The Internal Summer of Our Discontent

photo courtesy of Spencer Greet

October 8, 2008

So it is October, and the nights (and days) are getting cooler. Summer is gone, and with it the excessive heat and high humidity that life at the 40th parallel can bring.

This, to paraphrase Shakespeare, is a consummation devoutly to be wished, especially for those women among us who are located somewhere north of 50. I am not sure exactly what I expected of the "change of life", but the phrase certainly is apt. Especially in the area of heat tolerance.

Once upon a time, I was a person who almost always felt cold. I always needed a cover on the bed, even in the midst of summer. Husband Norm, on the other hand, seemed to be a perpetual inferno. It could never be too cool for him.

When we purchased our home 17 years ago, it had no air conditioning. After suffering through several hot summers in a home with an acre of trees to the west but no shade to the south or east, we started to install window air conditioners. That meant in a sultry July our house was a vast Sahara through which we would flee to get to the various air-conditioned oases, arriving sweaty and thankful for the respite. Finally, we retro-fit the house for central air.

Just in time for my own internal summer to arrive.

Since we moved to our home in 1991, I have gone from being the person most likely to be wearing a sweater to the one whose temperature comfort zone ranges from 63 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature rises above 68 degrees, I immediately begin to perspire and shed clothing like an ecdysiast.

Sometimes I wonder if there is a Karmic principle at work here, as I was probably less than tolerant of Norm's discomfort during my chillier days.

Of course, during the same period that I was experiencing personal climate change, global warming has become a much more intensely discussed topic. We are all much more aware of the effects of our own energy consumption upon the world. And, oil prices and other energy sources have skyrocketed, although oil has come down somewhat in the last few turbulent weeks.

This has led me to think much more about my thermostat settings, and the need to keep temperature within reasonable levels in our house. I have just installed programmable thermostats on our cooling and heating systems, and my own rule of thumb has been to keep the winter thermostat setting to the Energy Star settings whenever possible - no warmer than 70 degrees for heat, and setbacks of at least 8 degrees at night or during the day (summer settings are 78 degrees, with a setup of 7 degrees during the day and 4 degrees at night.)

The winter settings, I admit, are easier for me than the summer. Sixty-two degrees is still fairly comfortable for me. Still, when the other members of my household complain that it is too cold in the house in the winter, I find myself saying to them (with secret satisfaction) what my mother said to me when I felt cold in the winters of my youth:

"Put on a sweater!"