Month: June 2009

This past Saturday Carolyn had her birthday party…

There were endless New Orlean crawfish being served, which Karen and I finally learned the proper technique for eating them, thanks to April…  All you need to do is break their neck, detach the head, and sip the body!

The party was Hawaiian themed, so there were a plethora of leis for everyone, including Lia!

Some of Carolyn’s other friends were also here, such as Jujube…

Then there was the candle blowing…

And the bubble blowing…

Then we went inside to answer 20 questions about Carolyn, where the winner gets Hawaiian T-shirts! The winners were Karen and Phoebe, but they ended up with Chocolate Truffles instead… since when did Jun join marketing?

After a couple more games, Lia’s drowsy eyes turned into teary eyes, so we had to leave the party, but not before we wished Carolyn a first birthday!

From James, Karen, and Lia!

Summers in Seattle are fun. When the sun is out, it’s nice to walk outside, go to the park, and soak in the rays that is scarce most of the year when the city is veiled by the curtain of rain. After the nice day of jogging around Greenlake, you return home to find yourself in a blazing furnace, aka your home.

Sound familiar? Ever since we had to euthanize the White Pine in our backyard, we’ve had find tricks to deal with the heat of the day. Here are of those tricks:

1. Cool the house at night, then seal the coldness in by closing the windows in the morning. A well-insulated house should be able to hold the temperature until the afternoon. A relative actually thought we had A/C in the house! Be strategic in which windows you open or you’ll let in more than just the cool air… e.g. burglar.
2. Install A/C and take the $200 energy bill loss. I tried a portable AC once and it took an hour to lower the temperature by 1 degree. That said, without the AC it probably would have increased by 5.
3. Defy the conventional wisdom of blowing fans in your face by facing the fans outward, not inward. Fans draw air from surrounding, so by facing inward you may just be recycling the heat along with any heat from the bowl of chili you had for lunch. Face it outward and you can help draw the fresh, cool air in.
4. Plant trees around the house. Yes, we still miss the White Pine and are still search for viable replacements. Warning: Blackberries do not make for good house-shading.
5. Limit heat-generating activities for night time, such as dishwashing. Instead of that heat-generating Hot Pot, try eating cold Soba Noodles and salad.
6. Install skylights. Heat rises, so the skylight really helps vent out the hot air. Make sure you install the kind that opens, or you’ll end up letting more sun in and trapping more heat. 
7. If you have windows with insufficient roof or tree cover, try installing awnings. I haven’t tried this myself, but sounds like a good idea as long as you don’t choose the variety that were used in the era of your great-grandparents. Then again, maybe that’s a good thing.

If you have some tips on what works and what does not work on cooling down your home, leave a comment as I’d like to know about them!