When I moved here in March, Kurt and I asked for a home with what we considered to be necessities -- three bedrooms two baths (we got two bedrooms one bath), central heat (we have heaters in each room), and central air. We couldn't live without a/c. We definitely needed it.
When we told our agent that, she gave us a funny look. Then she said, "Homes out here don't have a/c."
Kurt and I looked at one another, thinking, "What kind of screwball place is this?! No a/c?!"
We were assured that it doesn't get that hot here. That there are only about fourteen days total all summer where you wish you had a/c, but that it really only got into the mid-80s.
Kurt and I just laughed at these people. Mid-80s is HOT?! Surely they were joking.
Now after the ninth or tenth day this summer of 90+ degree heat, without a/c, I am a believer. It is HOT!
So how do you cool a home without a/c?? J gave me some sage advice that she has formulated from her thirteen years of living in the same house. You keep your windows closed up for as long as you can stand it into the late afternoon, preferably evening, and then open them all, using fans to draw the hopefully cooler air outside into the house. You also use blinds and shades to try to keep the sun from beating into the house and warming it up. Of course, my house faces the rising sun all morning and the setting sun all afternoon -- I have NO shade. So it gets quite warm in the house, causing me concern for my pets.
And just to spite me, Mother Nature has made this summer hotter and drier than any other on record. We've had NO rain this month, and everything out here is absolutely dry. If you look at the grass just the right way out here, you could start a fire. We have several wildfires raging in the state, the largest one burning over 70,000 acres east of Seattle. That's a LOT of land, and they're telling us that it will burn until the fall rains arrive.
I hope those fall rains arrive soon. I mean, the heat's been nice because I don't have to mow my lawn very much. I get away with mowing down the weeds every two weeks or so, which minimizes the amount of time I have to be out in the heat while doing manual labor. I don't have a garden yet, and since the stock in my backyard is pretty much dead, I only really care for my petunias out front.
But we NEED rain. I was so excited about moving to this area because I have been so tired of summer droughts and water restrictions back east, and I was honestly looking forward to using my windshield wipers.
The only thing I've been using my windshield wipers for lately is to clean the windshield.
Plus it hurts to wander around in my yard barefoot, and that's what's really getting me. The grass is so dry it pokes painfully into my feet. Can you imagine?? As it is, I have to put on shoes almost every time I walk out my front door because of my gravel driveway. Not being able to walk barefoot in my yard is devastating!
Today's high was 96. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 82. Let's just hope the weathermen are right this time, so I and my pets can get some much-needed cooling down!!!