Do you melt when it's hot, freeze when it's cold, and try to stay inside your climate-controlled environment as much as possible?

I confess that I'm always cold in the winter. I'm famous for sneaking up the heat by just one degree when Jeremy's not looking. I used to compensate for that by turning the heat off altogether at night (and during the day, of course, when no one's home), but Jeremy is always cold at night so that doesn't work anymore.

In the summer we agree a little better. I tend to break down and turn on the A/C before Jeremy does -- 83 degrees is the point where I decide we ought to cool it down a couple of degrees, whereas he would probably go up to 86 or so. If it's 80 or 81 and we cool it down to 79, we feel wicked and decadent. I think that in the three summers we've spent here, we've probably run the air conditioner at night on three or four occasions.

What's your strategy for coping with weather?

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Answers

We don't have central air, and our house is designed sort of funny so my room never cools off. I have to set up a series of fans down the hall to try and get the air from the wall unit down there. It never really quite works. We usually break down and turn the AC on when it hits around 85. Sometimes we leave it on all night, until someone wakes up freezing cold and turns it off at 3am. Other than that, I try to manage with cool showers, sitting the the spa when it's lukewarm, or sleeping on the couch when it's really bad. I am completely unable to sleep when it's hot, so summers kill me, and I've just re-discovered that it's even worse when there's someone else in the bed.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Do you have an exhaust fan for your window? It helps a lot. We have a couple of them, and we turn them on in the evening to force out the hot air, and then cooler air comes in through other windows.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Word, Beth. Motherf**kin' word.

There is something that really bothers me on a fundamental level with how much people expect nature to conform to their every desire, and how folks insist on climate control. I've lived without heat in the Rhode Island winter. I've lived without air conditioning in the Tucson summer. People lived for thousands of years without little boxes that made sure your house was always exactly 72 degrees.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

That's a good point David. I also drive a car for long-distance trips, communicate by e-mail or telephone when there's a perfectly good pony somewhere without a job, and take medicine when I'm sick. What a softie I am.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I'm not arguing that people should completely give up heating and air- conditioning, and I don't think Dave was, either, since he didn't say he *currently* lives without those things. But I do think we take climate control to ridiculous lengths, to the point where many people can't cope with even minor variations in their environment. And we act like climate control is an absolute necessity in areas where that's simply not the case.

And the reason that matters is not just that it makes it uncomfortable for those of us who don't like the 68-degree summer office environment (see the "what would make my job better" thread). In case you hadn't heard, California is experiencing a teensy little power crisis ... an still my next door neighbors' air-conditioner runs at midnight, at five-thirty in the morning, and all day long. Insane.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I set up a fan in the doorway to pull the hot air out and the cool air through the windows, but if it's still hot outside it doesn't help much.

Also, my friend's stupid dog decided that it wanted to escape from my bedroom window last weekend, so there's no screen anymore, making it a problem if I want to leave the window open.

My room is on the northeast side of the house, so it warms up pretty quickly in the mornings due to full sun exposure. It never cools off after the sun moves though.

I'm so tempted to put a small AC in one of the windows.

Bad, bad Mar.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Having grown up in the hot maw of Fresno, I'm a bit better about the heat than Ian. But the guy just moved here from the Bay Area, so I'm cutting him some slack.

We have the air conditioner on starting at 11 am, set at 80. It goes off at 10 pm, and we probably wouldn't even be that liberal if it wasn't for the puppy. At that temperature though, I must confess, I have a really hard time doing anything--physical or mental. Going outside is a slap, but I have a nice internal script to sooth me. I actually take comfort in the fact that it will never ever ever get any hotter than oh, maybe 6 degrees more than this. If I can handle this, I've got the summer nailed.

And yup, I can hear the air conditioners spinning all night long, when it is in the 60s outdoors. Enjoy those energy bills. Opening a window can be tough work.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Mar: if you don't have one, try to find one of those fans that fit right in the window. I'm not sure how they work with sliding-type windows, but they really help. It's a hundred times better than just putting a fan in the doorway or propping a fan near the window. If you get one that fits right in the window, and you turn it on exhaust rather than intake, you can even use them without screens. (We do; half our windows don't have screens, either.)

H, I've noticed that the local news shows have been warning people not to sleep with windows open (even upstairs windows) because of break-ins. I wonder if that's why people run the a/c all night? We're on the second floor, and we don't leave any accessible windows (like the ones on the porch) open overnight, but no way could I sleep with *all* of my windows closed.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I would never be able to get to sleep knowing there was an open window in my house somewhere. No way, not in my area of country. I'll deal with the $160 energy bills every month in the summer than have to worry about giving someone easy access to my house and my children.

Thankfully, I have central air. I've lived without it before down here in the sticky humid south summer's and I used to work outside all day in the heat so I CAN take it.

