New summer highs, new AC
With 20/20 hindsight,
I've concluded that a partial cause of last summer's stomach troubles
was simply heat stress. We used to see only a few days each summer when
highs exceeded 90...but last year we instead had to deal with weeks of
that weather with no relief in sight. When similar highs began in April
this year, I decided to lower my standards and buy an air
conditioner.
Mark already has an AC
in his man cave, so he knew exactly how to put one into odd spaces. In
true Trailersteading style, he installed my unit
by cutting a hole in the wall then chinking back in around it until the
air conditioner became a permanent part of our living space. No air
leakage there!
Although I felt
exceedingly guilty when I turned the unit on the first time, I quickly
realized two things. Using basic passive
cooling techniques
and setting the thermostat at 74 means the AC only runs for short
intervals even on the hottest days. Plus, since my brain shuts down
once my living space rises above about 83, the air conditioner has more
than paid for itself by increasing my writing time. I suspect this will
be another one of those modern
conveniences I learn
to love...as long as we keep the energy use within reason.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I can't agree with you enough that it's harder to think when it's too warm in the house. Here in the northern SF Bay Area, summers are cool or comfortable until they're not. Longtime residents claim you only use or wish for AC for a few weeks a year in total. But I think our local climate changing for the hotter. I actually prefer a lifestyle without AC, practing passive cooling techniques and enjoying the natural changes in temperature throughout the day...to a point. Glad you're enjoying your AC. Maybe I'll take the plunge again one (hot) day.
As a native Minnesotan of Scandinavian heritage residing in south Georgia, I can't thank the inventor of the air conditioner enough!
Living where it hit 95 today and knowing it will be like that until mid September does not make me happy...
At least in SW VA where you are it cools down at night- here, you can go outside at 10 PM and it will still be in the low 80's and so humid the sweat starts to drip as you do nothing but stand still!
NOBODY is going to think less of you because you put in a window unit.