April 9, 2010

Home Invasion

I swear I JUST dusted this piece of furniture one week ago.
So, you can imagine how shocked I was to see this level of dust yesterday.

But, the explanation is simple.

We live in a large apartment building.  And, in this apartment building (as is common, I'm finding out), the building, as a whole, can only either be on "heat" or on "AC."  Individual residents can't switch back and forth.  So, even though it's been over 80 degrees all week, we can't switch on our air conditioning until the building decides they want to switch from heat to AC--and they won't do so until they are totally convinced that there won't be any more cold weather for the rest of the season.

So, for 4 days, it's been so hot that we've had to leave the windows open all day and all night.  We've been sleeping without a top sheet or blanket, and we wake up drenched in sweat in the morning.  It's disgusting.

But, the fact that the windows are open all day and night would explain the new, quick, thick layer of dust.

Except that I touched it.

It's not dust.
It's pollen.

And it's covering everything in our house.

I'm thanking the allergy gods that neither of us are particularly prone to seasonal pollen-driven allergies.  We'd be experiencing a whole new level of misery.


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6 Robot Reactions:

JakieWakie said...

It's been like that in Chapel Hill. The deep red brick sidewalks have turned yellow, because the pollen is so thick. Cars that park outside (like ours) have to use wiper fluid to clean the pollen off the windshield in the morning. Thankfully, it rained last night, which took care of a lot of the problem, but the puddles in potholes on the streets are a thick, translucent yellow. It's amazing.

Unknown said...

Just looking at that picture makes my eyes water.

Side of Jeffrey said...

Bitter apartment living.

also, Jakie lives in Chapel Hill now?

Just a little about The Miser said...

Agh, I know the feeling! Only with us, it's just heat. We live in a two family (no relation to the other people living the house). Somehow, however, they have control over the heater. So in the winter, it would have been bitter cold, except I bought space heaters. I'm sure our landlord is annoyed by the rising electricity, but too bad. The neighbors are much more wasteful than us (9 people or so live below us, and only two of them work. The rest is on various government assistance, and use their time to watch a lot of television). In the summer, we use AC window units. I miss my old apartment where I had control over the thermostat :- (

jess said...

gross! i'd be sneezing up a storm!

Joy said...

I'm just seeing that.

Yeah, I had the same issues last week. An apartment that was 80+ degrees because of the AC but I couldn't keep my windows open much because of the pollen. I was so happy when the temperature went way back down to normal.