So, in a stroke of genius, knowing I would be gone all day, I turned my AC off to “save money.” Bad idea on one of the hottest days of the year. The AC is now groaning in the back yard attempting to cool the house below 80 degrees, and I am sitting in my chair with two fans aimed at my junk. I’ve had to temporarily institute a dog on lap moratorium, and the bitches ladies are pissed.
That big band stuff this morning really hit a sweet spot for me, so I downloaded the whole Duff’s Blues
*** Update ***
And I stepped all over Anne Laurie’s open thread. Sorry.
Walker
If your AC is thermostat controlled, it does not make sense to turn it down if you are gone less than a day. Gone a week, sure. But if less than a day, the energy to bring you back down makes it a wash.
WereBear
It’s good to know John’s junk has fans.
Phyllis
I’m surprised your fridge didn’t decide to give up the ghost.
Comrade Mary
Are your electricity rates lower at night? We have Time of Use pricing now, which means that I run the AC to pre-cool the house overnight at the cheap rate, shut it off in the morning, then keep all windows, doors and blinds shut throughout the day to keep the heat out. I end up needing a fan in my second floor office by the afternoon, but the main floor stays pretty comfy.
So how is Tunch doing?
General Stuck
It’s been an awful day. Finreg passes, the oil leak is finally stopped, and, well, that’s bad enough.
It is muggy and hot here. But it’s a dry humidity.
Elisabeth
You need two fans and you’re still single? You like older women?!
ellaesther
@WereBear: What you did there. I see it.
demo woman
Dogs and cats get hot too….
Comrade Mary
@Elisabeth: It’s official: John’s overclocked.
Omnes Omnibus
@WereBear: @Elisabeth:
You people are appalling. As far as the main post goes, TMI.
Keith
Enjoy your fans blowing you.
jeffreyw
Sigh, I stopped by the grocery on my way home from a doc appt, bought some odds n ends including a dozen eggs. Mrs J is using eggs for the ice cream and has finished a carton. I calculated there should be four dozen remaining but only saw three in the fridge. A quick check of the truck turned up the last dozen. Bonus Find: Two pounds of butter, or more correctly two pounds combined of milk solids and ghee.
Jeffro
We have been steadily upping the thermostat here at home until we maxed out, comfortability-wise, at 75 degrees (used to be 68). Who’d have thunk it?
I’m sure there’s a website that could tell me how much $$$ I’m saving…I’ll even go look for it in a sec…but it has some nice side benefits besides the savings. It’s so much easier to go from “cool” to “really warm” than to walk out of a refrigerator into an oven.
When we’re gone for more than a day, we bring it up to 80 but never higher than that – it is just too much of a strain on the system to try and cool the house back down.
beltane
Nothing like sitting with a dog during a heat wave. That is the beauty of having children; I “encourage” the dog to sleep in their room at night.
Elisabeth
@Omnes Omnibus:
heh. As a single woman north of 40 my interest was … -pricked- piqued.
Phyllis
@Keith: Blue Bell Cherry Cheesecake ice cream. Sprayed.on.the.keyboard.
Thanks though. That was a goodie.
Phyllis
@Elisabeth: Mine was aroused.
Corner Stone
Listen. You can’t post how you love the -cock- organ, and then post about fans blowing your junk ~ and THEN tell us we’re the freakin 12 year olds when we do what it is we do.
General Stuck
I smells internet sex.
RedKitten
@WereBear: I
Considering how hot his junk is, is it any wonder?
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
@Elisabeth: I’m sorry. Anytime this sort of conversation gets started on the internet, I have to assume that 90%+ of the “women” are actually men. So, I don’t believe you.
WereBear
Hey, John was just talking about how hot he was. I figured the post was about hotness, and I live in an attic apartment, and am very hot myself.
Wait. What?
Elisabeth
@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN):
Well, I ain’t posting any pictures as “proof.” :) If I did I’d look like Angelina Jolie anyway so there’d be no point.
I am woman hear me roar. (I had a Helen Reddy album in my youth.)
Toast
I’ve turned the AC off three times over the last couple of weeks, only to turn it back on each time within a few hours. Here in CT we’re having the worst Armpit Summer I’ve ever experienced. It just keeps going. 83 today and a little less muggy, but tomorrow we head back into another stretch of temps in the 90’s and dew points probably in the mid-70’s. Screw it. I’m running the AC straight on until this relents.
stuckinred
Try some Afrobeat big band.
