Summer 2022

[Deleted]

I never thought I’d say this, because summer has always been my favorite season, but ENOUGH ALREADY! I keep joking that this is NOT the same sun I remember as a child, but the truth is that it’s really not. Although summers here are normally hot and humid, I don’t recall it staying like this for weeks on end, except we did have a record breaking number of days over 100*, back in 1980.

I was a child in 1980, so I don’t remember that summer as remarkable. Probably because I am now a woman of certain age, I do not tolerate heat as well as I use to. Day after day with temperatures in the upper 90’s or around 100*, with high humidity, is miserable. Sometimes I feel like I can barely breathe outside.

Our a/c is struggling to keep up with the high temps. Often, it CAN’T keep up. I’ve stopped using the programmed settings for during the day, because once it gets warm in the house, it can’t cool to a lower temperature, regardless of what the setting is, and doesn’t really start to cool down until after the sun goes down.

And that is in the part of the house that doesn’t have the issues our bedroom does as far as heating and cooling. I could not sleep at all the last 2 nights because I was so hot, even with the ceiling fan on. Thank God I didn’t have to go to work yesterday or today. Mister has been saying he is going to put more insulation in the attic, hasn’t done it yet. 

The way things are going,I’m considering buying a window unit for our bedroom. I have enough issues with sleeping at night, that I don’t need to add being way too hot to the issues.

I’ve read that people in the UK are dying from the extreme heat, so this brutal, extreme summer isn’t just happening where I live, and is not a figment of my imagination. Nor is it that it just feels different to me because of my age and hormones. It is actually fact that this is an unusually hot summer in some places.

Our light, gas and water bill for last month was much higher than any bill I’ve ever seen for those services. Almost $500

What has this summer been like so far where you live?

[debthaven]

I'm near Paris and we had our SECOND heat wave last week (maybe the week before?) with temps of over 105°F. The first one was in June. Both only lasted 3 days. 

My son who lives in central Paris came home to escape it (to have access to the garden and a nearby friend's pool). My kids in London had a hard time too. Plus, they closed the schools in London a week early because of it, so my DIL had to take 3 days off work.  

We were on vacation, so we didn't have to suffer through it. (Ironically, we were in Iceland LOL.)

We do not have AC here. (I mean people don't have it at home, because these episodes USED TO be so rare.)

One of my best friends is an elder-care nurse who used to work in an Alzheimer home. There was an epic heat wave here in Aug 2003. All the old-age homes here have fridges for when residents pass. She told me that that year, the poor people were piled three-people high while waiting to be taken to funeral homes, which were all completely overwhelmed. 

[debthaven]

Sleep is important @pinkcshmere ... I'd get the window unit. I doubt this will be the only year you'd enjoy having it, and your DH can install and maintain it. 

The other thing that helps is to keep your blinds/shutters closed in the bedroom. 

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2022 18:39:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

I'm near Paris and we had our SECOND heat wave last week (maybe the week before?) with temps of over 105°F. The first one was in June. Both only lasted 3 days. 

My son who lives in central Paris came home to escape it (to have access to the garden). My kids in London had a hard time too. Plus, they closed the schools in London a week early because of it, so my DIL had to take a few extra days off work since DGS couldn't go to school.

We were on vacation, so we didn't have to suffer through it. (Ironically, we were in Iceland LOL.)

One of my best friends is an elder-care nurse who used to work in an Alzheimer home. There was an epic heat wave here in Aug 2003. All the old-age homes here have fridges for when residents pass. She told me that that year, the poor people were piled three-people high while waiting to be taken to funeral homes, which were all completely overwhelmed. 

I’ve read that homes in Europe are designed more for cold weather than hot, and that is part of the reason the extreme heat has cause so many problems (and deaths) there.

One of our own posters, weltschmerz has talked about the extreme heat where she lives in Canada, here it’s not common to have a/c.

I am just grateful to have a/c these days, and I am grateful that, even if we bitch and moan about the expensive bills for running our a/c even though it is obviously overwhelmed and can’t keep up like we wish it did, we can still pay the bills.

I honestly feel for people that live in my area and don’t have access to a/c. This heat is beyond miserable. I also feel for people around the world that are experiencing these high temps and don’t have a/c either.

[bookkeeper]

It has been hot here in the plains states too.  On the really hot days, I have been running the fan on our A/C 24 hours a day.  This helps to even out the cold spots on the floor.  I also doubled up on the blackout curtains on my west facing windows.  I buy blackout drapery liner and put it up with a tension rod behind my other blackout curtains.  Really helps insulate the windows.

