Listen to the Rain

It's been unseasonably warm in Chicago, the warmest stretch of days in November on record, with most days over 20°C and people spending time out in the parks or on the beach. When I wrote about people dancing in the streets, they were mostly doing it in short sleeves! So for weeks, we've had the windows open and both the heat and the aircon off.

Well, today it's 1°C, and that was almost a big problem because when a lightning storm rolled in yesterday I went to close one of the windows in the sun nook and noticed that one of the corners was bowed outward and there was a draft coming in. Who knows how long it has been like that--I hadn't opened that particular window since I moved in, and while sashagee has, the blinds and the screen made it hard to see what was going on. I only realized there was a problem because it's a casement window and the lever came detached from the window so I had to remove the screen to replace it. I eventually managed to force it closed by taking dental floss and pulling the outward corner of the window in until it was close enough to engage the lock and force it shut, so at least it's mostly sealed and can keep the cold out!

I'm going to have to do something about it eventually, but hopefully not until May or so. At least now turning on the heat won't be a total waste.