Elizabelle
NY Times analysis by Sheryl Gay Stolberg. No resting on those laurels, dude. And you remind me of George Bush, while we’re at it.
“Obama Pushes an Agenda without keeping an eye on disapproving polls”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/business/16assess.html?hp
Stolberg:
… But Mr. Obama’s legislative success poses a paradox: while he may be winning on Capitol Hill, he is losing with voters at a time of economic distress, and soon may be forced to scale back his ambitions.
eemom
the thing to do is turn the thermostat up, not turn it all the way off.
Leisureguy
Great album. Thanks.
Try the Complete Atomic Basie, which is the Count Basie Orchestra playing a lot of Neal Hefti tunes.
Litlebritdifrnt
John I will tell you again, window units. My air handler broke, I was looking at a boat load of cash to fix it. DH and I live in a 3 bed 2br house and were paying $400.00 a month to heat and cool the whole place (when we basically live on the ground floor and never even look at the two bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs for 11 months of the year). When the air handler broke, I chose to use the wood fireplace and buy a couple of space heaters for the living room and the bedroom. Worked like a charm. Since the summer arrived we have bought 3 window a/c units, one for the bedroom, one for the great room and one for the kitchen (all three for less than it would have cost for the a/c repair). The kitchen one isn’t even used unless I am in there cooking. The bedroom one is usually set at low cause it gets like a freezer in there if it is set at high, the one in the great room keeps it nice and cool (with the ceiling fan helping). My electric bill went from $400.00 a month to $96.00. Even with adding the additional kitchen unit and consistent 100+ degree temperatures outside it has only gone up to $144.00. I would seriously recommend that you look into getting some window units for the rooms that you use. There is absolutely no point in you (a single person) paying to cool/heat rooms that you do not use. If you don’t fancy the window units there are new ductless units that heat and cool without relying on a central system and are alot more eco friendly and economical. I believe they are quite expensive to begin with but qualify for a $1,500.00 tax credit for just installing them. I have completely changed my opinion of this entire “whole house” heating and cooling thing in recent months. There is a REASON that motels have window units in each room. It would be absolute insanity for a motel owner to heat and cool vacant rooms. Follow their lead.
Mike E
A friend of mine from college told stories of growing up in Manhattan with his jazz musician dad and Broadway dancer mom. An older black gentleman would stop by — he called him Uncle Bill. It was Count Basie!
Dunno which albums to recc, but know this: If the Count Basie Orchestra comes to a venue near you, RUN, don’t walk, to that concert.
TaMara (BHF)
So when I’m not cooking, my real job is helping people be more energy efficient. Let me relieve some of your guilt – in a climate like yours, keeping your AC on at about 78-80 degrees when you’re not home, then lowering a bit when you are, is more efficient than turning it off and trying to cool the whole house. Same in the winter – 60 degrees when you’re not home, 68 when you are. And Comrade Mary has the right idea, use those curtains to help keep things cool.
There have been tests and studies, I’d link to them but I’m too lazy to look them up.
Also, fans – adding fans (ceiling or otherwise) with your AC is great, helps mix the air and reduces the amount of AC you need. And most fans are fairly efficient.
Here in the arid mountain states, we cool our homes with water and fans. At least once a year or so I have to go somewhere humid just to rehydrate (that is my excuse for going to Florida and I’m sticking to it).
And if you’re really worried about efficiency – check your water heater and your refrigerator (and if you have two refrigerators, it’s costing you about $100+ a year to cool those beers) they are two of the most energy hogs in your home.
That is my public service announcement for today. And all of you have dirty minds. Which of course is why I come here.
Elizabelle
Apologies for the long block quotes that weren’t! The story was so negative, though, and false equivalency with the Bush analogy.
PS: Costco’s got stand-alone air conditioners that look easy to move about. My sympathies on the East Coast heat.
If you’ve not seen it, watch DVD of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Cool palate, Sweden in winter, icy plot with some scares. I felt cooler watching it!
stuckinred
@Mike E: Are you familiar with the photo and film “Great Day in Harlem” ? Count Basie is sitting on the curb with the kids. When they made the film they found some of the kids who were with him. Great Day indeed.
burnspbesq
Dude: “Roots and Blues,” by Maceo Parker.
It is somewhat counterintuitive to say that the smokinest big band on the planet resides in Cologne, Germany – but it’s true, and this two-disc set with Maceo fronting the WDR Big Band proves it.
