Life Lessons Of How to Live With Your Environment

I have recently been in discussions
about how to handle the heat.
This in part to the rising cost of cooling,
"green" thinking, and in part to loss
of air conditioning due to need for repairs.
My Dad had been an AC engineer
at the local college in the town I grew up in.
We did not have AC at home.
My mom would always say
'we are like the plumber's family
that has to call a plumber.'
I just made sure I had a fan in my
bedroom at night. Of course in earlier years,
houses were made to exist without air conditioning.
Windows were situated for cross ventilation.
There were attic fans to pull the heat up and out of the house.
There were vents to pull heat from the house.

Looking at the pictures of my dad and his family here,
you can tell, they knew heat. They farmed,
would help harvest crops for friends, and lived in old farm houses.
When I would talk with my dad
in later years about air conditioning he would tell me.
"Always keep the thermostat 2 degrees above where
you want the temperature and it will always cut off there."
Then he would admonish me saying keep it as high as you can if you are working outside,
because you will need to sweat for natural cooling.
If you are in too much air conditioning or too cool of air conditioning, it impairs your ability to sweat.
This became evident to my daughter when we were working in the garden. She says, "Hey, mom, it is cool out here today." I said, "You just haven't been inside yet."
(She had driven over early in the morning.) We continued working
and finally went inside at lunch. After lunch, she opened the door
and said, "oh my, it is hot outside."
Houses today are not built with screens so you can open the windows. Neither do they have attic fans to cool the attic and pull out top heat...heat rises. We have ceiling fans, but, as most southerners who have gone through electricity loss in storms, without the ability to open windows and doors, the heat inside is just stirred around. Plan your home and life so
that a sudden change will not be overwhelming. I love living with open doors and windows. The air conditioning is best for sleeping.
Any one agree?

Todays Experience Reminiscent of Past Experiences

I have always loved driving. When I was 19, my dad helped me to buy my first car, an American Rambler. I painted my flowers and critters on it an proceeded to begin driving all over the State of Oklahoma to become familiar with the highway and by ways. I would drive my cars until they didn't go any longer. I love my cars especially old ones. One van I had, I drove 489K miles before it died and my husband wouldn't spend any money to fix it up.

Today, my son called me to say 'mom, my motorcycle won't start. Can you come and jump me off?'
Of course I could. Reminded my of a son-in-law who would have car challenges when he was first married and call for a jump or a lift or something to help with the silly car. He would always feel like kicking the tire, slamming the door or something to show his frustration. I helped my son start his cycle, then 10 miles down the road, it died on him as he was coming off the freeway going onto the feeder. I was three cars behind him. Of course as I realized what was happening, I said a fervent prayer for his safety and as the other cars pulled around him, I eased up to protect his back. As he pushed the bike up on the side of the road, you could see his tension mounting. When he got into the car, it all came tumbling out. "I would like to just crush that heap of junk! I would like to just leave it on the side of the road....etc." I was plummeted back in time to Russell and his frustration over old vehicles.
I know I should have a sage word of wisdom here, but for the life of me I can only smile...out of his vision of course.