I hate winter. It's cold and yucky and not summer.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I hate the heat. Hate it. I'm a complete and total wimp about it and will whine. It's a flaw in an otherwise sterling character.

I never run the air conditioner overnight. I have one window AC, and it's in the living room. I have two fans in the bedroom, and that has to do. I might hate the heat, but I'm also cheap.

I am happiest when I'm cold. I almost never complain about winter weather, unless I'm bitching about how other people drive in the snow.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I like my environment on the chilly side, which makes me oh so happy in the winter and pretty crabby in the summer. Part of the problem with summer for me is that I am very fair, burn easily, get sun poisoning (a horrible itchy rash) if I'm in the sun for more than a few hours on consecutive days, and also get very sweaty and itchy (excema) if it is at all humid. I find it MUCH easier to get warm in the winter than to get cool in the summer, and prefer a pretty cool environment in the winter (I like my apt temp at around 50-55 at night, only 60 in the day).

One would think therefore that I would love a/c in the summer, but I get horrible headaches going from a/c to the heat and humidity, and I find that if I just adjust mentally and physically to the summer, slowing down my walking pace, keeping the tub full of water on really hot nights so that if I wake up roasting I can easily go soak to cool down, using fans as exhausts etc., I can get through it. But don't ask me to do anything active in the sun. I don't have a/c in the house, I do in the car but never use it unless I'm really dressed up and it's miserable and I need to stay non-sweaty, and I have a/c in my office at work but only put it on if it is over 90 and I'm worried about the computers overheating.

Luckily, living in the north east near to the water means there are usually only a total of a couple of weeks of really horribly hot and humid days/nights a summer, and while I hate it when it is in the 90s during the day and doesn't get below 85 on those nights, I can deal with it.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I'm paranoid about windows that open to the front of the house, definitely. The only ones we open are the ones that are behind a fenceline (figuring that if someone gets that far, they are planning on breaking in). It took me a while to convince Ian that there really is a safety concern, so I'll be glad to pass along the news warning.

Wait a minute--we've both got big mean dogs and burly men, right? What do we have to be afraid of?

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I'm actually not afraid of anyone coming in through a window (unless it's a basement window, and we don't leave those open and they have an alarm). Doc and Mochi throw a fit if a cat so much as jumps on our porch (which is good, because cats used to pee there). As soon as someone touches the chain link fence, it sounds like the hounds of hell are coming to get them. No one is coming in one of our windows without us knowing about it.

But we don't really want to tempt anyone, so we close the front windows (actually we never open those in the first place, since they don't have screens) and the back windows, which are the only windows that are accessible without an extension ladder. If someone really wants to drag an extension ladder into my yard, and brave the giant growling dogs, then they're welcome to stick their head in the window, where I will probably greet them with a frying pan. I've always wanted to do that, anyway.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

(P.S.: are our men really burly? Oh, wait, this is the internet, and bad people might be reading. Our men are enormously burly, and usually armed. You've been warned.)

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I'm much more a warm weather person than cold. I don't use the air conditioner (I grew up without one in a hot house in a valley) other than the involuntary system that kicks in in our building. I ususally just turn on a fan and I'm fine.

Alternately, my complex has a pool and just sitting in it for 5-10 will cool me off nicely.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I'm really trying hard not to snicker imagining Jeremy and (moreso) Ian as burly men.

Oh god... bwahaha. I'm sorry... very sorry. They are very burly and masculine and protective and man those burglars better watch out!

Hee... hoo... haha... oh... my.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Hey now. Ian is easily tall enough to knock someone plum over, were I to throw him at them. And but damn if it doesn't hurt like the devil when he steps on your toe. I suggest that consider your words, missy. Did I mention that MY bedroom is air-conditioned in a most lovely fashion?

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Yes, but it's covered ceiling to floor in knotty pine panelling. :P

Normally I can stand my room being warm, but the extra body in the bed doesn't help. There's a way to fix that I suppose...

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Here in south Louisiana, the high today is reported to have been 88 with 90% humidity. We had some small showers, which pretty much served to turn everything into one big steam room. The only time we usually get "breezes" is when they're right in front of a hurricane or tropical storm. It's hot, and it's going to get much worse by August. It's like living in a sauna.

I don't mind the heat so much (unlike my husband.) Since I work at home, I keep the a/c set up at 85 or so and only turn it down at night (to about 75). But, the house is zoned -- we can turn off the a/c on the living room side and only a/c the bedrooms at night, which saves a lot and keeps us from being completely miserable.

Ceiling fans are a must, here, and I'd much rather sleep with an extra fan in the room than the a/c on, but Carl works out in the heat all day (construction) and the last thing he wants is for the house to be hot when he's got to sleep. Can't blame him there.