When you’re done with that, head to your nearest used record store and grab anything you can find by the Thad Jones – Mel Lewis Orchestra.
MikeJ
@TaMara (BHF): Can I ask a stupid question? Why don’t fridges vent to outside?
Mike E
@stuckinred: No! I’ve got that poster, too. Gotta check that out, thanks.
Jager
@Mike E:
There is a Sinatra with Count Basie live at the Sands in Las Vegas…I even liked it when I was a DFH
freelancer
@Elizabelle:
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo also available on Netflix Instant, btw.
Ahhhhh, Fuck Cable.
Svensker
@Comrade Mary:
LOL.
Jager
@freelancer:
What a great book…I couldn’t put it down!
stuckinred
@Mike E: Best line in the flick, when they were trying to get it all organized and get people there at 11am someone said “these cats didn’t know there were two eleven o’clock’s in a day”!
When I saw it Horace Silver was still alive and he was at the event.
freelancer
@Jager:
Wait…there were books?
Wow, the author must be rolling in it!
eemom
@Elizabelle:
yes, and folks wonder why the WH treats the emmessemm with “contempt,” as stated in that Chait piece quoted earlier.
Dunno, Kay has made a good argument about why it’s not a good thing, but I respect that contempt.
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
I overcool the back room of my house. I overheat very easily, and there’s almost no ventilation back here, where the computer and TV are. So, the AC stays running. I have to keep it on high pretty much all the time, or it can’t suck the humidity out and it gets clammy. So, it’s pretty cold back here. It beats the alternative, my electricity bill is only about $115 a month, and I make up for it in winter, when the same room doesn’t need the space heater turned on until it gets down to about 10 degrees outside.
What can I say, I like it cold.
Litlebritdifrnt
@TaMara (BHF): When I have the money the next thing I am going to invest in is a tankless water heater. I hate the idea of heating water 24/7 when I am not using it. Strange thing is (and this is really funny) alot of homes in England when I was a kid had exactly that (a tankless water heater) over the kitchen sink, they only used hot water for the dishes when they needed it. My mum has had a tankless shower heater for at least 20 years that I know of. She actually turns off the water heater until she needs it.
SiubhanDuinne
@Were Bear #2: I’m a fan of John’s junk!
(Now I’m actually going to read all 40+ posts to see how many others said *exactly* the same thing!)
Mike E
@Jager: About 20 years ago the umpteenth iteration of the Count Basie Orch played outside in Charlotte–unbelievable. It was the aural equivalent of fireworks on the 4th of July. Anytime a group of musicians assemble, with chops like that, you really can’t go wrong.
stuckinred
YouTube of A Great Day in Harlem intro
gerry
Guess you learned the hard way. As an appliance guy, I’ll inform you that ACs are more effective at keeping a house cool rather than cooling a hot house. Walls, floors, etc hold a lot of heat.
Svensker
If you like jazzy big bands, you could do worse than Lew Tabakin Big Band with Toshiko Akiyoshi.
One of my favorites albums has Toshiko introducing “ah Rew Tabakin!”
tkogrumpy
Those of you living in the American southwest should pause every once in a while and consider the sacrifices made by those of us in the Northeast, which allow you to live there. My electric bill is $30.00 a month .
eemom
hmmm……looks like the “John’s junk” thread, similar to the “Tunch’s gross ass-wound” thread, the “stepping in Rosie’s vomit” thread, and the “Lily rolls in dead shit” thread, is destined to be a hit.
stuckinred
@gerry: What you hearing about cash for caulkers?
stuckinred
@Svensker: Hell yes!
TaMara (BHF)
@Litlebritdifrnt: When you do that, don’t overlook rebates. The Fed gov’t offers them and often times (especially with the Obama money) your local government has them, too. Depending on the county here, you can get about $400 in a cash rebate and the fed tax rebate is 30%.
It makes them a little more affordable. ROI is good, but still upfront costs are up there.
Mike E
@stuckinred: Marian McPartland! Loved her radio show. Anytime an old jazz hand can spread out and lay it down, it’s a real treat.
I really treasure Tony Bennett’s recollections, he’s one of the last ambassadors of a nearly lost era. His story of Louis Armstrong talking laxatives (King Kriss) with the Royal Family is priceless.
WereBear
@freelancer: Sadly, the author passed on… all three books were published posthumously.
