The
Heat is On
No A/C at home means more local tourism for the
family
by Dorri Alexander
Living
on the cusp of the 21st Century, we are surrounded by technological
advances. Microwave ovens cook supper in a matter of minutes.
Our clocks, televisions, cameras and phones are digital. Movies
and music are stored on small plastic discs. Cellular phones
continue to shrink in size and can send e-mail, take photos
or play music as well as make calls. So why is it, that amidst
all these modern marvels, I’m sitting in front of an old-fashioned
electric fan to stay cool?
It's mostly because my 96-year-old house has yet to be modernized,
which means, there is no central air conditioning – no
air conditioning of any kind – except for the attic fan
and a collection of electric fans of all shapes and sizes that
get moved from room to room to optimize their cooling efficiency.
Since the house was built on a stone foundation, with plaster
walls and 30 windows, we can usually feel rather comfortable
by opening the windows and turning on a few fans. But by the
time late-summer weather hits, with the 90º to 100º-plus temperatures,
the whole house, even the basement, feels just as hot as being
outdoors.
We cope by changing our habits during these heat waves; minimal
cooking and clothes drying, and maximum ice water, Popsicles,
and ice cream. By limiting our activities during the hottest
part of the day, everyone can sit and cool off in front of the
fans while building with Legos and watching TV. The baby pool
is set up on the shady corner of the front porch, which is also
the best place for eating dripping Popsicles. Clean up is quick
and easy when you plop your sticky child back into the pool.
But as the hot weather stretches on, even with these strategies,
the heat has had the winning ticket. At that point, the only
thing left to do is get out of the house. Now, I’m pretty
much a home body, so I’m not one to leave the house several
days in a row. But lately, that’s exactly what we’ve
done. Some days it’s the whole family, while others it’s
been just myself and the kids. So far, we’ve been to Crown
Center, Union Station (twice), the Northeast Library (twice),
the downtown library (my first time), Metro North Mall (I don’t
think I’ve been there in about 10 years), and the Kansas
City Museum (twice). We’ve gone to the $2-movies ("Akeelah
and the Bee") and the matinee ("The Lake House"
and "Pirates of the Caribbean" – we split into
groups because we couldn’t agree on one movie) and visited
Grandma and Grandpa up in Lathrop three times now.
Granted, it's sometimes hard to find activities to entertain
both kids, with one in middle school and the other in diapers,
so we’ve been visiting friends and relatives to supplement
our trips to museums and movies.
And yet, despite this flurry of activity to keep the kids cool,
I wonder if we’re sending them the wrong message. The
fact is, summer is hot. I remember my own childhood, growing
up in an un-air-conditioned house. At the most we had two fans
to cool the house. The old oscillating Zero (which belongs to
me now and is the best fan ever) was plugged into the living
room outlet; when my brother and I were still young enough to
take afternoon naps, my mother would lay down with us on the
floor while the Zero hummed and whirred. The other fan pretty
much stayed in my parents' room, so my brother and I relied
on the open windows to provide a cooling breeze at bedtime.
We often slept at the other end of our beds to be closer to
the windows.
Today, most kids sit inside an air-conditioned house watching
television and playing video games all day. The calendar may
say it’s summer, but they’re not living summer –
no heat, no bugs, no sweat. And maybe no fun trying to find
new ways to beat the heat while building up your sweat equity.
Dorri welcomes your comments
at The Northeast News or by e-mail
at uptil12am@yahoo.com
