A
Hot Time In the Old Town
I live in Dallas, Texas. It gets hot
here in Summer. Not Nevada-hot but Nevada doesn't get
North Texas-humid, either. There's
a difference. Why it gets so humid here is anyone's
guess.
Anyway, one summer, about ten years ago, I wondered
how North Texans in the mid-1950s survived triple-digit
temps sans
air-conditioning, so I gave it a try. (Incidentally,
I work out of my home so there's no 78-degree office
escape.)
To be honest, a whole summer without the magic of AC
was no big, hairy deal save for the unpleasant torrent
of hot air
which billowed
from
the
back of
my
Mac Pro, raising the temps in my work room at least
five degrees higher than any other room in the hacienda.
It seems there's a YUUUUGE difference between 89 and 94 degree.
After the experiment was over I discovered that I could
easily do without AC again if I had to but, you know,
why suffer? Even
though jumping into bed after a cold, refreshing shower
underneath the friendly hum of the ceiling fan almost
made a day of pouring sweat all worth it.
Since then, though, I've made it into a game: How far
into summer can I wait before turning on the AC? (For
reference, the lady next door cranks hers up in March. Yes,
March.)
This year I made it to July 3rd, but that decision
was made mostly because one of my cats is getting older
and needed some respite. So I reached over, flicked
the AC to "On" and.... nothing.
Suddenly, when faced with the possibility of no AC
over the 4th of July holiday, I was intently aware
how of hot it was.
I proceeded to check all the switches, the wiring,
the main fuse box, my collection of Beanie Babies.
Nothin'. Still dead. The final suspect was
the
thermostat and, upon closer inspection, the controls
for cooling seemed, maybe, possibly, to be malfunctioning?
"Ah-HA!" I said and made a dash for the local Big Box.
Forty-five minutes later I'm back and the new thermostat
is finally in place. I flick the switch to Cool"
and... nothing.
God damn it.
It's at this point I begin envisioning little dollar
signs floating out of my wallet. So I trudge back
to my little work room and sullenly get back to work.
About 15 minutes later I say to myself "Hmm, that's
a lovely cool breeze coming through the window. I
guess the weather is changing."
And then I realize
the AC is on.
So now I perform the task I am always loathe
to do.... I read the user manual. I mean, what self-respecting
American male does that?
But,
yeah, it seems there's some new trick, a default 5-minute
wait period before the compressor activates.
So after all my efforts and expense a cool front rolled
through the area last night, bringing rain and drastically
reduced
temperatures.
I'm going to take the credit.
---------------
Ironic Footnote: At about midnight, July 4th, a powerful
electrical storm hit the Dallas area. An hour later,
just as the tempest was waning, one last roaring crack
of thunder
was followed by all the power going out in my area
of town. It was a lonnnnnng, steamy six hours until
the power returned.
So, AC is nice but I'd have harvested the organs of
an orphan for a simple box-fan late last night.
=Lefty=
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