But eventually, it happens to all authors; one hopes to outlive one’s work.
tkogrumpy
@MikeJ: That is actually one of the most intelligent questions I’ve heard all day, but don’t hold your breath waiting for an answer. I have ducted mine outside in the summer, in winter it helps heat the kitchen.
TaMara (BHF)
@MikeJ: Wow, never even thought about that. It does get hot back there, but efficiency-wise probably not enough to justify a fan to blow the heat through a vent.
Funny thing, until I started working with a solar thermal company I didn’t know how coolant worked….which they had to explain to me because in solar thermal systems it kind of works in reverse, delivering the heat to a specific location instead of dispersing it over a large area.
Often when the discussion get into the physics/mechanics area at work, I just nod and try not to look too stupid.
Martin
Our AC didn’t work when we bought the house and thought we’d just pocket the credit and not replace it. 7 years on and aside from a week or two per year, we’ve learned to live fine without it. Installed a lot of ceiling fans, though. Thinking about installing a whole house fan to cool the evenings, and I think that’ll take care of it. Our highest electricity bill was $47, and that was with the table saw running pretty frequently.
stuckinred
@Mike E: Have you seen The Jazz Baroness about Nica Rothschild? Amazing film with Helen Mirren doing her voice.
\
TaMara (BHF)
@Litlebritdifrnt:
It’s embarrassing how far behind we are many other countries. Germany whips our ass in efficient and alternative technologies. And in Europe they are looking at solar thermal cooling, which could change everything. (and yes that link is to the blog I do for my job).
freelancer
@WereBear:
I know, I was being cute.
too soon?
Martin
@MikeJ: That’d require designing kitchens to put the refrigerator on an outside wall – it’d require a fair bit of work to accommodate, and then to rig something up so that you didn’t leak heat during the winter.
It’s not a bad idea, but we still suck at a lot of the first-order energy savings problems, let alone a third-order one.
Tom
Big band music? Just watch the closing credits of Woody Allen movies.
TaMara (BHF)
@Martin: See, I knew someone here would have an intelligent answer for you Mike.
Mike E
@stuckinred: I know the story well: Monk lost his cabaret card for taking the fall for a fellow musician’s drug habit. The Baroness lifted him out of that hole and bankrolled tours overseas to adoring throngs–duh, it’s Thelonius Freaking Monk! Leave it to the USA to let genius like his just waste away.
I’m not sure if it was that film or another docu. Monk’s my man–I was born on his birthday, Oct 10th. The dude was from another planet!
Mom was a jazzophile from Yurp, I inherited her vinyl collection: Pops mostly, and a rather large Glenn Miller retro set.
Svensker
@Martin:
Where do you live? Oregon?
We have window units and tons of fans, ceiling and otherwise, but when it’s 90 and humid, we’re looking at $300/month for our small house.
Cliff
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Tankless:
Get a rinnai, not the bosch one. the rinnai turns the burner on if the heat exchanger gets too cold. the bosch doesn’t. Guess how I know?
anyway(now), I got one of those plastic electric ones with 4″ of foam (massive rebate involved!) and it didn’t noticeably change my electric bill – where the old steel electric one which the bosch had replaced ate electricity.
so check for rebates on the superefficient electric tank one before forking over the cash for the tankless. (although the endless hot showers no matter what other hot water was used recently were awesome)
UncommonSense
I made exactly the same mistake when my family and I went to spend three days at a state park about three hours away in Mississippi last month. I turned the AC off completely. When we got back, the house was an oven. It took hours for it to cool down to a bearable temperature. My wife’s and my upstairs bedroom was the worst because all the heat from downstairs was surging up onto the second floor. The window unit we used to keep cool at night could barely do the job. It was really the next morning before the house got cool enough to be comfortable.
Next time we go away, I’ll set the thermostat on 80, just to keep it from getting outrageously hot.
Janet Strange
@Jeffro: I find that pretty funny. Here in central Texas, I keep my thermostat set at 83 in the summer. I worked my way up from 78 b/c I thought 78 was extravagant.
This summer hasn’t been too bad (mid to high 90’s mostly), but last summer with I don’t know how many days around 105, 80+ inside feels pretty cool.
It’s gotten to be kind of a how-tough-are-you contest between my daughter and I, but she keeps hers set at 85, so she’s winning.
