Heat besieged

What a summer. We've lived in our Northern California home over 20 years, and this July is the hottest thing I can remember. Typically it's in the '80s or low 90s, with occasional spikes for a day or two up to 100 degrees. But nearly every day has been over 100 for the last few weeks: Saturday it was 115 - it's been boiling.

The last few days of the worst: we've felt under siege by the heat. Saturday and Sunday the power went out for most of the afternoon. It's amazing how quick the temperature climbs with no air-conditioning; in no time it was 85 degrees in the house. No fans. No lights. No computer! With one stroke we were plunged back 100 years to pre-electricity days. The romance of the good ol' days was quickly lost on me.

To add insult to injury, a power surge Monday killed our air-conditioner. Tuesday it was 105 degrees , and we spent the whole day without a/c, the inside temperature rising to 94. That morning my youngest son had his four wisdom teeth extracted, so he was horribly uncomfortable on top of the pain and Vicodin-induced nausea.

Tuesday certainly was the worst day because we were without air the whole day. Still, mentally we were better prepared. We were hot and sweaty, but we were fighting it less and accepting it more. We drove in the car to cool off, stopped by a Dairy Queen in the evening for a lo-o-o-ng, cool dessert, stayed outside waiting for the house to cool. There was more coping and less complaining. We managed to muddle through somehow.

Note: if your air-conditioner is going to fail, it's far better to lose it at the beginning of the heat wave vs. the end. By the time ours went out every air-conditioner business in the area was booked, often for several weeks. Lucky for us, an acquaintance of my wife is in the air-conditioner business, and her husband fit us in this afternoon. A quick 30 minute repair and we were able to rejoin civilization.

We are cool again and loving it - at least until we get the electric bill.

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