We have seen 104 twice this summer.  We did get some rain, so the lawns haven't burned up.

As far as being a woman of a certain age in summer, I recommend a Gatorade a day until the weather becomes more temperate.

DH and I closed on the house by the grandkids.  The outside A/C unit was hanging full of dirt and the furnace filter (also filters air for the A/C) was crusted with dirt.  I cleaned both and the A/C in that house should have an easier time cooling.  A duct work cleaning would be a good idea too.

When I was a kid before we had air conditioning, we all moved to the basement until the heat wave was over.  I think it was around 1972 when we got our first A/C.

The neighbors had their central air go down.  We have a portable unit that sits on the floor and vents out the window.  They were grateful to have some relief until the repairman came.

[Artemis Windsong]

A  window or free standing air conditioner is a good idea.  We got a free standing when our air went out two nights before we headed north.  It works but had to be exhausted out a window.  And it takes table or floor space.

My kids use window air conditioners and generators to cool their tents when out camping.  My GrD did get a small air conditioner for their latest camp out.  I don't know if it was tent or solid camper.

For me, my arctic air little air conditioner came today. $39. It plugs in so I don't have to mess with batteries in my other one.  The battery powered little air conditioner I bought for a camper then we sold the camper before we could use it.  This one did work on those hot nights when I needed something more. 

I put a small dry fan to pull the cool air through the air ducts.  That has been working.  I also take jammies off and put a cold cloth over my eyes.

As for our weather, we have been mid 50s to low 60s in the morning.  Today was 81F.  In about a week the temp will rise to 90s and above.  August is usually disgustingly hot.

We do have an unfinished basement that is used for storage but could be redecorated.  We both agree to leave it as is.

[NoNamePerson]

Jul 26, 2022 18:29:45 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

I never thought I’d say this, because summer has always been my favorite season, but ENOUGH ALREADY! I keep joking that this is NOT the same sun I remember as a child, but the truth is that it’s really not. Although summers here are normally hot and humid, I don’t recall it staying like this for weeks on end, except we did have a record breaking number of days over 100*, back in 1980.

I was a child in 1980, so I don’t remember that summer as remarkable. Probably because I am now a woman of certain age, I do not tolerate heat as well as I use to. Day after day with temperatures in the upper 90’s or around 100*, with high humidity, is miserable. Sometimes I feel like I can barely breathe outside.

Our a/c is struggling to keep up with the high temps. Often, it CAN’T keep up. I’ve stopped using the programmed settings for during the day, because once it gets warm in the house, it can’t cool to a lower temperature, regardless of what the setting is, and doesn’t really start to cool down until after the sun goes down.

And that is in the part of the house that doesn’t have the issues our bedroom does as far as heating and cooling. I could not sleep at all the last 2 nights because I was so hot, even with the ceiling fan on. Thank God I didn’t have to go to work yesterday or today. Mister has been saying he is going to put more insulation in the attic, hasn’t done it yet. 

The way things are going,I’m considering buying a window unit for our bedroom. I have enough issues with sleeping at night, that I don’t need to add being way too hot to the issues.

I’ve read that people in the UK are dying from the extreme heat, so this brutal, extreme summer isn’t just happening where I live, and is not a figment of my imagination. Nor is it that it just feels different to me because of my age and hormones. It is actually fact that this is an unusually hot summer in some places.

Our light, gas and water bill for last month was much higher than any bill I’ve ever seen for those services. Almost $500

What has this summer been like so far where you live?

Sorry but you lost me at “ I was a child in 1980”. 

[nidena]

Thankfully, the weather isn't above and beyond here in Indy.  I can't say the same for my neighboring states to the west and south.

One thing I plan on doing...eventually...is install ductless a/c.  I had them when I lived in Okinawa and they were great because the unit goes through the wall (rather than within a window) so they get sealed at the seams.  The benefit of this is each room is cooled by one machine so your bedroom can be cooler (or warmer) than the rest of the house.  My apartment in Okinawa had one in each of the three bedrooms and one for the living/dining/kitchen area.  We almost never turned that main one on, just the bedroom ones.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2022 18:43:49 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Sleep is important @pinkcshmere ... I'd get the window unit. I doubt this will be the only year you'd enjoy having it, and your DH can install and maintain it. 

The other thing that helps is to keep your blinds/shutters closed in the bedroom. 