Really, it wasn’t hard to acclimate and it makes it easier to deal with the outdoors. But then I’ve lived in Texas all my life and no one (except really rich people) had home AC when I was growing up. Yes, that was a long time ago. I’m old.
suzanne
@tkogrumpy: And mine was $175 last month. Once house I lived in had $450/month evergy bills in the summer. So pardon me if I’m not all like, “Ohhh, thank you, northeasterners, for subsidizing the dirt-cheap cost of living for those of us with enough hubris to live in America’s Litterbox!”
I swear, when we have the money, I’m building my own house. Two-foot thick rammed earth walls should moderate the desert heat nicely. :)
IronyAbounds
The BBC Big Band Orchestra is great and they pretty much follow the classic orchestrations.
Cliff
@eemom:
Re: Rolling in Stinky shit:
Had molly one week 3 days:
rubbed on/rolled on:
bear shit
goose shit
raccoon shit
dead fish/fish rotten algae
and today, some misc combo of shit and dead shit to reward me for one hour off leash playing in the woods by the river w/’nother doggie.
What Have I gotten myself into?!
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
@Janet Strange:
And people wonder why I could never live in Texas.
Janet Strange
@Janet Strange: I should say, I’m not that tough. I do turn it down at night so I can sleep better. To 76. Brrrrr.
But the way to go is a programmable thermostat. Set it pretty high when you’re at work all day and then let it get a head start cooling the house down before you get home.
It’s even better in the winter. Let the house get cold at night when you’re all toasty under the covers and then start warming up the house about a half hour before the alarm goes off. So much easier to roll out of bed when the house is warm.
scottinnj
Two Big Band Sound
– Gordon Godwin’s Big Phat Band;
– The Brian Setzer Orchestra (yes that Brian Setzer of Stray Cut Strut Fame).
These are both some modern versions of a classic sound.
JL
Your complaint about air conditioning puts me in mind of those who belly-ached to W.T. Sherman after he commandeered the civilian railways prior to his Atlanta campaign.
He pointed out their ancestors walked or rode horses to get where they were going, and there was nothing stopping them from doing the same.
Suck it up.
Or call your local ice house, and have it deliver a block of frozen water to your doorstep.
General Stuck
The Book of Eli is fanfuckingtastic. Though I can see where it wouldn’t be for everyone’s taste. Love the post nuke wasteland set and Denzel is his usual first rate actor self. Not as bleak as The Road. But pretty damn bleak. I just wonder if Sarah Palin is president.
hamletta
My one window unit crapped out early last summer. It wasn’t too bad, because it was the mildest summer I can remember in the last 25 years. My house is old, so it has high ceilings, and it was perfectly comfortable, to me, anyway.
But I forgot what humidity can do. Come fall, I got out my boots, and they were all covered in this rime of mildew. Yuck.
MikeJ
@Martin:
Which I would accept as a perfectly reasonable answer if people didn’t spend millions every year redecorating kitchens.
I understand completely why people don’t turn their lives upside down to get a marginal gain. I don’t understand why when the cost is zero (new construction, remods) people don’t take advantage of efficiencies.
My guess would be that it’s because even most pros don’t think about the way reefers work, even if they know it intellectually.
Most people don’t keep the hot air from their dryer vent inside during the winters either. People just don’t pay attention to being efficient.
Tattoosydney
@Keith:
They’re not blowing him – they’re blowing ON him… which is kind of worse.
hoosierteachergirl
I’m thinkin’ maybe a little…
Buddy Guy – “A Man and the Blues”;
Muddy Waters – “Fathers & Sons”, “Can’t Get no Grindin'”
B.B. King “Spotlight on Lucille”
Stevie Ray Vaughan “Couldn’t Stand the Weather”
Johnny Winter, of the same name
T-Bone Walker – anything!
Lowell George/Little Feat “Can’t Stand the Rain”, et al.
Taj Mahal
Clapton
…to name a few.
Good luck with that junk issue you got goin’ there. Stay cool.
Something Fabulous
@Cliff: to me, it seems the question is more, “Where or earth do you *live*?” That’s a lotta varieties o’ shit!
Josh C.
Everyone’s questions about A/C just perplex me. Having lived in South Florida all my life, turning off A/C in January can be a death sentence.
Mike
Never do that!!! It takes a lot more energy and effort to remove stored heat from a house than heating up a cold one in winter. If you want to save some energy in the summer, raise the temp of the thermostat, but do not turn off the A/C entirely. Better energy efficiency is achieved by maintaining a stable temperature, plus you will be more comfortable, too. It only takes a few minutes to heat a cold house, but it can take hours to cool a hot house ‘cos of all the heat locked into furniture and walls that radiates into a room.