I, however, am big on being warm and in the spring, fall, and winter, when it's 70 degrees and everyone else is happy? I'm in a sweatshirt and if it's 60? You can bet I'm bundled up. I know, it's sad. You should see how ridiculous it is when everyone else is running around here in the winter in normal clothing and I'm sitting in front of the computer, in sweats and a couple of layers of clothes while *also* "wearing" one of those super-cold-rated sleeping bags because I cannot stay warm. (It's much cheaper to warm me up than the whole house, though, so it's not a big deal.)

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

I hate heat. I'd much rather live in the Artic Circle than anywhere that vaguely gets above 80 degrees, but the stars in the desert kick ass and we do get a breeze here (Northern Nevada) and we get the cool down of being at 4600 feet.

Swamp coolers are nice for fixing that parched lip thing, in addition to that icky heat thing.

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2001

I love heat and hate being cold.

We live in the Silicon Valley where it gets hot, though not like where Beth is - we'll have 90 or 100 degree temps for a few days, then it goes down to the 80s again. We don't have A/C and our house is pretty well insulated, but at night when it cools down outside, our house stays hot, which is annoying. Our attic is well insulated but the walls aren't - cheap 50s house - you can put your hand on the western walls and feel how warm they get.

We open all the windows, run fans, etc. without a lot of improvement. We're going to install an attic fan which should be a big help, but in the meantime we fight over having a fan on while we sleep. I can sleep no matter how hot it gets and hate having it on because of the noise (even with my earplugs), but he needs it on.

Days when it's only in the 80s are fine for me, but you'd be amazed at how many people around here have A/C that they run all the time to keep their houses cooled down to 60. Even before the energy problem started, I just don't want to spend that kind of money and I don't want to be that cold.

Neither of us have A/C in our cars and we don't want it. I'd rather open the window. Of course, if I had to drive for my job and wear a suit, I might feel differently, but luckily I don't.

During the winter it's another story. I constantly whine about being cold and want to put the heater on. Last winter, we had a fire in the fireplace most evenings and didn't turn the heater on. We have an insert so it's more efficient than a naked fireplace. Now we're hearing how fires cause air pollution, and some cities require people to use pellets instead of wood. I need my fire!

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2001

Who has a $160 bill? I'd kill for that one.

I hate the heat. I cannot stand to be hot and sweaty. It makes me cranky and in turn I make everyone around me cranky. I grew up in a house that was kept at 68 in the summer and 65 in the winter. This 80 degree crap is killing me.

It has been at least 100 degrees here all week. I can keep the house around 80 degrees if the A/C runs for most of the day. I have it set to give up between the hours of 3pm and 8pm. It's just nasty.

I don't know if Sac gets cooler temps or what. I live between Modesto and Stockton and its just hell here. I feel like I'm living in an armpit. I could handle this when I lived in the Midwest. I'd have the comfy knowledge that one hell of a storm would be on the heels of this heat wave. No, not here though. We don't get rain in the summer. Who's ever heard of a place that gets NO rain in the summer. Ugh.

It's hot! *whimper*



-- Anonymous, June 22, 2001

It's been at least 100 every day this week in Sacramento, Angie. No one needs their house to be 65 degrees in the summer. That's criminal.

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2001

"No one needs their house to be 65 degrees in the summer. That's criminal." Well, first of all, I'm hoping (based on Beth's posts in the vaccination thread) that this was a little bit of righteous hyperbole, and not an actual statement of desire for Such People to Be Punished. Secondly, my personal experience has been that I am *extremely* bad at dealing with heat. I grew up in Eastern Canada and even if I don't like extreme cold, I can adapt to it pretty easily. Winters are not a problem. But I live in Colorado now, elevation 6000 and something feet, and I cannot cannot cannot deal with the constant stream of 95 degree and significantly higher days. I melt. Or perhaps a better word would be evaporate. Sure, it's a dry heat. That's part of the problem. I am constantly fighting dehydration. And you know what? People die of sunstroke every year in this city (of course, they also die because they are stupid enough to drive through mountain passes during blizzards, but that's a whole nother topic). We keep a window unit in the bedroom and we turn it on at 72 degrees whenever we just can't take the heat anymore. If we didn't have a window unit, I wouldn't be able to sleep more than an hour or two a night, nor have sex, for most of June through September. It's not that it's necessary - we could move to an apartment that wasn't on the top floor of an old house - but it sure is great to have the privilege. I wonder, though, if part of my problem with the Colorado climate is that it *isn't* constant enough for me to adjust to - temperatures will vary by as much as 60-some degrees from one afternoon to the next (not talking about nighttime cooling here, but midday temperatures) - my body never gets a chance to upregulate or whatever. I know we once drove to the Grand Canyon and almost straight back with no A/C at the end of June - by the end of the second day of being in AZ, we were (though drinking bucketsful of water) pretty comfortable with the heat.
Humans may be able to survive as a group in unwieldy climes, but as individuals, plenty of us are susceptible to heat- or cold-related diseases.

-- Anonymous, June 25, 2001