LFGryph

Yesterday, our air conditioning decided to stop working.

I live in South Carolina, and our temps have been hovering around 90F-100F for the last…I’m not sure how long, but too long for me. More important than my own comfort or lack thereof, is the safety and health of my smol pets.

Neither my gargoyle gecko nor my gerbils are supposed to be in extreme heat. Gerbils may originate in the desert, but in their natural habitat they burrow deep underground during the hottest parts of the day. And gargoyle geckos are one of the New Caledonian geckos which also are not built to withstand much heat. Both pets do best right around room temperature or a little higher – one reason I own them, since it makes their care a little easier. At least, when the air conditioning isn’t broken. Gargoyle geckos shouldn’t be in temps over about 82F and gerbils, 77F.

The house’s main thermostat was 85F when I got home from work yesterday. The thermometer I keep in my office was “only” at about 82F, but that’s still way too hot for the smols.

Luckily, we do have a window air conditioning unit in the bedroom. With some finagling, we were able to put the gerbil’s cage in there, and I put poor Ember the gecko in one of his temporary habitats so he could join them. This meant we had to keep all the cats out of the bedroom, since they’re all pretty sure the smols would be super interesting toys if they could only open their cages.

Add to the general stress of all that, and not knowing how much repairs would cost, I really struggle with changes in routine sometimes. Like, to an objectively unreasonable degree. I don’t know if it’s a manifestation of my ADHD – I often rely on routine to make sure I don’t forget important things – or if I’m neurodivergent in additional ways. But the upshot is that situations like this throw me off my game entirely. And my routine for my days off is already thrown off this week (today was my Friday) with more additional errands needing to be done than I like to have crammed in.

Our air conditioning was able to be fixed today while I was at work, at least. I came home on my lunch break to help Nash get the smols back where they belong, and at least the repairs weren’t as expensive as they could have been. But I was also absolutely wiped and needed to lie down for a couple hours by the time I got home again at the end of the day.

I did tell myself that for Blaugust I wanted to give myself the option of doing at least one “freebie” post with just a picture or a couple lines if I needed, but I’m a little loath to follow through on that one. So I thought I’d write this little mini update about what caused me to not finish the other posts I had planned instead. At least it gave an excuse for pet pics!

I’ll also add the bonus pics of the newest way you can track my hyperfixation on Good Omens. I found an artist on Etsy who upcycles used books into jewelry, and one of the books she has jewelry from is Good Omens. While I used to be one of those who finds physical books sacrosanct, and I do own multiple used books and books I’ve had since I was a child, I’ve come to a better understanding that sometimes books just wear out. Sometimes there’s not a good home for them. (It’s probably due to having more librarians in my life as friends, honestly.) So even though I still side eye some book upcycling, there are some projects – like this jewelry – I find to be loving tributes to the stories that touch our hearts. The artist is Erin Casey Crafts, for anyone interested.

Curious about #Blaugust2023? Visit the Blaugust 2023 is Coming page, where you can also join the Discord. Or check out #Blaugust2023 on social media.