It's fall and the weather is changing. This past summer, we had many days when the outside temperature hit 100, and many of us hated it. We were longing forncolder weather. I know I was. I really like the cold.
I like it so much, I keep my thermostat on meat locker. I have always kept my house cold, and when the weather outside starts matching the air temperature in my house, I find myself creating a contest where what's inside needs to be colder than what's outside. It's like thermostat roulette. There is something about a chill in the air that makes me sleep better. I don't know what all the fuss is about when people come to visit. If I hear one more time that someone left the freezer door open, I am going to shoot myself.
There is a great irony in all of this. Have you ever gone to a restaurant, only to be seated under the air vent, so you ask to be moved because it's too cold? My wife and I do that all the time. Why would a dining chill make me more uncomfortable than the one I get in my house? Is it because there's a salad bar in the middle of the room? Or do you dwell more on the temperature when a woman wearing a red polka-dotted apron wants to know if you want fries with that?
I had this dream recently in which Al Gore called to let me know about global warming and how he thought it began at my address. He went on to say that it shouldn't be this cold in Virginia in October. When I told him that I recently visited the glaciers of Alaska, he felt that he had found his smoking gun. It's now my fault.
There is no question about it. The weather is going to get colder before it gets hotter, and I am in a dilemma. When do I shut off my air conditioning? I've had the air running since May, locked at 68 degrees. I want to feel it when I come in from a really hot day. With colder outdoor temperatures, the inside air needs to feel different than the air I just left in my front yard. I know if I just shut it off, it won't be comfortable, and if I sleep with my windows open, I won't get the air movement. Do you think it's out of the question to drop it down to 50 inside? The digital display says that I could. What will my wife say? She's always hot anyway. What will my friends say? As for my kids, they've always liked wearing full-length coats indoors, and now they can every time they visit.
