Heat is on

Well, fucking FINE.

I usually enjoy summer, but this heat is starting to make me crazy. Constant record breaking heat and humidity (and if you live on the prairie, you are no wussie pants about heat and humidity, but this is RIDICULOUS) and no end in sight. The weather forecasters keep smiling sheepishly and telling us that this heat wave has no end in sight yet.

And I'm one of the lucky ones. I work in a building that is so over air conditioned that I dress in warm clothes every day. I always have a sweater or two in my closet at work to put on when I get too cold.

We just invested in central air conditioning for our home. It is an old, old Victorian (1918) and huge, so we had to actually invest in two central air units, one in our basement and one in our attic. One to cool the downstairs and one to cool the upstairs. I am still shuddering from how much this cost and how my poor house was ripped up. I just felt sorry for her, silly, I know. It was like they were ripping up all of her prettiness. And for what? Because we were tired of air conditioning window units. Tired of having one room feel like a meat locker, while the adjoining rooms had less and less coolness.

Now, it is all in place and we are arguing about where to set the thermostat. I say 76. Bing says 80. We are compromising on 78. Too hot for me, too expensive for her. And when I see the new monthly bill, I just may agree to putting the thermostat on 80. Plus...in this heat, it runs almost as continuously as the window units. To those of you with central air...what do you set your dial on?

I feel like such a weakling. I grew up in a farmhouse without air conditioning until I was in junior high. And then my mother bought ONE unit to be turned on in the dining room to protect our aged antique dining room table. During the summer, we lived in that room. I would sit at that table and read. When I left school, I lived in dorms and apartments that did not have air conditioning, so I just learned to endure.

My first air conditioned home was purchased when I was 27. And since then, I have always had a/c. I have no business complaining about this heat when I am so, so lucky.

But, this summer is broiling hot and humid and it leaves me thinking about my ancestors. Albeit, they lived in Ireland, where the summer was nothing like these prairie ones. I once knew a woman from Norway who was in a few of my classes in med school and she used to just wilt in this prairie heat, said she had no idea why we chose to live here in Hades.

But, think about all those pioneers who lived here, worked the land. God, to be SO hot and then not even have ICE to cool you off! And only one bath a week! The smells emitting from those log cabins must have been downright ripe in the summer! 

High heat and humidity take the spirit right out of you. Leave you sitting like a wet noodle.

And sometimes doing without something after you've gotten used to it is right next to impossible. When I was little, I didn't have the experience of a/c, so I just acclimated to the heat. Now, when I go outside and my glasses fog up from the heat and humid air, I instantly feel crabby.

It's only the end of June and I am hungry for a Autumn breeze.

I think I need to take some advice from my dear departed Irish mother:

Buck up and quit yer bawlin'!

That was her answer for her children who complained. She would call us Annies or complaining Susans. She had an aunt named Annie who constantly complained (or mewled as my mother would say) and a cousin named Susan who did plenty of bitching and moaning. I learned from an early age not to whine.

Which is a good thing since I have a really hard time dealing with whiny people.

And yet, I sit here whining in a blog.

So...how is your summer going? Are you steadfast and sturdy in the heat? Or weak and um...MEWLISH?

Or somewhere in between?