Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

The Sweater Lodge

Keep Yer Cool ChallengeIt's a sweltering 62 degrees and raining here in Seattle today.

Although I must admit it was quite a bit warmer earlier in the week and I actually used the air conditioning in the car for the first time on Thursday. Other than that, it's been manageable since it's been cooling down in the evenings.

How are you handling the Sweat Yer Buns, I mean, Keep Yer Cool Challenge? Any air conditioning transgressions yerself?

25 comments:

Jennifer said...

It was so hot here the last three weeks (high 90's to low 100's) that we almost gave in and bought a $30 window air conditioner at a garage sale. It was plugged in and churning out cool air on a table at the sale and everything. :) We were strong, however.

It's quite nice this week... in the high 80's... nothing the portable swamp cooler can't handle!

Anonymous said...

I am roasting in the car, thankyouverymuch Crunchy!! By the time I get to my destination, I'm quite warm, then after the kids and I run around the park or wherever, I am sweat-y, and my Toms of Maine has left for good. (We also walk or bike lots). I'm proud of myself not running the air in my car, and I only have one fan and no a/c in our house. I've possibly not done as well for the Sunday confessional, father? The Buy Nothing is a killer, but I love it!

Anonymous said...

I never signed up for the Sweat Yer Buns, err, Keep Your Cool challenge, but knowing that is going on has made me more aware of my AC habits. I can keep it as high as 80 degrees most days, the lowest is 78, especially at night since my husband gets up in the middle of the night to run a paper route. However, I have started keeping track of the weather forcast and opening my windows ASAP in the mornings of cooler days. If the forcast is not higher than 85, we can handle having the AC off all day. Granted, that's only been one day each week for the past 3 weeks, but it is something. This week promises to be cooler.

Unknown said...

I have failed miserably at this challenge. When the temp hit 95 degrees and the humidity was at 50%, I caved and turned on the AC. I'd been doing okay up until this week. Thankfully, the hot summer should be over fairly soon.

Ellen said...

No problem this week, because the hubby worked at the office. Like I said, getting the shirt soaked and putting it back on ROCKS!! And lots of cold drinks. I'm also doing a raw foods trial which I think is keeping me extra hydrated. So far, so good!

Robj98168 said...

Nope/No way. When I think of turning th A/C on I simply remove an article of clothing and think "No- Crunchetta wouldn't do it. You just be brave and enjoy the sweaty butt crack challenge" then I find out that you used A/C??? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
First Mark McGwire used steroids and now the Crunchy one used A/C?
Have I no more heroes to look up too?
Not a big deal Crunchers.

Gretchen said...

Like you tons crunchy but I will never do the no AC challenge. Sorry. However, my mom visited this week and I showed her how it's really easy to stay cool keeping the thermostat up higher and using the ceiling fans to circulate air. Now she's going to go home and try it. I know it's not much, but I've helped ONE person. Do I get a lollipop for that at least?

Anonymous said...

I don't have A/C, so I don't really count, but we've had a weird summer anyway. A few days of blistering heat, but on the whole it's been cool and wet. Emphasis on wet. I think it's making up for last summer's drought. At least this means I've had to water the garden a grand total of about 5 times.

a/k/a Nadine said...

I haven't used the AC at home, but I can't go without it in the car. Stop and go traffic in a slow-moving oven is more than I can handle.

ib mommy said...

We had to push the AC down last week. My oldest daughter got a horrible poison ivy rash and couldn't sleep. The heat made her more itchy which made her cry which made her hotter which made her more itchy.....so we tried to keep her cool enough to calm the itch:(

Kelsie said...

We had a rather awful heat wave for about two weeks, with temps reaching 100-110 and nighttime temps only going down to about 78 (with a heat index of 85...).

With that said, we've stoically refused to turn on the central a/c. And our plasterer has stoically refused to work on our house. We DID run our energy star window unit in ONE ROOM. We have to; otherwise, our small animals would croak. The thermostat on the window unit was kept at 82. So, one room in the house was 82 degrees while the others peaked around 90.

We bought exterior bamboo shades for the windows, which REALLY cut back on the amount of heat pouring into the house. We also vowed (and stuck to that vow) that as soon as the house reached 85 at night (windows open in all rooms except the a/c room), we would shut off the a/c in that room.

I feel weak because we moved our mattress into the air-conditioned room, and we did sleep for a few nights with the a/c running all night. I think I could have handled sleeping in a 90 degree house, but the boy kicks and sweats and moans at anything past 80. :/

ANYWAY, the heat wave broke, and now our highs are hovering between 86-88 with very low humidity, and lows in the 60s at night. So, obviously, we're going with no a/c at all, and it's heaven.

