Today radiated warmth; it reached 79 degrees! I knit at Purlescence a couple of hours, and the beverage of choice was iced coffee or tea from the nearby Peet’s.

When I returned home, I went in the loft to watch a movie with Husband. Soon I was sweating, because it’s on the third floor (of course, it’s a loft) and there are no windows other than the jammed window in the roof. The repairman can’t come until March 20. We estimate the temperature in the room was at least 90 degrees. My sister-in-law was planning to sleep on the futon up there, but it doesn’t feel comfortable. We opened the windows in the second and first floor rooms, but there are fewer than at the old house and there’s just not the cross-ventilation we used to get.

So we went to our friends’ to borrow their air mattress and compressor for the guest room, just in case she decides the loft is unbearable (I wouldn’t be able to sleep there). We then went to Orchard Supply Hardware to look for a window lever, because we thought the lever might be broken. (We’d also borrowed our friends’ six-foot ladder.) Husband climbed up to examine the window while I held the ladder (the ceiling is 10 feet high at one end of the window and 14 feet high at the other end). He dismounted the crank box and discovered the internal gears are ruined, probably from prior efforts to force it open after it originally jammed. There’s no way to fix this tonight; nor is it safe to prop the window up with a stick. I’m a tad exasperated that this was never examined before we moved in (there have been a lot of these small problems). Husband is going to try to find a new box from a supplier and replace it himself. I just wish we had a taller ladder.

Ah, the joys of home rental.