Going to great lengths

We are, once again, trying to stay cool. Remember our struggle last summer with the heat? It was awful. And with summer in the throes of it, here we are again.

We have a precise temperature point at which we open the windows in the house. We have fans in strategic places with carefully calibrated settings. We leave our cars to cool down in the driveway before putting them into the garage, carefully not introducing more heat to the house. We sleep with the windows open in spite of allergy problems, and constantly shove hot cats off our bodies, poor things. Our activities are governed by when we need to leave the house, and when we need to be home to attend to Coolness Creation Activities. This heat dictates our attire, our bedtime, our meal choices. It's even interfered with Mark's beloved early-evening nap.

And today, with a bit of a respite from it, I pause to reflect. Wouldn't air conditioning be easier? Why is that concept so difficult for Seattle-ites to get? It would be SO much nicer if they just built their houses with A/C right from the beginning. I hate having to make this expensive decision. But, really!