Heat, Part Two

Well, the heat wave didn't break, but I'm hoping that my writing slump did. I was able to get 21 pages done today, and I hope I can keep a similar pace going for a while.

In his comment on yesterday's post, Cap'n Bob mentions air conditioners. We turn on our air conditioners (we have window units, not central air) in May -- April during a bad year -- and they don't get turned off for good until sometime in October. This makes for high electricity bills in those months, of course. And since we also have electric heating, the power company gets us coming and going. There are only a few months out of the year when our electric bill is relatively modest.

While I'm not completely convinced by the arguments about the existence of global warming, I do believe there has been a climatic shift in the past 40 years or so since I was a kid. Back then, the really hot weather (100 degrees or above) started around the middle of June and lasted until about the first week in September. I don't mean it would be 100 degrees every day during that time, but such temperatures were common. Then in late September you might actually have a little cool weather. Now the really hot days don't start until July, but they last until the end of September. That same two-to-three week shift applies to winter weather, too. When I was young winter was over by the first of March. Now the threat of snow and ice in the first half of March pops up fairly often. I have no idea what causes this, and as usual when it comes to me and scientific theories, I may just be full of it.

I'm still reading and enjoying Stilson's A MAN NAMED JONES.