After growing up in the Midwest, living for a time on the East Coast, and being reminded of how sticky-miserable a humid summer can be while at family reunions in Illinois, I decided without a bit of hesitation that I will never, ever again live in a region with humidity.
In humid climates an air conditioner is an absolute must. I can not imagine Washington, D.C., in August with no A/C - and I have a pretty vivid imagination! But in Wyoming, air conditioners strike me as silly and wasteful.
I also hate being in a bottled up house. I love the windows open, breeze blowing in, and fresh air circulating through the house.
Recently, we were at dinner at our friends Jeff and Linda's and they very graciously offered us an old window air conditioning unit stored in their garage. I politely declined, telling them of my preferences for fresh air blowing through our home and we eventually changed the subject.
This week, 90+ temps and no wind - NO WIND! Unheard of in Wyoming! - has made our old 1920 home HOT. Rigby and Lulu just lie around, trying to find relief on our tiled entryway floor in front of a fan. Todd and I can't bear to even accidentally touch legs on the couch watching t.v. at night. The ceiling fans are pushing around hot air. There isn't a breeze to be had.
I told Todd he should ask Jeff if they still have that window unit. I knew I was going to eat crow because of it. I didn't care...at least too much.
I figured it could help us through this week, which is forecast to be much of the same dry, hot, still weather. Also, there is a life development coming our way that I haven't talked about yet on here (I will, it's just not time yet) and I wanted to experiment with making the house more comfortable.
Jeff dropped the A/C off last night and Todd got it up and running immediately.
It's not a total miracle worker, but it's made a difference. It's really meant to only help cool one room, but we hoped with the openness of the living room into the dining we might feel a little more far reaching effect. Combined with the fans it's not too bad. And as much as I dislike having the windows shut it does keep the heat from pouring in.
And I console myself for breaking down by the thought that it's only temporary. We'll only be switching it on when needed and not relying on it all the time.
Besides, there are only a few weeks each year in Wyoming when an A/C is desirable. So, if we're looking at even one month of air conditioning out of 12 I think we're doing pretty good.
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