Conditioning

According to a local weather station, it is 102°F/39°C outside at the moment. Where I live, this temperature would not be unusual in Summer. Seeing as how it’s April, however, this is extraordinary. Humidity is 12%. It is supposed to cool down later this week.

At the moment I am attempting to motivate myself for a bike ride and some errand-running. The heat is sapping me of willpower. Like any big animal, we have to slow down as it gets hotter. Mind over matter? We’ll see. Spacing out on the computer screen isn’t resulting in much action so far, indicative of the mind’s slavery to the matter.

The computer is hot, too. It doesn’t do well in the heat, rather like my brain. A modern appliance, the computer. Modernity presumes air conditioning.

Our house is over a century old and doesn’t have air conditioning, although it does have a swamp cooler. Tonight we’ll do things like they did back in the old days and open the windows, then close them first thing in the morning so it stays cool most of the day. I should turn the computer off soon, since it not only gets punch-drunk in the heat, it adds to the room’s temperature. Like me.

Living in an old house, you make certain sacrifices. Which is misstating the circumstances: living in an old house, you experience the environment and your place in it every day.

The old house is much more at the mercy of the elements. Which is again misstating: our old house is much more in tune with nature and the seasons.

Interesting the different ways to look at things, yes? Here’s another pairing: “I hate not being able to use the computer in this heat!” versus “I’m going to turn the computer off and go do something else.”

Ah, now that’s refreshing.

According to the forecast, it will be over 20 degrees cooler by the end of the week, a little more Spring-like than today. Eventually, though, it will be hot every day, for month after month. Smoggy, too.

Best get used to it now. Or to restate it, let’s enjoy the change. By allowing the changes to involve us and by acting with them — instead of just reacting — we truly live life. We live years instead of aging them.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a couple of water bottles to fill. Time to shut down and go for a ride.