I bought some thermal or whatever curtains this past winter when our bedroom was so cold. I don’t know for sure how well they work for the drafts, but I can definitely recommend them for keeping out light. They would be perfect for someone that works at night and needs to sleep during the daytime. Our bedroom doesn’t get a lot of natural light, so even with just the blinds closed, it can be confusing as to what time of day it is, even when the sun is shining brightly outside. With the curtains closed too, the middle of the night doesn’t look much different from 10am.

I’d really prefer Mister just fix whatever is causing the heating and cooling issue. It was not like this our first couple of years here, so clearly something, somewhere, is no longer working like it should be.  Even if I get a window unit for our bedroom, what’s really going to cause some fights is that if it isn’t fixed before it gets cold, I’m going to insist on using a space heater in our bedroom. Mister feels like they are dangerous and even more so because we have aluminum wiring in this house. I used space heaters over the 20 years I lived in my other house. It also has aluminum wiring, and nothing bad ever happened. Regardless, I refuse to spend another winter being cold like I was this last winter.

If he doesn’t want me to use a space heater, figure out the darn problem and fix it, or pay someone to do it. I get hot way more easily than I use to, but I still really hate being cold.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2022 19:00:43 GMT -5 NoNamePerson said:

Jul 26, 2022 18:29:45 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

I never thought I’d say this, because summer has always been my favorite season, but ENOUGH ALREADY! I keep joking that this is NOT the same sun I remember as a child, but the truth is that it’s really not. Although summers here are normally hot and humid, I don’t recall it staying like this for weeks on end, except we did have a record breaking number of days over 100*, back in 1980.

I was a child in 1980, so I don’t remember that summer as remarkable. Probably because I am now a woman of certain age, I do not tolerate heat as well as I use to. Day after day with temperatures in the upper 90’s or around 100*, with high humidity, is miserable. Sometimes I feel like I can barely breathe outside.

Our a/c is struggling to keep up with the high temps. Often, it CAN’T keep up. I’ve stopped using the programmed settings for during the day, because once it gets warm in the house, it can’t cool to a lower temperature, regardless of what the setting is, and doesn’t really start to cool down until after the sun goes down.

And that is in the part of the house that doesn’t have the issues our bedroom does as far as heating and cooling. I could not sleep at all the last 2 nights because I was so hot, even with the ceiling fan on. Thank God I didn’t have to go to work yesterday or today. Mister has been saying he is going to put more insulation in the attic, hasn’t done it yet. 

The way things are going,I’m considering buying a window unit for our bedroom. I have enough issues with sleeping at night, that I don’t need to add being way too hot to the issues.

I’ve read that people in the UK are dying from the extreme heat, so this brutal, extreme summer isn’t just happening where I live, and is not a figment of my imagination. Nor is it that it just feels different to me because of my age and hormones. It is actually fact that this is an unusually hot summer in some places.

Our light, gas and water bill for last month was much higher than any bill I’ve ever seen for those services. Almost $500

What has this summer been like so far where you live?

Sorry but you lost me at “ I was a child in 1980”. 

Once again, 

[giramomma]

It's been hot/humid here, but not triple digits. Our power/electricity bill was $225 last month. If we careful, and have 0 devices plugged in and charging, we can get it down to about 150 a month or so. But, kids.

My body temperature is just whack. Perimenopause and tamoxifen are not really helping matters.

Getting sweaty inside a house triggers me. I grew up without air conditioning, because my parents were...I don't know what they were... My parents didn't even get a room unit (in their bedroom) until after I moved out. At some point, they did get a portable air conditioner.

On the bad days,, you'd eventually be as wet as you were after getting out of the shower from the sweat.

I hate that feeling, now. I have t remind myself that I don't have to be a martyr about my comfort. I just turn the damn air on when I need it.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2022 19:14:16 GMT -5 nidena said:

Thankfully, the weather isn't above and beyond here in Indy.  I can't say the same for my neighboring states to the west and south.

One thing I plan on doing...eventually...is install ductless a/c.  I had them when I lived in Okinawa and they were great because the unit goes through the wall (rather than within a window) so they get sealed at the seams.  The benefit of this is each room is cooled by one machine so your bedroom can be cooler (or warmer) than the rest of the house.  My apartment in Okinawa had one in each of the three bedrooms and one for the living/dining/kitchen area.  We almost never turned that main one on, just the bedroom ones.

I’ve never heard of this and will bring it up to Mister.

Reading the link you provided, I think you can cool 5 rooms max, with 1 unit. Well, we have 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room, den, dining room, breakfast nook and laundry room……. so 1 unit will not work for us. But I can see it being used as a supplement to the existing system, if necessary.

