Cheating Summer

Well, the first day of summer hit like a Mack truck. I went to meet a friend at the Blackbird Expresso Bar and Bistro at 10:00 a.m., and after I came home, I did not go out again. It was very hot and very windy, and I had no desire to be anywhere near it again for the rest of the day. The first thought that always occurs to me when the typical Kansas weather extremes fall out of the sky like a wrecking ball is, "Well, here we are, back into the miserable corner of the northeast Kansas climate," because, in reality, the weather here is pretty temperate all year around, for the most part, but when the extreme cold and the extreme heat hit, it can be brutal. The second thought that always occurs to me when the weather breaks, whether it's up into the 90s in the summer or down below zero in the winter, is remembering how we survived in the summer without air conditioning. We did not have it all our lives, like they do today. Air conditioning in every home, every office and every apartment did not become the norm until the late 1960s and 1970s, and I remember how we managed before central air conditioning—even before window air conditioning. The first thing I fondly remember is the attic fan. What a wonder. I can almost hear it kicking on now. At the flip of a switch, the roar of the big fan in the attic would commence, we would open the windows and feel the divine cool air flowing through every room. This was the routine when the temperature began to cool a little in the early evening. During the day was a different story. Before everyone had window units in every room, we relied heavily on fans. And if you were at my apartment right now that is exactly what you would see, and because I lived through the time when air conditioning was not the norm, I have learned to use it very little during the summer. I realize that this is only the first day, and yet, like I said, summer came in like a lion. Who knows exactly what the coming weeks will bring, but I remember how we managed very well with fans. Therefore, I still manage very well with fans, for the most part, and will as long as feasible because I like to save money. I have a ceiling fan in the kitchen, a little desk fan in front of me on the dining room table and a slightly larger fan in the living room about 12 feet away blowing quite nicely in my direction. My thermostat says it is 76 degrees in my apartment, which is fine. When I first moved here in 2008, I set the thermostat at 76 during the summer, but when I saw the electric bill, I started moving it up, first to 78, then to 80. When it's above 80 inside, I will turn the air on for awhile, but at night, off it goes, and, again, the fans come on, two right on me while I sleep. I know, you might be wondering how I can stand that. I think it's because I remember how we managed before, and I am doing everything I can to manage that way still. Everybody has to figure out what works the best for them. For example, when I go to the grocery store, if I forget to wear a jacket or a sweater, I usually freeze in the summer because of the insane level of cold that they keep it inside. There are certain restaurants that are so cold I can't stand it during the summer. During the school year, the building is cold year around, for my comfort level. I wear layers year around inside, for the cold outside in the winter, for the air conditioning in the spring and fall. Most people I know are not cold all the time inside buildings during the summer, because they like to use the air all the time, and that's what they're used to. I just like to stay as close as I can to what the temperature is outside, so I don't have to be in shock every time I open the front door and face the extreme heat or cold. My heat bill in the winter is almost three times as much as it is during the rest of the year, especially in January and February, and that is when I keep the thermostat at --are you ready?--65 degrees. Yes, I really do that, because I'd rather wear my coat inside during the winter than pay $150 on my electric bill in the winter. It's just an adaptation that I make. Nobody I know does this. My electric bill is between $50 and $60 a month during the rest of the year, and I can live with that. The Kansas Corporation Commission has received another request from Evergy to raise their rates, and I pray they decline the request. They already recently raised their rates, and they do it all the time. It's outrageous. I am not going to go into all of that, but they had a town hall meeting, and citizens complained vociferously and artiulately about why this was unacceptable. Now we will all just have to wait and see. I remember when we used to sing into the fans during the summer, and make that crazy sound. I bet some of you remember doing that too. I don't do it anymore, but it was fun. I also remember playing ping-pong in the basement at my dad's during the summer with only fans keeping us cool and drinking lemonade, iced tea or ice water (from glasses, not plastic bottles) to stay hydrated, only we didn't call it being hydrated, we just called it drinking lemonade, iced tea or ice water. I know we can't go back in time, to when life was simpler, but I believe we can make life simpler, and for me, one of those ways is to cheat summer by using fans as much as possible. So, happy summer to you, stay cool and stay hydrated. it will start to cool off sometime around the middle of October if you live in Kansas. It might be different for you if you live in a different state, but my challenge is always not to always wish I was living somewhere else whenever the temperature begins to be a challenge, and just be thankful for how really nice it is here practically the whole year. Really, we're pretty blessed here in Tornado Alley.