Anonymous said...

this is the worst summer ever in toronto. in my 24 years, i've never seen anything like it... it's cool and wet. it rains about 4-5 days a week. so, this challenge doesn't really stand anymore, at least for me. we had a couple weeks of hot hot weather at the beginning of summer. now it's so cool at night that i turn my ceiling fan off, otherwise i get too cold in bed, even with my duvet.

Anonymous said...

Temp hasn't gone over 114 in Phoenix so far this summer (as I recall anyway) and the past few days its been only 101, or like Friday 99! After spending my whole workday in fluorescent lighting and 72 degree ac at work, it is very welcome to go outside and warm up! Doing ok at home. Actually on Friday, kept the AC off and had the patio door open to take in some fresh, non/ac air. Finally turned the AC back on at 11 pm so that could sleep. Bring on those cooler days, I'm ready to open the windows!

nicole said...

It's been relatively lovely here in the mid-atlantic this summer. We had a few nasty hot days but nothing we couldn't handle by laying low, playing in the stream and sweating a lot (a whole lot).

Right now I'm in a long sleeve T and a fleece jacket and LOVING it. Hoping the worst of the heat is done and it'll be smooth, a/c freee living for the rest of the summer.

mudnessa said...

thankfully it has not been too bad, or somehow we have unintentionally found a way to keep the apartment cool. i thought it would be miserable but it actually isnt bad. the weather has been cooperating a bit, but the past few days have been pretty warm.

i do turn on the ac at work but thats a necessity, we are incubating eggs and the room cant get over 85, i tend to turn it on at about 80 just so it doesnt get that high, and if the eggs die then the income will be lost and i will have to cut back my hours. and that will be good for no one. last year we lost about 60% of the eggs and then about 50% of the ones that did hatch are little runt geckos, poor little guys.

but here in southern california i have about 3 more months to get to sweat it out, and even beyond that sometimes.

Anonymous said...

thankfully it's been a cool summer here, since installing the window ACs myself was not an option. I've run the car AC a few times during our couple of heat waves, but it's been pretty much AC-free around here.

On side benefit - between AC-free and hanging laundry, my electric usage this month was 42% lower than this month last year!

Wendy said...

None. The weather here has been cool and rainy for the past month - which sucks, because I actually had to use my dryer (gasp!). No AC, though ;).

maryann said...

Ohter than a week or two of unbearably hot, humid weather the AC has been off. It's probably run about 10-14 days total all summer. No AC in the car.

Anonymous said...

Boy, I have to admit I would have failed this challenge miserably if I had of tried. The A/C is actually on higher this year than last I think.

I have been trying to sleep at night since my insomnia has been kicking up and making my life miserable at work. since work = money = house over my head, it is much more important that I sleep and not get fired than save a bit of energy. The house has been so cold at night that even my honey is complaining. The good news is that I am sleeping and relatively functional at work.

I try in other ways... like our house is very cold in the winter! We usually have to turn it up when the kids are over so they don't freeze. Or I don't have to worry about Sunday confessional because I didn't buy anything.

EJ said...

So if southerners are to give up AC how about PNWesters giving up clothes driers?

Anonymous said...

I have been doing ok. Not great all the time but I haven't drifted too much. I do have good reasons that I will share later on but I am thrilled that we are having a little cooler weather this week! YEAH!

daughter said...

I loath the air conditioner in the car. I have a weird thing about air (esp. cold air) blowing on me. I can not stand it! So no air conditioning for me. I've been leaving the doors wide open though all night and blowing a fan to secure some cooler air for the evenings.

Anonymous said...

I didn't see this challenge, but I have had to keep the air on. Although, it's been off for 5 days now, because we've had some autumn weather this week.
I keep it quite high, between 78-80, and it's not on nearly as much as last year at that temp. We've had a lot of 90+ days this year in Ohio, and my 3 month old probably appreciates the a/c. I keep him in just a onesie to keep cooler, but if I had the air totally off, we'd all be sweating buckets.
I'm at least trying to keep it warmer.
I'm trying and failing miserably at the "buy nothing challenge," though.

lauren said...

My home is still AC free, but I did spend most of the last week at my mom's where AC is on.

I was there for my stepfather's funeral, so I didn't think to ask her to turn up the AC.

I am trying to use AC less in the car with mixed results.

Marimoy said...

I will admit, I'm a cheater. I don't have air conditioning in my house... and I live in the Caribbean. It's not too hard and I am sure my power bill is cheaper than anyone else in my neighborhood.