Still, I think the proper route to go would be to FIRST figure out what happened before last winter to cause part of the house to not heat or cool like it had been before. But what do I know? I didn’t go to school for HVAC, or really anything that matters, so I’m just some person with uneducated opinions.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2022 19:39:40 GMT -5 giramomma said:

It's been hot/humid here, but not triple digits. Our power/electricity bill was $225 last month. If we careful, and have 0 devices plugged in and charging, we can get it down to about 150 a month or so. But, kids.

My body temperature is just whack. Perimenopause and tamoxifen are not really helping matters.

Getting sweaty inside a house triggers me. I grew up without air conditioning, because my parents were...I don't know what they were... My parents didn't even get a room unit (in their bedroom) until after I moved out. At some point, they did get a portable air conditioner.

On the bad days,, you'd eventually be as wet as you were after getting out of the shower from the sweat.

I hate that feeling, now. I have t remind myself that I don't have to be a martyr about my comfort. I just turn the damn air on when I need it.

I do not like to get sweaty either.

I spent most of my life being cold almost everywhere I went. I kept a sweater or jacket in my car even when it was summer and hot as hell outside.

When I bought my house, I declared that I would at least be comfortable in my own home, which mostly meant I would blast the heat as I saw fit during winter.

Now I need to be able to blast the a/c to be comfortable lol.

[wvugurl26]

Summer 2018 we had a new AC and furnace put in. We had to tear half the deck off and replace it with a patio. The steps off the old deck would have interfered with the pad for the new AC.

AC coils were rusted and it had to be refilled every summer with freon. Apparently it was such an issue with those Lenox units that there was a class action lawsuit about it.

Anyway we had to tear off the old deck, level out the ground and lay the patio before they could put the new AC in. That was the summer it rained all the time.

My allergies to pollen and asthma are so bad, I can't open the windows and certainly not in the bedroom. It was 85+ in the stupid house upstairs. The HVAC company was behind due to all the rain.

I got tired of being unable to sleep. I finally threw a big old fit and said we were buying a window unit for the bedroom. My DH was dumb about it all the way to Lowe's and back while installing it. After it was in and we could sleep at night he finally admitted that it was a good purchase.

It was over a month after we bought it until the new AC was put in. They finally finished everything with the furnace in late September before it got cold.

[chiver78]

I'd get the window unit, too. I had one in each of the upstairs bedrooms in my last house, b/c if the central AC was on high enough to make upstairs tolerable, I could hang meat downstairs. I love sleeping in cool, but that was a bit much haha. 

that said, this summer hasn't been terrible here. today is our first day after a 7-day heat wave. I actually caved and turned on the AC at the start of it. Punk was overheating, and I didn't love the crazy humidity. I'm going to leave it on (but set at like 78-80, which I can control remotely via app) while I'm away the next couple of days, so I can leave the windows closed and locked. it does seem like this summer is something else for the rest of the country, though. so you might not find a clear answer as to what's changed with your house since last year - in that it's the weather that changed. 

[nidena]

Jul 26, 2022 20:25:55 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

I'd get the window unit, too. I had one in each of the upstairs bedrooms in my last house, b/c if the central AC was on high enough to make upstairs tolerable, I could hang meat downstairs. I love sleeping in cool, but that was a bit much haha. 

that said, this summer hasn't been terrible here. today is our first day after a 7-day heat wave. I actually caved and turned on the AC at the start of it. Punk was overheating, and I didn't love the crazy humidity. I'm going to leave it on (but set at like 78-80, which I can control remotely via app) while I'm away the next couple of days, so I can leave the windows closed and locked. it does seem like this summer is something else for the rest of the country, though. so you might not find a clear answer as to what's changed with your house since last year - in that it's the weather that changed. 

That's one thing I miss about my a/c in DE: the remote/wi-fi control.  It's awesome when you can pop into the app from four states away to change the temperature for each a/c in a dual zone system.  My current house doesn't have that AND the control panel is only four feet off the ground.  I have to lean down a foot just to see it.  lol.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

We're having a heat wave this week. 105ºF yesterday; 108ºF today. Most people have a/c. My mother refuses to have it, but she's a whacko martyr. 
We actually had a nice June--high 70ºs and low 80ºs and intermittent rain. 
That's good because we've been devastated by wildfires the last few years. 

