Heat, Rain & Air Conditioning

We had another hot day here in the Midwest. Younger daughter drove through a brief rainstorm going home from work – she said her car thermometer dropped ten degrees with that rain, so I'm hoping maybe some of that will come this direction! Not only could we use a break in the temps, we could certainly use the moisture. After heavy rains for a while this spring, we've had hardly any moisture in July.

We installed a new air conditioner in our house last summer. It was such an upgrade from the older one that had been here for “goodness knows how many” years. We have a remote control, it's digital, and it cycles rather than staying on nonstop like the old one. I used that old one very little when it was just me in the house.

When hubby and I married, he had just started working for a radio group in Fort Dodge, Iowa – about an hour and a half north of Des Moines. For many reasons, we decided that I would stay here in our home in Carrollton, and we saw each other on the weekends. This was our M-O for a little over five years. Son was here with me the first year, then he moved to Warrensburg.

That old air conditioner was noisy, it stayed on nonstop, it was definitely not energy efficient and therefore expensive to use, and I just didn't really care for it. I'd grown up without air conditioning, and there were several different times in my adult life I didn't have air conditioning. So I left it off except when hubby was home for the weekend. I was perfectly fine making do with fans. In fact, after working in air conditioning all day (and usually being cold), I was glad to come home and spend time outside.

When hubby moved back home to work in 2007, we used the air conditioner so much more. And, sadly, we paid for that privilege in the hot summer weather. I'm so glad we have this newer unit – it's almost paid for itself in the first year we've had it in energy savings.

Like many people in my age group, I was an adult before I lived in a home with air conditioning. I think I was in an apartment in Wichita, Kansas, the first time I had it. Of course, in Wichita, you needed it! I can remember many an evening getting off work at five and going outside to 105 degree heat with a hot wind blowing. Ugh! It was always windy in Wichita.

After Wichita, I lived in northern Oregon for six years. You didn't need air conditioning there. In fact, it was rarely hot enough to need a fan. That was nice......I remember moving there in August of 1976 – everyone in Oregon was running around in tank tops and shorts, while I was bundled up. The air there felt SO different from that hot wind in Wichita! On my first trip to the Pacific Ocean soon after moving, I remember having on jeans, a heavy sweatshirt, tennies and heavy socks – while the locals were in swimsuits and playing in the water. The ocean water off the coast of northern Oregon is 55 degrees.....cold enough that the fishing boats don't bother to stock life vests!

I enjoy hotter weather, so much more than cold weather! But hubby is realizing this year, with both of us being home together, that I'm almost as quick as he is to turn on the air conditioning during this hot weather.......so much different from those years when I was in the a/c all through the work day and ready for a break when I got home!

Here's hoping that all of you in the summer heat have adequate coolness!