Zip-off pants, FTW. Again.

The  orange t-shirt, brown zip-off pants and offending bare legs.

The top level of Angkor Wat is still used as a temple and as such, there are guidelines you must adhere to before climbing the 50+ stairs (at a 40 degree incline) to get to the top temple. Women with uncovered legs and shoulders are not allowed up. It was 98 degrees and 95% humidity....clearly I was wearing shorts the day we visited the temple. But because of my aforementioned affinity for looking down on things from up high, we returned to Angkor Wat the next day (sans guide, with appropriate attire) for additional exploring. 

The view from the top

The view from the top

After contemplating several options for "appropriate attire" for the temple, including taking a scarf I bought in the city market and tying it sarong style around my waist, I opted for my hiking pants. Also known as my zip-off pants. These bad boys were once the object of my ridicule, but have more than once earned my love and praise. Peru, for example. Mountains of western Washington. And now, Cambodia. I donned my brown zip-off pants (sans legs) and an orange t-shirt and headed off the day. When we arrived at the stairs to the top of the ruins, I promptly zipped on some pant legs, got clearance to pass and viewed the top of the structure. It was awesome. I descended, removed said legs and went on about my way. There was no way I was wearing more clothes than absolutely necessary: it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit that day. I know this because the refrigerated truck vendor guy who sold us some bottle water read us the temperature off his meat thermometer. It was SO HOT he was reading air temperature on a MEAT THERMOMETER.

Once again, my zip-off pants have proven to be worth their weight in gold.

Me in the top of Angkor Wat

Rilla #12

So, I'm cat-sitting for Rosie and Sigma this week.

Their cat Doyle just hasn't been the same since his "domestic life partner", Skunky, passed away in December. Rosie and Sigma are nervous for him and really hate to leave him alone overnight. So they asked me to stay at their house so that Doyle wasn't alone.

I moved in a couple of days ago and have been having a lovely time at Rosie & Sigma's. I've eaten their food, used their washing machine and consumed their liquor. All with their blessing.

It's been really hot this week and Monday night I went over to Pie's house to watch The Bachelorette with Pie and Fritha and Pickle (per our usual) and when I got home, the house was warm. I opened windows to get some breeze going on in the house, but it took a while to have an effect.

In order to cope, I wound up lying on the living room floor, wearing shorts and only a bra, waiting for it to cool off. It was too hot for a t-shirt....too hot for sitting on the couch...too hot for anything but lying on the floor, shirtless. At one point, I thought an icy cold beverage would help, but decided that getting up to get said beverage would be a lot of effort. So there on the floor I laid and there on the floor I stayed.

Even though I was at Rosie & Sigma's and not at my house, the point remains the same: those of us who live alone can lie shirtless on the floor without worrying about someone tripping over us, stepping on us or whining that we're in the way. Nor do we have to feel bad about lying on the floor shirtless when clearly there is laundry or housecleaning that could be done.

I love living alone! At my house or yours....

New Neighbors

I really kinda love the building across the street, from what I can tell through the windows, it has fantastic fixtures and cabinets, great molding, beautifully redone.

It was empty for a while. The owners put it on the market, but it didn't sell, so they listed it as a rental and it finally got occupied. Since the new people moved in, there have been a couple of odd incidents. Cars parked out front with car alarms, people coming and going at odd hours and one night last week, there was a guy outside yelling up at the window, before sneaking in the fence gate and around back.

But today, I noticed that I can see pretty much directly into the bedroom of the building from my couch.

My living room windows open onto my building's walkway. To prevent being unknowingly viewed by neighbors and others walking by, I keep my blinds lowered and closed. But this week, it's been pretty hot (for Seattle) and since there's no air conditioning, I'm relying on breeze and fans to stay cool. Tonight, my blinds were closed, but raised up about a foot, so the open window wasn't blocked. When sitting on my loveseat, casually looking around, I saw CLEARLY into my neighbors' window, whose blinds were also lifted a couple of feet. It's dark outside, lights on inside, VERY easy to see in.

I have no idea what their faces look like, but I do know that the bed is either on a very low frame, or directly on the floor, that the guy has a bit of a beer gut, but the woman is very toned and tanned. His red plaid boxers were worn "plumber style" and her black bra was a great match to her black thong.

By this point, embarassed though I was to see my neighbors in a state of undress, it was sort of like a trainwreck. Couldn't. Look. Away. They would sit (on the low bed, out of view) for a while, then get up and walk around. Then leave the room, then return. All while remaining in the same state of undress.

I reckon the hot weather made them want to wear as little clothing as possible. Yeesh.