Climate Control Through the Seasons

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Growing up in rural Oklahoma in the 1950s, we stayed cool (or coolish) through the blistering, humid summers by sitting very still in front of a fan with a glass of iced tea, or by taking our clothes off and running through the lawn sprinkler. We stayed warm in the winter by standing on the floor furnace until our shoe soles had grill marks, or by piling on layers of sweaters long before that became a fashion statement. “Climate control” was not an operative concept; we just took what nature dished out.

Moving to Colorado was like coming to weather heaven. Summer days were hot, but with zero humidity, and there were afternoon thundershowers and night temperatures down in the fifties. Winters were cold but so sunny and dry that almost every day was sweater weather.

That was then.

At our house this past summer we experienced fifty-two days with temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. It still cooled down at night, but not until the wee hours and not nearly so much. Central air conditioning, once a rarity in our town, has become the norm in new-house construction, and room-size units hang out of many, many windows. And who knows what winter will bring? Not what we used to expect, I’ll bet. It’s on those and related points that we’re having interesting conversations with some of the excellent craftsmen working on our house.

They’re concerned that our house will get colder in winter and warmer in summer than the sixty-eight to seventy degree average that most homeowners consider a divine right. We say if God had meant us to be seventy degrees, he wouldn’t have made us ninety-eight point six. Or if he’d meant us to be warm year ’round, he would have given us substantially more body hair and no Gillette razors. Such levity aside, Thomas and I really are committed to living with the seasons, feeling the changes.

  • Published on Nov 1, 2002
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