i found my father outside putting in the window exhaust/intake hoses from the portable whynter's air conditioner (ARC-14S) my aunt gave us. originally he had it in the casement window closest to the entrance, but that meant the AC would be blowing hot exhaust onto a tall shrub all summer time, so he moved it to the other casement window. originally he didn't think the window slider would fit until i suggested he could mount it vertically instead of horizontally. he had everything locked into place and involved removing the inner sash and putting it back in, which was a real challenge. unfortunately today was a breezy cool day, not as humid as yesterday, so we didn't need to use the AC.
my mother made some chicken noodle for lunch, served with some leftover spicy cellophane noodle salad she made yesterday for my aunt's arlington dinner.
yesterday the last of the lotus coin leaves that was just a leaf bud stem has now slowly began to unfurl into a proper lotus leaf. as for the oldest lotus with the 3 coin leaves, the 3rd coin leaf was in the middle of opening up yesterday, but today has completely opened. what's weird is yesterday there was still some tinge of green, but once fully opened it's taken on a reddish purple color. the 2nd coin leaf is yellowish green, while the 1st coin leaf is entirely green. the shallow barrel which was still clear as of yesterday has now turned a murky greenish color, most likely due to algae bloom. it's an easy fix - just refill the barrel - that would also mean getting rid of the chlorine conditioned and BTi treated water. i'll keep it as is for now, unless it begins to affect the lotuses. they're used to growing in murky waters anyway, and once more lotus leaves are produced, they will cover the water surface, blocking any sunlight from reaching the bottom, thereby stopping the algae growth.
of that daisies that are above 3ft tall, not only are the plants big, but the flower buds as well, the biggest i've seen. some fungus that look like dead man's fingers have appeared behind the pussy willow tree in the backyard and behind the sheep laurel bush in the frontyard. the patch of wild strawberries have fruited, little tiny red strawberries slightly bigger than a raisin, not worth picking them off the ground.
around 2:40pm the sky turned into an armageddon landscape. dark clouds churned overhead, the winds picked up, and my father and i retreated back into the house.
we began to suspect that the delonghi dehumidifier DD50P wasn't quite working. we shut off the pump to see how much water would collect in the tank. when we saw there was no water, we knew something was up. so we decided to open it up and look around inside. it could be as simple as cleaning the dust off of the condensors. we removed the screws but couldn't get the back cover to come off. while my father kept on trying, i went online trying to find a teardown video, but i had zero luck. finally we figured out it was because the drain cap was still attached, preventing us from removing the cover. once the cap was off, the cover came off easily. there was some dust on the condensor coils and fins, but it wasn't that bad. however the compressor was scaldingly hot, and i noticed there was a faint burning smell earlier which i now know came from the dehumidifier. after brushing and vacuuming off the dust accumulation, we opened up the fan assembly. we imagined it to be clogged with dust, but it was pristine on the inside. so the problem seems to be the compressor, but it's not a part that can be easily removed and replaced. looks like we have no choice but to buy a new dehumidifier.
true, we have that basement-window-mounted AC with the dry mode, but an air conditioner is not as efficient as a dehumidifier when it comes to lowering the humidity. and we're still not sure if the AC is even working the way we want because the external humidity meter still reads high (70%+ humidity), even after the AC's been on for days.
after dinner i left for cambridge around 6:45pm. radar said heavy rain was approaching at 7pm, and my mother wanted me to stop by my sister's place to let hailey out to use the bathroom. it started to drizzle a few minutes after i left, and the rain increased steadily. after letting hailey out, i continued home. by the time i arrived, the front of my t-shirt and my shorts were soaked.
by 1pm we'd already beaten may 2018's production record. the final production for june 2019 is 1135kWh, compared to may 2018's 1120kWh. today's production was 25.61kWh, similar to yesterday with wild swings. also like yesterday, in the late afternoon we flirted with zero production as the sky darkened for a brief period for a thunderstorm. unfortunately automatic energy reporting never triggered so i'll need to call up as many as three different places - masscec, united solar, and solaredge - to get it fixed.
annie didn't come home until after midnight, i was starting to get worried. i had visions of her murdered, and how i'd have to contact her parents and clean out her room. later i found out via her wechat post that she went into boston to catch miss saigon at the boston opera house.