Naturally cool

I sing the same song every year. “This year,” I tell my skeptical family, “we will not turn on the air conditioner.” And every year I make it until that three or four week stretch of really hot August or early September weather. When the house acts like an oven and holds heat making the nights uncomfortably warm. But this summer I managed to do exactly what I said I would do. The air conditioner was never turned on. Instead, going back to my Southern roots, I worked to manage the temperature of the air in my house. At night, I replaced the comforter with a lightweight vintage chenille bedspread and slept under a spinning ceiling fan. In the morning, when the house was cool, I closed the windows on the main floor and pulled the curtains on the south and west sides of the house. Upstairs I installed a window fan. It brought in cool air at night and when the day started to warm up it was turned around to blow out the heat. I tried to pay attention to where the sun settled on the house and which rooms could be counted on to stay cooler. At night we opened the door and listened to the sounds of people walking up and down the street, taking a late stroll to the park. I still relied on my slow-cooker to make convenient meals for the family, but instead of putting it on the counter in the kitchen, I set it up on the server on the patio and let it simmer there. (I noticed the cats and dogs spent more time on the patio this summer than they usually do, too.) True, summer was late to arrive this year and was a bit milder than usual. But there were a few weeks when it would have been easier to hit the switch. When the nights didn’t cool off until almost time to wake up. One added bonus was the quiet. Without the noisy compressor running, we could sit on the patio and talk softly. There was no loud mechanical soundtrack. I pulled out an old paper fan and created my own breeze when it was needed. I also noticed that without air-conditioning in the house, I was less tolerant of overly-cooled buildings and businesses. I know next year could bring a heat wave that makes it more difficult to resist, but I’m going to my best try to stick to my fans and my plan.