Sometimes I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place. Well, it’s more like between dust and heat. You see, I’m north of the equator, so December/January is the “cold” time here. That meant that it felt great to leave my windows open a lot. Most days it was in the 80s, getting down to the 60s at night. I’d wake up in the morning and open all the windows in the house to get lots of fresh air. However, it’s also dusty season, and so there is red dust everywhere. I guess that’s what happens when there’s no grass to keep it on the ground, and it’s only rained one day in the last 4 or so months.
By opening my windows, not only was I letting the fresh air in, but I was also letting the dust in. I’m not a neat freak at all, but it got to the point where after 48 hours I’d feel like I really needed the wash the floor again since it had been so long. I guess that’s what happens when you see foot prints everywhere you place your foot on your tile floor.
Since I got tired of the dust, I decided to just open two windows and leave it at that. That really cut down on the dust, which was nice. I had won the battle against the dust.
But time moves on and seasons change. It’s not January anymore. It’s now February 10th, and the hot season feels like it’s starting already. It’s not as hot as it will be in March and April, but the highs everyday are still in the high 90s. That means that leaving most of the windows closed makes it very hot in my house (I don’t have an air conditioner). As I’m typing this, I now I have 4 of my 5 windows open. I left the kitchen one closed so that my clean dishes stay a little cleaner, but opened the other ones so that it may be “cool” when I go to bed. Lately I’ve been hoping for 90-91 degrees when I go to bed, and then it gets down to about 85 by morning if I leave 3 windows open. So yes, there is more dust coming in now, but at least it’s a tad bit cooler.
All day now it feels like a game against the heat – which windows should I open to let the breeze and which ones should I keep closed to keep out the sun and the heat, and when should I open and close the ones that are closed or open. And as for dust, I figure I’ll just keep washing the floors.
One nice thing about the heat, though, is that I don’t mind anymore that there’s only one temperature knob on all my faucets. Taking a cool shower feels nice again.