However, I just spent the last dozen years living on the PNW coastline. It took me the first few years to acclimate to that climate. I've not purchased shorts in ten years. I'll need to get some now that we've moved back inland. 


We don't have humidity though like the other parts of the country--here or where on the coast line. 

[chiver78]

oh, I'll own that I'm so spoiled with it. esp with the puppers, I can always keep an eye on what's going on. and (well, not that I've had to do it here, this house generally is super cool somehow) but I've even had a couple days where I'd left windows open and I turned on the AC anyway b/c the temperature had gone up much more than expected while I was at work. mooch and I were working different shifts, so it wasn't like I was cooling the neighborhood all day. just a couple hours. 

[teen persuasion]

We haven't been too bad, here - the lakes act as natural air conditioners for the region most of the time.  It's never reached 100F in recorded history here.  But the lakes can make it muggy, so getting near 90 is uncomfortable.  Luckily, the hot+muggy stretches have been relatively short - then it either dries out so it doesn't feel so bad, or nighttime temps drop enough we can open windows to cool the house down.  Close it up in the morning, and we are good for a few more days.  We have never had AC.

But the climate change has messed up my allergies.  Normally they kick in like clockwork the second to last week of August (on Tuesday), when you start to get cool, damp mornings again after summer warmth (I've learned those conditions are what trigger achoo-achoo-achoo).  College 8am classes were mandatory and miserable; if I could avoid going out until that burned off, say 10am, I could avoid an attack most of the time.  Well, this year I've had allergy attacks in late June and July!  We kind of skipped spring this year - went from cold and rainy to summer hot and pretty dry.  Kind of kills the idea that my fall hay fever is caused by ragweed.  It's obviously conditions, not a specific plant producing pollen at x time of year, that sets me off.

[busymom]

Right now we're comfortable, but very recently the temps & humidity were brutal.  In fact, Summer-type weather hit early this year, to the point that our vegetable garden has really suffered this growing season.  It's NOT normal.  During our most recent heatwave, I told DH that if I didn't know better, I'd swear we were back in Florida.  

[finnime]

We broke down and bought a window unit for our new home last week. The temperature and humidity were veering on DMV's summer swelter. This unit is fantastic. It makes the entire house comfortable even when it hits 90 degrees. I am sensitive to heat. It makes me bitchy and leaves me ennervated.

If this sort of weather becomes the norm we'll put in central air. I have had the thought that it won't last too long; that we'll get only a week or two like this, since the town is on the water. We'll see. Climate change is inevitable, I'm afraid.

[chiver78]

Jul 27, 2022 6:34:25 GMT -5 finnime said:

We broke down and bought a window unit for our new home last week. The temperature and humidity were veering on DMV's summer swelter. This unit is fantastic. It makes the entire house comfortable even when it hits 90 degrees. I am sensitive to heat. It makes me bitchy and leaves me ennervated.

If this sort of weather becomes the norm we'll put in central air. I have had the thought that it won't last too long; that we'll get only a week or two like this, since the town is on the water. We'll see. Climate change is inevitable, I'm afraid.

this past week is very much not the norm. we'll typically get about a week of crazy humidity over the summer and a few random days here and there of 90+ but never together and as long as the past week. 

[minnesotapaintlady]

We haven't been super hot, but it's been pretty damn humid.  This week so far is beautiful.  70's to low 80's during the day, 50's at night. 

I hate heat and always have.  I turn my AC on in the Spring and it pretty much stays on set at 70 degrees until Fall. Today I'm working from home in my basement which stays even colder and need to grab a sweatshirt here pretty quick.  I grew up without AC until I was 17 or so and remember the nights of sweaty sheets and fans in the windows all too well. I'm not going there ever again.  I should have someone service the AC since it has only been once in the 22 years I've lived here, but I'm afraid they'll tell me crap is wrong with it and scare me into spending a fortune to "fix" it. 

[daisylu]

Jul 26, 2022 20:23:42 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

Summer 2018 we had a new AC and furnace put in. We had to tear half the deck off and replace it with a patio. The steps off the old deck would have interfered with the pad for the new AC.

AC coils were rusted and it had to be refilled every summer with freon. Apparently it was such an issue with those Lenox units that there was a class action lawsuit about it.

Anyway we had to tear off the old deck, level out the ground and lay the patio before they could put the new AC in. That was the summer it rained all the time.

My allergies to pollen and asthma are so bad, I can't open the windows and certainly not in the bedroom. It was 85+ in the stupid house upstairs. The HVAC company was behind due to all the rain.

