and it was pretty much over when we left.

The heat and humidity continued through Monday, so we stayed "hunkered down" with the A/C on. A line of severe storms came through Monday night, and things were more comfortable yesterday. It's supposed to be nice for the rest of the week, but the weekend looks "iffy".

We continue to do well of the food front. Al and Mike Bower each had a bottle of Brunello that have been burning a hole in their cellars, so I made Osso Buco (or as it was called in NJ, "Awesome-Buco") with roasted garlic fettuccine. On Monday, we made a recipe that we'd found years ago, penne with asparagus and shrimp in a saffron sauce. This came out quite nicely, although I had to modify the recipe "on the fly" (it called for too much cream and I had to add grated Parmegean to thicken it. Really, I just had to. :-) Even though it turned more to an Alfredo, the saffron still came through. Yesterday, it was an impulsive improvisation. I saw a show on Food Network involving brined pork chops, and adapted it to tenderloins. After brining 4 hours or so, they were stuffed with Proscuitto and Gruyere cheese, browned on the stove and finished in the oven - with whole grape clusters. With "Grandma Whites" (pan-roasted herbed potatoes) and carrots, it came out quite nicely. The roasted grapes and pan juices made for an interesting sauce.

Since it was a little cooler yesterday (mid-80s), I started back on some project work. We've been having a problem with the inverter/charger in the coach for some time, and I finally convinced the manufacturer to replace it. Actually, they just ship a new one, and I have to replace it and return the old one. They charge 50% of the MSRP ($1,050!) and then credit it back when I return the old one in the shipping box. That means that this will not be one of those "when I get around to it" projects. Unfortunately, the thing weighs ~83 pounds so I need to wait for Al on the weekend. And it needs to be done in one fell swoop, since the AC and battery power needs to be off (it makes AC power from the batteries when we're not plugged in, and charges all 10 batteries when we are) to do the swap. It should be pretty straight-forward (2 AC lines in, 2 AC lines out, positive and negative battery cables, 6 bolts holding it in. Here's the tricky part: it's mounted upside down on the "ceiling" of one of the storage bays under the coach. Did I mention that it weighs ~ 83 pounds? Well, yesterday, I rigged up a platform that mounts on top of a hydraulic jack that we can use to lower the old one down and lift the new one up. We'll see how it works on Saturday!

I also spent some time yesterday reworking the DirecTV installation, now that my cooling fans (thanks, Dave!) are tested. I want to make the installation more "permanent" so that things won't move around when we're traveling, but not too much, since the receivers move back and forth to the house when we're in Arizona. I bought a set of drawer slide hardware for each receiver, and will mount them in the cabinets and use Velcro to attach the receivers. This way, I can slide them out when needed and they still won't move around while traveling. I still need to pick up a few more wires and connectors, but I'll finish that project off this week.

From there, it's time to do the annual motorhome maintenance (oil, filters, lube for engine and generator, etc.), which I'll probably start next week. It’ll be a busy week, as we have Britt's High School graduation on Friday, my cousin's daughter's wedding on Saturday, and Britt's graduation party on Sunday.