Somebody please turn off the heat!

For years it was a point of pride with me that we didn't have air conditioning. In the middle of a heat wave, I loved saying to people, "Oh, we don't have air conditioning at our house."

By their reactions, I might as well have informed them that we lived in a tepee.

About five years ago, we gave in and put a window unit in the bedroom. It was heaven to sleep through the night comfortably, instead of sweating through the sheets with fans blowing hot air on us.

For two weeks now, the daily high temperatures have been around 100. My router has overheated and quit working more than once, and I finally left it disconnected until cooler weather. I know high temperatures are hard on computers. And nowadays, high temps are hard on me. In the evening, I've been pretty much just hibernating in the bedroom in front of the little TV.

So why don't we put in central air?

This old house has lots of problems. We hate to invest any money in it because one thing would lead to another, and we'd end up spending enough to build a new house, in the end. And we'd still be stuck with a house that has too-small rooms, two stories, and other problems with the layout that I'd rather do without.

In two years we're going to do something about the house situation, although I'm not sure what, just yet; we're considering our options. At our ages, something could happen at any time to influence the decision we make. In the meantime, I think another window unit is in order.

I keep thinking the hot weather will soon be over for this year, and we'll buy another unit next summer. But this heat wave is sure taking its sweet time leaving.