Not Losing My Cool

It's been pretty warm here the last few days- some might even say hot. We live in an old farm house and somehow survive without air-conditioning. When I tell people this, they always say, "but you at least have a window unit, right?" and they are usually appalled to find out that I do not. No one really believes me when I tell them that it's actually cooler out in the country because we don't have as much cement and asphault keeping the heat in and no tall buildings blocking the breeze. Sure it gets warm in the house, but I just open the windows and turn on the ceiling fans and it cools right down. Since heat rises the upstairs can get a bit toasty, but with the box fan in the window there is a nice breeze that keeps us cool at night. Yesterday I bought a thermometer and, just for funsies, put in our bedroom to see exactly how warm it got. 89 degrees upstairs, 86 degrees downstairs. It didn't feel that warm, but $1.97 thermometers from Walmart don't lie.

Since I haven't lived in air conditioning for a few years now, I find that I really dislike being in it. It makes me cold and I miss the fresh air. I just don't think it's healthy to be cooped up all day- people need to get outside, it's good for them to sweat a little. I found this excellent book by Stan Cox, "Losing Our Cool; Uncomfortable Truths bout Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer)". It talks about the history of air-conditioning, how urban sprawl has led to hotter cities, and how air-conditioning is a big factor of obesity and the lacking of social skills, all without being preach-y. I rarely read non-fiction books but I loved this because I felt like I was communing with a kindred spirit. So if you are looking for something that's an easy ready but still teaches you something, I would definately reccommend it!