Giving Satan the Evils

Ha, Satan is playing with me. Here's the dilemma. It gets goddamn hot here in the summer and our little house becomes quite sauna-like, especially the upstairs. Sometimes, in spite of the ceiling fans, it's difficult to sleep in these conditions. So we have been toying with the idea of buying a portable air conditioner, especially with my little grandchildren coming to stay. But I have real problems with the profligate use of electricity to actually take warmth OUT of the air and blow it out of the window. After all, the year before last when the whole of the eastern seaboard suffered a massive power failure in mid-summer, it was blamed on people over-loading the system with air-conditioners.

And my resolve will apparently be really tested next weekend when we are forecast a freak mini-heatwave for the weekend, the temperature is supposed to reach 37º.

So, on the one hand, my babies and grand-babies suffering from the heat, on t'other, my integrity and the planet. Yeah, you know Satan's going to win on this one.

I'm not the only one being bugged by Satan either. I was shocked, yet again, by an article Sleepy sent me this morning. How, how, how, in this day and age, hell, in any day and age, can anyone turn out to chant 'Death to Homosexuals,' at a gay pride march? What is it that so threatens people about homosexuality that they are enraged to the point of assaulting other human beings?
I mean, I can kind of see it with religion. History has taught us some very sorry lessons about how connected religion and politics are and how people's daily lives are affected by a change of religious ideology in the driving seat.
But homosexuality? If we had an entirely gay government, how would our lives change? It's not like we'd all be expected to be gay in the way that a 'straight' government CAN expect everyone to be the same as them.
Argh, it drives me insane.

The picture of Home Depot is, well, because I couldn't resist. I do try to shop Canadian (Rona) but Home Depot is nearer and since what I wanted to buy was potting compost and Kevin had read that a new, more environmentally friendly brand was available there, to HD I went.

But HD has a couple of things I can't help but like. Firstly, although they are an American company, they have taken care to print their receipts with Canadian date notation. And they have introduced the self service checkout, which is, quite frankly, brilliant. Just stopped myself from typing 'awesome'. And it has evolved.
When it first appeared at our local branch, you could only use debit card and it was a bit frail. Today I used it and whoever is updating this thing is really paying attention. I like that. The goods go on a scanner, then onto the bagging area to check that the weight ties up with the goods scanned. The screen gives you step by step instructions. I was able to pay by cash, since the compost only cost $2.97. The coins came out in a little coin return place, and then I stood there wondering where my $5 note was going to appear.
'Bills are returned under the scanner,' said a voice from the machine. Nicely done, telepathy and all.
Not all that is wicked is the work of Satan.