Life without AC

There's not air conditioning here at the Sixbears homestead. Supposed to hit around 90 and humid today. That's nothing by Texas standards, but most folks in Texas have AC.

On the bright side, it was 57 degrees this morning. The trick is to leave the windows open at night and close them in the morning. Thanks to all my shade trees it generally stays fairly livable in the house. If it gets too bad we can always take a dip in the lake.

Saturday's storms took down a lot of trees and power lines. Plenty of folks are still without power. Some of them will be in for a tough time. We didn't lose the grid, but our solar electric systems could get us through all by themselves.

Refrigeration is a significant power draw for most people. However, the giant water coil installed in my refrigerator helps a lot. Cold water from my well runs though that coil every time a drop of water is used in the house. Not many wives would let their husbands experiment with major household appliances. Good thing most of my experiments work. There is sometimes a problem with condensation on the coil, but a towel takes care of that in short order.

The resources of my little camper van conversion are also at my disposal. The solar electric panel on the van's roof can power the 12 volt cooler a long time. It also has a 1000 watt inverter to provide additional power if needed.

Thanks goodness I don't live in a city's heat bubble. The combination of heat, humidity and bad air would do me in.

-Sixbears