Big heat wave .. but no brownouts

We in SW Oklahoma have been suffering 100+ temps for about 40 days straight – 112 degrees yesterday – with only enough rain to wet the pavement.

Our last killer heat wave was in 1980 .. I remember seeing people wearing T-shirts with “I survived the Summer of ’80″ .. but I also remember electricity shortages and brownouts. But not this time.

What’s changed? One thing is all the wind farms that sprang up around here in the past few years .. and you see solar panels everywhere.

It might give you a headache trying to read it, but one of the things this Electric Power Monthly report (PDF) shows is that our nation’s demand for electricity has declined 16 percent since ’07.

You could blame it on the recession, but the decline started earlier. It seems that we Americans have been getting serious about saving energy in our homes and businesses .. with high-efficiency lights, programmable thermostats, etc.

I know this is true for me. Take this year .. when winter ends and before summer begins, we in SW OK have mild temps .. cold mornings and hot afternoons. I’ve been turning my central heat and A/C unit off for two or three months. I do the same in the fall.

I use little electric space heaters by my feet on cool mornings, and oscillating table fans and ceiling fans when it warms up. My electric bill fell to $41 .. for a modern 3 bedroom brick bungalow.

I should mention that I quit using my clothes dryer a while back – the plug melted, almost causing a fire, electricians put a new plug on but it still scares me to death. So I hang my washing out on the line to sun dry .. boy, does it smell sweet.

Anyway, when the weather started heating up I turned my A/C on a few times in May, mostly for guests – I have it set at 80 degrees, which is fine for me if I have a fan on me. My next leccy bill was $61.

Finally, I just left the A/C on by the time the July killer heat wave rolled in .. my last bill was $122 .. my family was tired of hearing me brag and give energy saving advice anyway. They still think my leccy bill is low .. but they have bigger houses and lots of people running in and out.

I keep my drapes and curtains pulled tight .. even clothespinned a dark blue king-sized sheet over the drapes at the hottest patio sliding doors .. you’d be surprised how much heat that keeps out.

I’m a winter girl, love autumn and winter the best. I hole up during the heat, never go out after 11 am. If I have errands or shopping to do, I leave the house around 8 o’clock, then quickly scurry back home.

Okay, now let me brag about my last gas bill – $23. I have a gas water heater, cook stove and oven. I know, I know .. don’t let the word get out that SW OK is such a good place to live .. except for the occasional tornado .. and the killer heat waves every few years.

Now the Tea-Peeps can get back to renaming post offices …

Senate rejects John Boehner’s bill

“WASHINGTON — After a 24-hour delay and concessions to conservatives, the House on Friday narrowly approved a Republican fiscal plan that the Senate quickly rejected in a standoff over the federal debt ceiling that was keeping the government on a path to potential default. …..

Two hours after the House approved its plan, it was convincingly tabled in the Senate by a vote of 59 to 41, and Democrats took steps to move ahead with their proposal. …

Though Mr. Boehner and his allies had secured the votes, the margin of victory was narrow. Lawmakers, aware that the fight was probably not over, did not celebrate with the usual applause, hooping and hollering that erupts when a hard-fought bill goes over the top. [..]“

Boehner was almost pathetic on the House floor in his “please save my job, I stuck my neck out a mile for you” speech .. he pandered to the Tea Party loonies by adding the balanced budget amendment to his bill. Everybody knew the Senate would reject it .. including some Republicans.

Economic experts of both parties think that a federal balanced budget amendment would virtually guarantee another Great Depression within the next 20-30 years.

So when you spend countless hours creating a piece of legislation that you know will never become law, it’s the other party’s fault because …

You almost have to feel sorry for Boehner .. trying to herd a right-wing caucus that doesn’t believe in compromise, won’t accept concessions, and doesn’t seem to care what its own Speaker negotiates.

This is the man who accuses the President of the United States of failure to lead? The President of the United States, disliked and disrespected by the GOP, just played the GOP and the Tea Party like a violin by compelling them to reveal who they really are and what they’re really up to .. they created an artificial crisis, hoping to be able to blame the President for it all.

So now the Senate Democrats are frantically trying to work over the Reid plan to make it conservative enough to stand a chance in the House .. acceptable to enough Senate Republicans so they won’t filibuster .. and reasonable enough to keep Dems in both chambers from gagging.

And they probably have to do all of this today, with the global economy hanging in the balance. No pressure.

I want something in that bill that will prevent this kind of completely unnecessary drama with every debt ceiling vote in the future .. because the Tea Party loonies will do this again and again .. as long as the GOP panders to them instead of standing up to them.

This is getting ridiculously dangerous now .. we are gambling with the fate of the world economy.

Late-night jokes round-up – Bill Maher – 7/30/11

“After all of these weeks of negotiating about the debt ceiling and trying to keep the deficit down, John Boehner today walked out and stopped taking Obama’s calls. This should be very reassuring to the markets. One side’s policy is budget cuts and closing tax loopholes and the other side’s policy is ‘I’ll be at my mother’s.’” –Bill Maher

“Obama said he had been left at the altar a couple of times. And he asked a great question. He said, ‘Can they say yes to anything?” A Democrat now has offered cuts in Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and the Republicans still said ‘no.’ What is the Democrats’ next offer? Kansas goes back to being a slave state? Obama moves back to Kenya?” –Bill Maher

“I’m sick of this. Every week’s it’s the same story. Our news is so monotonous, when Rupert Murdoch taps our phones, he just lets the machine pick up.” –Bill Maher

“Did you see Rupert Murdoch testifying before parliament in London this week. And his Chinese-born ninja wife? Did you see that, when the guy had the pie and she sprung into action? That’s what I call a tiger MILF. That’s the mystery of Asians to me. Lightening quick with cat-like reflexes, until they get behind the wheel.” –Bill Maher

“Michele Bachmann was in the news this week for her migraines. They say she gets terrible migraines. Some people say as often as once a week she is incapacitated by these migraines for days. Even scarier news, other days she’s perfectly fine.” –Bill Maher

“Sarah Palin is becoming a grandmother again (or for the first time, who knows). It’s not Bristol – Bristol, of course, is re-saving herself for marriage. This is Palin’s oldest son Track. His wife is pregnant. They got married two months ago, and now she looks like she’s six months pregnant. So you do the math, because certainly the Palins can’t.” –Bill Maher

“What is it with this family and pregnancy? Do they not have condoms up there in Alaska? When they say ‘don’t retreat, reload,’ they are not f*cking around. I think they think abstinence is Latin for ‘no anal.” –Bill Maher

“It was 123 degrees in Minnesota. How far is Al Gore going to take this global warming hoax?” –Bill Maher

“123 degrees in Minnesota? Michele Bachmann’s husband went in the closet just for the shade.” –Bill Maher

“In Washington, the air quality today was described as ‘red.’ I’d never heard that. ‘Red,’ somewhere between smog and barbeque sauce. You know what ‘red’ is? It’s bad for everyone, not just old people, sick people and babies. When it’s just bad for old people, sick people and babies, that’s called a Republican budget.” –Bill Maher

[a tip of the hat to Daniel Kurtzman, HBO]