I got tired of being unable to sleep. I finally threw a big old fit and said we were buying a window unit for the bedroom. My DH was dumb about it all the way to Lowe's and back while installing it. After it was in and we could sleep at night he finally admitted that it was a good purchase.

It was over a month after we bought it until the new AC was put in. They finally finished everything with the furnace in late September before it got cold.

We have been going through this this year. HVAC died in May. We were supposed to have a new unit installed in July. Still no date set. After 2 weeks of 80 degree nights I bought a window unit for the bedroom. We both have issues sleeping when it is hot, but DH refuses to spend what he sees as unnecessary $. He has appreciated having the AC at night. He did get the HVAC working for now, but left the window unit in the bedroom until the new HVAC is installed. In this latest heat wave the old unit runs more than it does not. Why are men so hard headed? One of the few things I demand is to be comfortable in my home.

[wvugurl26]

daisylu I don't know why men have to be so damn stubborn. I was paying for the dang thing, I just needed him to pick it up and install it. I won that argument by pointing out it was fine for him to drop $200 for dinner out with friends but not for his wife to be able to sleep at night. We had just been out to dinner with friends the weekend before and he insisted on paying.

Another one of his famous post argument epiphanies as he calls them. Maybe if you weren't so stubborn in the first place!

[resolution]

Jul 26, 2022 19:40:14 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

Still, I think the proper route to go would be to FIRST figure out what happened before last winter to cause part of the house to not heat or cool like it had been before. But what do I know? I didn’t go to school for HVAC, or really anything that matters, so I’m just some person with uneducated opinions.

Any chance you can get an HVAC company to come out for an A/C tune up? They advertise that kind of service pretty heavily around here and I don't remember the prices being terrible. 

[resolution]

We finally got central A/C this year, for the first time since I moved away from Phoenix in 2010.  So I spent 12 years with the same struggle, where I felt we needed the window units in much earlier than my husband. Before we were married, he didn't use them at all so he could save money. I didn't even know he had a window unit stored away in the coat closet while we were dating.  I was like wtf? All those nights I spent in your oven of an apartment?

[jerseygirl]

Grew up without air conditioning. When we moved, were looking at houses and remember parents wanting houses with bedrooms with ‘cross ventilation, windows on at least two walls.
First house we owned had an in wall air conditioner but used it infrequently. Moved to this house and it had a huge almost B 52 sized fan in the hallway. Used for drawing out the house air and pulling in outside air . But by the lake the outside air was cooler but still very humid. Had one in childhood and it worked well but with occasional mosquitoes. We do live in NJ home of the giant mosquitoes.
Well living on a lake means more humidity so had central air put in when we added a second floor. Least week was like living in a hot swamp outside but nice inside without humidity. We keep temp indoor around 75 . I LOVE central air conditioning!

[Tennesseer]

Is it safe to assume new housing in the northern states comes with central air? 

[bean29]

Jul 27, 2022 6:50:24 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

We haven't been super hot, but it's been pretty damn humid.  This week so far is beautiful.  70's to low 80's during the day, 50's at night. 

I hate heat and always have.  I turn my AC on in the Spring and it pretty much stays on set at 70 degrees until Fall. Today I'm working from home in my basement which stays even colder and need to grab a sweatshirt here pretty quick.  I grew up without AC until I was 17 or so and remember the nights of sweaty sheets and fans in the windows all too well. I'm not going there ever again.  I should have someone service the AC since it has only been once in the 22 years I've lived here, but I'm afraid they'll tell me crap is wrong with it and scare me into spending a fortune to "fix" it. 

Our AC is 17 years old and sounds like it is straining to run.  As you said, it is often cool enough in WI to get by with the windows open at night.  Last night it was in the low 70's with a 15% chance of rain, so we turned off the air and opened the windows.  When it is predicted to get really hot (90's) I also close all the blinds to keep the house cool.  I don't bother if we have average WI weather though.  I have been working really hard to keep lights turned off when I leave a room.  I got a small refund on my 12th month recon of my Budget Billing for Gas and Electric, so even though energy prices went up we did ok.

My in-laws live across from Lake Michigan.  They can get by most days with just opening up the windows, but when it is hot and humid, she does run the A/C.

and I am amused by my Dogs who always want to be outside, unless it is really hot.  When it is hot, I notice they go out and do their business, and are back at my sliding door, waiting to come inside.  One of my dogs is black, and the other has a denser fur coat.  Both get groomed, and I think DH said he scheduled the appointment.  They appreciate the A/C as much as the rest of us.