TaMara (BHF)
OMG, we have this argument every day. People will spend thousands on this, but not want to invest 7-12k for any type of alternative energy, even with all the rebates.
Personally, I’d rather make my own, sell it back to the utilities and know that when the rolling blackouts start, I’ll still be able to use my stove, refrigerator and take a hot shower.
But, hey that’s just me.
asiangrrlMN
I have the air set at eighty when I am here and when I am gone. I have the heat set at sixty-three during the day and sixty at night. I am doing my part!
And, Cole, I’m impressed with the hotness of your junk, too. However, do you have any junk in the trunk? If so, does that need cooling, too? At least you are a guy and don’t have to wear a shirt.
Violet
@TaMara (BHF):
I’m the other way around. All the investments in the house so far have been in improving energy efficiency (except for getting the floors done, that was purely aesthetics, but they really needed it). I live in a hot, humid climate, but I’d love to keep my electricity bills low in the summer if possible.
MikeJ
@TaMara (BHF): When people poo-poo making your own electricity I always ask, do you think electricity is going to be cheaper or more expensive in five years?
It just seems like common sense when you’re already remodding a kitchen to put in the long term savings at that point. It might be silly to move your fridge or put in solar water heater on their own, but once you’ve already paid the plumber and electrician to show up for the first hour, you’re often over the hump for what makes sense to do.
asiangrrlMN
@Tattoosydney: Missed your comment, FH#1, and yeah. Doing blow off Cole is worse than just blowing him.
mr. whipple
Big bands, tons of material among just these three. Enjoy the ride.
Count Basie orchestra
Duke Ellington
Benny Goodman Orchestra
Bootlegger
@Martin: Where do you live? We’re trying that here in central Kentucky. We have lots of windows, a tree canopy and woods all around (no heat sink here). We have ceiling fans in every room and two whole-house fans for 2100 sf.
My results are mixed. The first year was about 20+ “uncomfortable evening”, last year was less than two weeks, but this year we’re already close to 20. Its bearable and the house cools great at night. We close it up just as the outside temp starts to rise and the temp inside won’t break 80 until early afternoon. But we’ve had at least 10 days where it peaked in the upper-80’s before the evening cool-down.
One thing we didn’t count on is replacing the other two functions of modern HVAC: humidity control and air filter. The humidity is slowly ruining our book collection (and we’re both academics so its substantial). All the spices and flours clump together in the cupboards. The other day my wife found every single envelope in the box glued shut. Then there are mold problems which are also treated in the air filter as well as other allergens.
With everything running in the house now – fans, dehumidifiers, air purifiers – we got a $144 bill for last month. I’m starting to think that an HVAC would cost about the same in energy.
Its a good thing we’ve replaced a third of the windows, have solar hot water and I dry the clothes on a line when weather permits.
TaMara (BHF)
@Violet: This is great and benefits you and the planet. I have to remind myself that there really are a lot of us out there that think like this.
@MikeJ:
There is some hope. When I go and talk to college students about this, they all seem to get it. They may not know what to do, but they get that change is needed. I love being able to show them how they can make a real difference without living in a cave with no amenities.
Zuzu's Petals
I’m lucky that I’m living in an older house that was built with the Sacramento heat in mind. Thick lathe and plaster walls, plenty of shade trees. Enough windows to catch the delta breeze in the evening.
The AC only has to kick in when it’s toastin’ out there…but whew, am I glad to have it when it does.
Bootlegger
@MikeJ:
I tried this and had moisture issues. Maybe a central HVAC would eat up that moisture, but not my wood stove.
RalfW
Elisabelle thanx for your comments on the Gay Stolberg piece at NYT.
I saw that headline and the first few graphs (before making a hasty dash to B-Juice) and I just thought, O my fugging god, why not just drag the man thru the streets in chains?
The BP well may finally be capped, FinReg passes, the GOP is totally making shit up about tax cuts = revenue growth, and we get a massive piece of Presidential concern-trolling at the top of the NYT home page?
Aaaaaaaaagggghhhhh.
Taking risks is leading, Ms. Gay Whatever. Write about that.
Mpls
re: window units, plaster walls, trees, and all that.
I keep my 1200 sq ft house cool most of the time with one window unit. The whole house. If it’s not too hot, I run a single 5,000 btu unit at night, and switch to one 8,000 but-er during the day.
