July 14th, 2008
Another Sunny Sunday
Yesterday we took a ride across town to one of our favorite parks to have a picnic and relax in the cool shade of the giant old trees. Watching the young parents with their little ones playing at the park brought back a flood of memories. Our kids are teenagers now, but it seems like just a couple of years ago they were climbing on the same play structures and begging for another push on the swing. Boy, how time flies.
After enjoying our shared sandwich and lounging in the shade for a while, we finally mustered the energy to get rolling again. We decided to take the long way home, which just happened to take us by one of our favorite coffee houses. It was getting pretty hot by the time we arrived, so went inside to cool off and have an iced coffee while we did a little more people watching. The coffee shop is located in a brand new, upscale shopping center. The clientele was quite a contrast from the young couples we encountered at the park just an hour before. I couldn’t help but wonder where we fit into that grand scheme.
By the time we made it home it was mid-afternoon and we were roasting. It was quite a relief to come inside to an air-conditioned house and a refrigerator stocked full with iced tea, cold water, and fresh fruit.
The day reminded me how fortunate we are, and how far we’ve come from the days of little kids, swamp coolers, empty refrigerators, and two cars in the driveway.
Related posts:
9 Responses to “Another Sunny Sunday”
“By the time we made it home it was mid-afternoon and we were roasting. It was quite a relief to come inside to an air-conditioned house and a refrigerator stocked full with iced tea, juice, cold water, and fresh fruit.”
Your story reminded me of an article I came across once about a proposal in California for the state to have remote access to your A/C:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/12/MNHDUDAQ3.DTL
It would sure be a bummer to come home from a ride like that, and find the government decided to shut off your A/C for the afternoon!
Eco does not equal air conditioning. We find if you leave the shade drawn and the windows closed the house will be at least ten degrees cooler than the outside. Maybe a heat pump could be in your future.
@Rick
We pay a premium for 100% wind and solar electricity (plus we have good insulation and shutters)…
BTW–there are two different guys named “Rick” posting here…The first one has a second question:
If you are using wind and solar at a premium rate, do you think the government should have control over your thermostat? Or, do you think you should be exempt from this, as you are using renewables?
@the other Rick ;-)
I’d rather not have the gov’t controlling my thermostat.
Alan, your postings continue to inspire me. You continue to show how to incorporate cycling as part of ones lifestyle! Perhaps your message will be heard by more than my example….. As a long time bicyle commuter, I am amazed at how $4+ a gallon gasoline has done NOTHING to attact additional cycle commuters to my office of 800. There are a few more motor cycles in the parking lot but that is it!
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the kind words.
I’ve seen an increase in bike commuters at my work, though the percentage is still very low. We had a spike in people switching to transit, but I’m slowly seeing folks slip back into driving.
Of course, the price of gas is only going to go up from here; it’ll be interesting to see what it takes to make a fundamental shift in how we move around (whether it involves bikes or not). My wife has this theory that we’re like the proverbial frog in the pot of water; if they crank up the price of gas in small steps, we’ll be boiled to death before we realize what happened. LOL…
Regards,
Alan
The frog in the pot myth has been proved false, the frog has the good sense to get off the pot.
Humans on the other hand……
“humans on the other hand…” are more fearful of the “guvment” controlling their thermostats than they are of the very real threat of climate change. Black helicopters anyone?
Submit a Comment
All comments are reviewed by our moderators before being approved for publication. Please take a moment to read our discussion guidelines before submitting a comment.
You can also follow the discussion by subscribing to the Comments RSS Feed.