On the calendar it isn't summer yet, but with the first temps in the 90's this week along with the dreaded three h's... (hazy, hot, humid) spring seems to be slipping by much too fast.
The airconditioner is back from it's 9 month visit to the garage. I'm really not an 'airconditioning' type of person. I keep it in the bedroom incase I can't take it any more on those HHH nights, when the ceiling fan isn't doing enough. I used to put one in the Diningroom, too. I don't anymore. My thought was this would cool the whole place down, but it didn't, and it destroyed the view of the garden. Full house air isn't feasible in this old house.
Air "conditioning." That's what I'm musing about this morning. Silly as it seems, I never thought of it as conditioning, but that's what it is. We are conditioning the air to make it more comfortable to be in. Making air do what we want.
There are those people who run air-conditioners 24-7. It's almost a sense of entitlement.... somehow man has triumphed over hot air, and no more shall ye bask in one's sweat sitting in front of a fan. Energy use is not part of the equation if you can afford the bill. Comfort takes precedence over everything. I don't fit in with that view. I actually LIKE summer. The three H's are great when I'm on a golf course with beer and sun and shorts. I like the heat. I like cool breezes now and then. I feel hermetically sealed in with full house air. I'm in airconditioning all day at work. I want to actually feel summer when I'm home.
I find it best to ration airconditioning as an occasional means of escape from the drudgery of heat, but still maintaining a sense of summer. Windows open mostly....ceiling fans, etc. A happy medium of man and hot air. Perhaps even a thought to conservation. Avoid the whole "rolling blackout" thing we had here a few years ago.
And, besides, without the diningroom airconditioner in the window, the cat retains her view of the garden and woods.
But the bedroom window will be off limits till September.
1 comment:
Enjoyed this. I actually know what you mean about not going into denial about summer. I actually only have 1 AC unit. But it doesn't cool the whole house. Yesterday I ordered a second one and have been having so much financial guilt about it. And have been wondering if it's really necessary. I watched a fascinating program on PBS about "cold" (what it is, how people used to think about it ... the theory for a while was that it was an element!). Some major innovations changed the world permanently: ice (as you would imagine ... being able to transport/story food safely). And AC. With the introduction of AC, our sense of community shifted. When once people sat out on their porch and fanned themselves and drank iced tea together. Anything to be out in the breeze. So there was a strong sense of community. But when ACs came along, everyone shut themselves inside their houses. I think about that a lot. And thought about it when I got up this morning. And thought about how my parents have never--not once in their entire lives--had so much as a window unit in their home. And how that felt "right." I keep toying with the idea of cancelling the second AC order. Will be a hard call, though. Something about summer in the city when it's sweltering hot makes me homocidal. If I were in the country, I'd probably not have any. But here. With all of the cement. AC units seem "natural."
Post a Comment