If it’s well in the 90s I may have to run both for a few late-afternoon hours to keep pace.
But it’s amazing – I get humidity control, a decent temp, and use about 30% of the recommended cooling BTUs.
Cliff
@Something Fabulous:
Here (thus the Cliff =): http://www.neclimbs.com/index.php?PageName=weather
Mollys page: http://mollymaesden.blogspot.com/
Cain
@TaMara (BHF):
So I had suggested that people use a couple fans to blow air in and one to blow air out. It seemed to work pretty good for me since it keeps the air moving through the house. At night though it really cools things in the upstairs.
Some apparently thought the idea was worth mocking.. (much to my puzzlement, since I actually used this method and it works) Maybe it just depends on the climate. I’ve never really tried it in muggy climates and living in the northwest where last week the temperature was at 68F I hardly need to cool anything.
cain
Comrade Mary
Cain, blowing air out helped me during hot but not killer days (when I finally gave in to the lure of AC). It really made my sticky second floor office in Toronto more comfortable. I, for one, will not be mocking you.
Something Fabulous
@Cliff: Awww, she’s pretty cute! Nice work!
Rincon Blue
For Big Band you can’t go wrong with Count Basie
The Complete Atomic Basie is a good one. It features some arrangements by Neal Hefti (The Batman theme writer).
Steeplejack
Cole!
For some good B-3 action, check out Akiko Tsuruga’s Sweet and Funky. She is a B-3 goddess.
And then there’s always Dr. Lonnie Smith. Check out “Trouble Man.”
Jennifer
Agreed with all above who recommend turning thermostat up during the day when you aren’t there. I set mine to 81 whenever I leave the house – it’s not that difficult to get the temp back down to the 76 degrees where I’m comfortable when I come home, and it keeps the humidity in check. At night I turn the thermostat for the front part of the house (everything but my bedroom) back up to 81 while leaving the bedroom unit set at 76. My house is about 1500 sf and here in Little Rock it’s been mostly in the upper 90s for the past month; the electric bill which arrived yesterday was only $122, and I’m not an energy miser when it comes to turning off lights, the computer, etc.
I also have a whole-house fan – it allows me to go without AC for 2 – 3 months of the year when it’s not TOO beastly hot; these can also be useful in the situation where you come home to a house like an oven – opening windows and pulling the hotter air out of the house before putting the AC to work. This only helps, of course, if it’s not still close to 100 degrees outside. If it wasn’t for the horrid humidity here, I could probably get by just fine with only the attic fan, but as others have noted, I’m not keen on culturing mildew and it does start to grow if you don’t have either AC or a dehumidifier. Generally I can get by for about a month in both spring and fall without it becoming an issue. I figured the attic fan paid for itself the first year it was installed – they’re not expensive and I love being able to vent all the stale air out of the house whenever possible.
Also too: trees & shrubs. I planted river birches & camellias on the south side of the house just a year or two after moving in; within 10 years they were tall enough to shade both the roof & wall.
The other thing great in hot climates which I used in several clients’ homes back in my days as a remodel project manager: radiant barrier. Amazing the difference that stuff can make, properly installed. Keeping the attic 20 degrees cooler definitely makes a big difference in the comfort inside the house and the cost to keep it cool. Also qualifies for the tax credits.
Cliff
@Jennifer:
I’ve heard good things about the price/performance of a simple cheap gable fan – thermostat activated, it evacuates the heat from your attic, reducing heat soak situations.
home depot has a cheap one glass blowers use as a exhaust fan (aka power/price ratio is good)
asiangrrlMN
@Cliff: She’s looking great! A big thumbs up to you and Molly.
Re: Cooling down. Not wearing a shirt also helps. Open windows/sliding door at night (leaving screen door shut) also helps. A nice fan, too. I use my air maybe half a dozen times a summer.
D-Chance.
I always fancied Tucker Carlson as a man who squatted…
Zuzu's Petals
@Mpls:
My house is about the same size and I ran a couple of window units for years – cool the house in the morning, then keep everything closed all day. Still suffered enough through the triple digit summers that I was thrilled to upgrade to central AC.
mick
big band swing perfection: the sinatra-basie album, teh one with “i won’t dance” and “pennies from heaven”.
the sinatra-ellington album is a beautiful thing too. “yellow days” and some lesser known, but wonderful stuff. i will never understand why this album is always on sale – it is beautiful and underrated.
slateman
On Stage: The Bill Perkins Octet
Ash Can
Late to the party on big band, but there’s no reason not to go straight to the classics. Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, the Dorsey brothers, Count Basie, and Artie Shaw are all terrific and are more than enough to get you started. Have fun.
polyorchnid octopunch
Big band recc from north of the border: Colin James and the Little Big Band. You won’t regret it.
