This is our first house that has air conditioning. Before we moved here Dave used to say that in Michigan we really need air about two weeks a year and that’s generally true. We don’t normally get weeks on end of hot weather, and even when it is warm out, the evenings usually cool off and the house doesn’t get unbearable.
Last year was the exception. We had almost six weeks of extraordinarily hot weather with the nights staying well above 70 or even 75 degrees and the day temperatures above 90. We were very glad for air conditioning then! That is, right until the air conditioner broke about a week into the heat wave. It took two weeks to replace it, two long weeks, especially for our visitors.
It was particularly hard on our son-in-law who was working during his visit here. Mark stayed downstairs which was marginally cooler than the main level, but it had to be miserable for him to try and work while melting into a puddle.
This year has been nicer, what I’d consider a typical Michigan summer . Yesterday our yearly heat wave finally ended in a thunderstorm that disrupted power for several hours and left us with over two inches of rain. I was so glad to see it rain and even gladder to see the temperatures go back down. The prior week was unpleasantly hot.
We ran the air conditioner Monday – Thursday. I like the cool and the low humidity. I don’t like having to close the blinds. It feels like we are living in a cave, plus when you do go outside the contrasting heat feels even worse. Friday was still hot, about 90, but nice and windy so Dave suggested leaving the doors and windows open and enjoying the fresh breeze. It felt great during the day but was a bit too much in the late evening with the sun pouring in the front door and heating the brick and cement by the entrance hall.
In hindsight we should have closed up the house in the afternoon even though it meant foregoing the breeze. There is a point where “breeze” turns to “hot” and as long as we have air and can afford to run it, we should use it to make the house livable. Not all summer breezes are “lovely”!
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