Days go by...

I can feel them flying like a hand out the window in the wind... (Keith Urban, "Days Go By" from "Be Here.")

He's right. Days do fly by -- I cannot believe how many weeks (not just days) have passed since I composed the basics of my starter post! And I actually didn't realise that my aborted attempt at creating my initial post back on May 13 wasn't deleted. I am still new at navigating around this site and thus had no idea that the post bones were saved...and that once I "published" it would keep the initial creation date.

What can I say. Since I created that post days have flown by. It's finally warmed up around here. On May 13, we were still wearing sweats (even though the lawn was growing and had been on it's 5th weekly mow by then).

Today was the second day that we turned on the whole-house fan. Those are great for this ThyneBurgPA weather. They bring in the cooler outside air and move out the hot inside air. Since it was 71 degrees Farenheit at around 8:30 pm -- fairly high for this time of year in Pennsylvania -- it was the perfect thing. A whole-house fan exchanges the hot air inside the house (it was nearly 80 inside) for cooler air from outside. The air outside was the temperature you'd get after running the A/C, and it was the temperature you'd enjoy IF you ignored the frugal living tips and set your thermostat at 70 or lower. Running the A/C, you'd be wasting $$$ to run that compressor and blower. Running our whole-house fan is about 1/20th (that's right ONE TWENTIETH) the cost of running a whole-house A/C. Our fan is a unit made in the USA from Tamarack Technologies in Buzzards Bay, MA (on Cape Cod). http://www.tamtech.com/ It has insulated doors so there's no draft or air leaks in the colder months, and has two speeds. Take a look at their site if you own your house and see the benefits for yourself!

It didn't help the heat situation in the house at all, that I used the oven to make dinner. Since we no longer have a gas grill (we reverted to charcoal last summer) if we want hot meals aren't a of meat-heavy menu, we turn on the oven if the meal warrants (not everything can be cooked on the stovetop). And cold suppers get old quick!

So, with the heat generated from the oven, husband Chuck was complaining about the heat in the house. I say suck it up and go put on your shorts. ;-) I stay in the hottest room in the house -- our south-facing family room, where my home office is -- ALL DAY without A/C. It normally only gets turned on when he arrives home. He's a hot-weather wuss!

We may investigate putting a cheap used stove in the cellar. That's a tactic learned from my in-laws. It's much cheaper (in the long run) than cranking up the A/C. The temps in the cellar in the summer are regularly 10-15 degrees cooler than upstairs. So, I'll start searching Craigslist, Freecycle and the newspaper classifieds. If you're in Central PA and have a gas range to sell or give away that is, or can be converted to propane, let me know about it! We'll need to install another gas pipe to the range but since the pipes are already in the cellar, it shouldn't cost too much, and Suburban Propane is happy to do it inexpensively since they'll be selling me more fuel if they install more lines!

However, to get it home, I'll have to require my Ford Ranger pickup be returned from Blackwood, where it seems to have grown roots. You can't stuff a range in the back of the Mini -- or in a Honda Civic!

Kevin...take note ;-)!!!!