Here’s a sample – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCKVkIquTHo
Deadhead
Your mileage may vary, but people who imprinted on the Dead in their formative years either love or hate David Murray’s Dark Star. Not really big band jazz, but the album has a big and very clean sound. Put me in the love column.
HyperIon
Sinatra (with Nelson Riddle) “The Capitol Years”
Elizabelle
@RalfW:
well said and more pithily too!
4jkb4ia
Recommended by a passel of NYT critics is the Dave Holland Big Band. Did not listen to it myself.
Also John can look at the Grammy winners for Large Instrumental Jazz Ensemble or whatever.
frosty
@Walker: Not exactly. The energy to bring the house back down will be less than what it takes to keep it cool. It’s Heat Exchange 101. The energy required to keep a differential in temperature is the square of the differential. So the longer you have the house at ambient temperature, and the closer it is to ambient, the less energy you use.
Humidity is a wild card, of course. Before your A/C can start cooling the interior, it has to condense out all the humidity. If you’re in a real humid area, it’s probably best to keep the A/C at something like 80 or 82 while you’re out just to keep the humidity at bay.
Lee
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy….from the mid 90s swing revival. Epicness. Or Cab Calloway. Also Epicness.
4jkb4ia
I am not looking up every word of that Stolberg article now, but it seemed to have a simple narrative. Obama has achievements in the sense that Congress passed bills that looked something like what he wanted them to do. But in the polls he is doing badly. These are facts, but the interpretation was not as good as Nate’s post or the Sean Trende one he was responding to. Once again, once the Times gets 538 the quality of the political coverage will double overnight.
frosty
@MikeJ: I think that’s the way walk-in freezers work.
Here’s another question: why don’t they have a vent to bring cold air in during the winter?
A: They were designed during the era of Really Cheap Energy and inertia keeps the same design just marchin’ on.
A2: Adds more complication to the installation than just plugging them in. But I bet you’ll start seeing stuff like this in the next couple of years.
4jkb4ia
In fact, Nate tweeted the whole point of that article today! “Obama’s first 18 months have been very successful. The question is how he’s set himself/Dems up for the future.” So it might not have been that bad, but it was not worth 1000 words or whatever.
frosty
@MikeJ: When we remodeled our kitchen the outside wall wasn’t right for the fridge, unfortunately.
I took a look at the interior walls for a route for solar hot water, though, and found out the only feasible one was in the kitchen wall where the stove was going, demo’d down to bare studs. I paid the plumber $125 to stub a couple of pipes. I may never get around to it, but I couldn’t possibly do it in the future without those two pipes.
Lee
Just listened to a few Colin James songs as per polyorchnid octopunch’s recommendation…that shit is sweet…getting at least 1 album this weekend.
frosty
@Ash Can: Why hasn’t anyone mentioned Cab Calloway yet?
Dave Noyes
Whoever recommended the Dave Holland big band albums is on the right track, but keep in mind that his work is decidedly modern.
Going back a decade or three, you can’t go wrong w/the first 2 original Buddy Rich Big Band recordings originally released on Pacific Jazz Records: “Swingin New Big Band: (w/the famous WestSide Story” medley) & “Big Swing Face”.
You can’t even properly discuss Big Band recordings w/out bringing Count Basie & Duke Ellington into the conversation. There are so many dozen Great albums by each it’s hard to suggest where to start. “April in Paris” may be the Count’s most famous record; so many great songs, incl. the title cut & “Dinner With Friends,” which is a powerhouse.
Perhaps the most important album of the genre of all time is “Ellington At Newport 1956 (make sure to get the Remastered version). I don’t care how hyperbolic I sound when I say you Haven’t Lived until you’ve listened to the “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue” version! To use an Ellington phrase, “Beyond Description.”
– Be sure to read the liner notes, which explains how a woman’s taking off her hat to stand, sway & dance initiated the entire crowd’s just losing all inhibition and going all-out Crazy during the performance.
This is one of the Key jazz albums of all time, and literally brought big band swing music back from the dead!
Lee
I did mention Cab Calloway @ 119…good stuff…Minnie the Moocher