I get really pissed off about summer heat/humidity in September, because my New England expectations are that it should at least be starting to cool off. But nope!

I would die without central air. I almost did a couple years ago when ours had to be replaced. And that was in April.

I would die without central air. I almost did a couple years ago when ours had to be replaced. And that was in April.

When we got the current furnace/central air installed 4 or 5 years ago, it was installed in October or November, and the techs installing it said it was too cold for them to do some final thingie with the central air, so they would come back and do it in the spring, when the temperature would consistently stay above...65, I think? Or 60?

Anyway, that was all fine, until spring rolled around and in one week it jumped from 58 to 87 (because Cincinnati), and I was DYING. I am a delicate flower without climate control. (I called the furnace company in a panic and begged them to come out ASAP.)

I can't take heat well either. The Kansas summers I worked on the highway was not easy. I can remember holding a sign for an afternoon on blacktop and trying to keep my head clear when I started to hallucinate.

I was surprised to find out just how effective ceiling fans are in the summer. There's one in each bedroom in my house. I adore them.

I was surprised to find out just how effective ceiling fans are in the summer.

YES!

Love my ceiling fans. One thing about the dryer air here, swamp coolers work, which is pretty neat. Probably not a good thing to use during the drought, but neat.

Yikes, Gud, that's pretty bad!

I was surprised to find out just how effective ceiling fans are in the summer.

Yeah, I have a ceiling fan in my bedroom now, and I don't think I used A/C at all last summer. Especially if I'm sweaty, the fan makes me cold!

Dana, I don't know if I could move to Idaho, but also I don't have a spouse with a job offer, so.

I'm allergic to most kinds of pollen, dust, animal dander, *and my own dander*. Sneezing fits after every shampoo (no matter what product I use) and hair brushing. NC was a misery--149 identified plant and spore allergens, plus rapid growth in industrial air pollution. My hometown, Winston-Salem, is the home of RJ Reynolds (himself), and of both Winston and Salem cigarettes (there was one called 'Hyphen' but it never caught on). I grew up with tobacco factories running three shifts around the clock. There was also a not-Reynolds brand snuff factory, adding in essences of flowers and fruit to dip and chaw, so when students came from elsewhere, they wanted to know why the air always smelled so sick-y sweet. Normal, for me.

When H transferred from Temple to WFU, he had to stop wearing his athletic (scleral) contacts. The doctor he consulted told him his allergy to airborne tobacco particles was so bad his corneas had broken out in a rash. I don't think it ever cleared up, but he went to glasses at that point, so it was moot.

The first two or three years in PNW were heaven. We're slowly acclimatizing to local airborne allergens, though, and the climate is changing. There was winter snow, and early fall and late spring when we moved here. Now we rarely get snow in winter. Summer temps hit above 90F for two days our first year, and below 80 for all but a week or two in the summer. That period has increased every year, till we're dealing without AC and two months of high-80s to 90F every summer. The higher temps linger later every fall, and spring comes sooner every year. Rainy days give way to weeks of unremitting sun, and creeks and waterfalls that used to dry up in August are now bone dry in May.

But H's mom reports that Charlotte is roughly 20 degrees warmer than Bellingham from late March to early November, and humidity is as bad as ever. I can't imagine ever living in NC again--and visiting between April and October? Probably not.

I need to whine. The neighborhood association contracted arborists to identify trees that need felling, trimming, or bracing to prevent property damage during the high winds we often get here, which is a good thing. They arrived this morning and started on our street. After an all-too-brief break for lunch, the industrial grade woodchipper is parked right in front of my living room windows and it sounds like it's eating the world. WTF are my damn earplugs?