So it's on it's way...The FUCKING HOT days of summer that I absolutely dread. It seems that this past winter we never really got much of a winter. A few cold cold days and then BOOM HOT HOT HOT.
I grew up in a house without central air, only central heat. We had a window unit and a ceiling fan in our living room and small fans throughout the house and they cooled us down even though our summers in northwest Florida averaged 89 or 90 on the average day. Our house pretty much maintained low 70s thanks to the fact it was well insulated and the brickwork kept it cool. Now, it seems hotter than it was when I was went I was younger and it takes a bit more effort to stay cool on hot days.
When I was little, I'd not think twice about running through the sprinkler, drenching myself with the garden hose or jumping in the neighbor's pool while they were out of town.
Back when I lived in Atlanta the first time (a few months in 1992) I never got hot and I never had to wear deodorant...I never really perspired and I didn't get stinky for some odd reason...No I just think of heat and I'm sweating buckets. I guess I was either used to the warm weather. Now that I lived in Georgia, many years later, it seems that I just can't get comfy. During the summer, I get up in the morning, shower, use a little powder and Anti Monkey Butt and deodorant because I not only don't want to stink but I also don't wanna sweat. I try to limit my activities to 1 small room in the house with my portable A/C unit or a fan. Around 2pm, showertime and another at 8 or 9pm.
I few years ago, our A/C almost completely shut down for a month and we had to rely on my portable A/C unit that I'd bought in case of an emergency or to suppliment our failing unit. That was possibly the worst time that Terry and I had in regards to fights. The A/C froze up the second it cut on, not only was there ice on the inside unit but also at the fan outside. We got taken by a dishonest Russian HVAC tech who cost us a further 24 hours of grief when he blew the fuse on the unit and didn't know what he did. Terry and I were miserable for most of the month of June into July and stayed most of the time cooped up in our bedroom because it would be 98 degrees and upwards in the house and opening windows only made it worse. At night, when I had to cook, would bake in my toaster oven because I didn't want to use the regular oven. I'd cook on 1 burner because I didn't want to light any others and always meals that took less than 15 minutes to prepare. We had lots of microwaved meals and salad. When we got a reputable tech out a few weeks into July, he discovered our problem was we had a small leak and most of our freon was gone. The second he defrosted the coils, recharged the freon was the second our house seemed to get brighter and feel more like a home rather than a sauna. I was almost at the point of offering sex to get someone out to replace our A/C unit...though I'd probably wouldn't have gotten far as a box fan for that deal.
I did get creative during this time, I tried to make A/C units using coolers, ice water, copper tubing and other items like I'd seen on instructables.com. Nothing was a success and I ended up more with messes rather than satisfaction.
Going out in public during the summer is almost torture since you cannot escape the heat. I ended up buying a knock off of the old Sharper Image Personal Cooling System that fit around your neck. I wish I'd held onto the original one that I bought as an impulse purchase. My retard of an ex-boss at Brookstone talked me into returning it so I could buy a crappy Brookstone fan instead of supporting the cooler compitition. Now that Sharper Image 1.0 is no more the Personal Cooling System 3.0 became a thing of the past. I've noticed the NEW Sharper Image offers a similar product now called CoolWare but I discovered it after I'd already bought my "Magic Neck Cooler" on amazon.com, it's almost the same thing but a little loud...I don't question global warming, I pay attention to weather patterns and climate changes, it seems that it's more of a cycle than changes though. If you look at the temps from the 40s and 50s you'd notice that they seem to mirror those of the 1990s and 2000s. It seems that a lot of head up their ass people enjoy spouting global warming doesn't exist...Maybe it doesn't but I don't think Al Gore was talking out of his ass at all.
Well, it's about time for Terry and I to recharge our A/C unit again and it seems that R-22 is now being phased out and the HVAC techs have realized they can charge more for it. Hopefully in the next few years, we'll either be out of this house or get our HVAC unit totally replaced.
A pool in the backyard would be FABULOUS but thanks to the fact we don't have it fenced in yet, we can't have one. Anyone out there wanna do me a favor and rectify that? Til then, I'll use the pool that I've been using for the past few years. (wink wink)
So what do you do to stay cool?
