Summer heat wave

Summer in New York State is a beautiful time of year.  It’s common in July to experience a least one torrid heatwave, and this past week proves my point.  When I’m at the cottage on the shore of the St. Lawrence River and the temps soar into the high 80’s or higher and the humidity climbs to above 60% it’s easy to find relief by simply jumping in the river and let the mid-60s water temp cool me down.  That practice, alone, makes sleeping much more tolerable.

However, I spend a part of each week in an apartment in south western NY. When the summer heat wave of July arrives there my west facing 3rd floor apt., (top floor) absorbs heat like bread baking in an oven. For example, this past Tues. when I arrived at my apartment building at 4pm, the outside temp was a blistering 88 degrees. With the trepidation of knowing my apartment would be a sweat box I entered into a stifling hot apt. Where the thermostat registered 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The apartment is equipped with an air conditioner, I think it was installed when the building was erected, and for 4 years this was my only avenue of surcease. To say that this appliance made living conditions in the apartment comfortable would be like me telling you that letting one ice cube melt and evaporate would cool the apt. to comfortability. The only thing this machine did abundantly was devour electricity and quintuple my electric bill.

Last year while working with one of our surgeons I mentioned my dilemma concerning this uncomfortable state of affairs. He went on to tell me about a free standing mobile unit air conditioning unit that he had purchased for his home. Being in dire need of surcease from my sauna like living arrangement I decided to purchase one of these units. They come in different sizes, big enough to cool an entire apartment/home to room size. I ordered one which would cool a room of the size of my bedroom. It took me a couple of hours to easily install this life saver. And after turning it on it took a couple of hours to cool my bedroom from 84 degrees to 68 degrees. Voila; nirvana.

So when I arrived last Tues. in my 90 degree apartment I immediately made my way into the bedroom, turned on the cooling unit and closed the door on my way out and went out onto my balcony. At 8pm when I reinterred to seek a restful sleep, the temperature in the bedroom was 73 refreshingly cool degrees.

The electric bill you ask? Well it just so happens that I received said bill yesterday and I’m delighted to say that it was only slightly above my usual.