The War of the Windows

It's hot. It's about time. Husband thinks I'm crazy, but I know around the first of May it starts getting hot around here. I spend most of the month of May fighting my urge to kick on the AC. I'm morally opposed to AC before June (OK, so not really....I just like the lower electric bill that comes with no AC). Last year I gave up early. I was VERY pregnant with Bitsy & flat tired of laying in the recliner sweating. This year it's been a total non-issue.

Last night the window wars started. Most families have thermostat wars. Not us. Well, we do occasionally...like when it's 50 outside & I want to kick on the heat long enough to take the chill out of the air & Husband's yelling something about it being 70 during the day....blah, blah, blah. But those wars are few & infrequent. The real battles rages over windows.

When we got married, it was November. There was no need to open windows. The heat was running & we were blissfully in love. By Spring we were still blissful, but it was getting warm. One day I went to open the windows & discovered I couldn't. When I asked FarmBoy about it, he said, "Oh, they're painted shut." OK, how long have they been painted shut? "Oh, probably 3 or 4 years." You mean this house hasn't been opened up in 3 to 4 years?!?! No wonder.....end of bliss.

I was cleaning up my pile of stuff in one of the spare rooms (Yeah, LONG before kids) & my allergies when haywire. The dust was horrible & I needed to open a window & let in some fresh air. No doing. I finally talked a reluctant FarmBoy into grudgingly cutting through the paint. In the end we could open all but one window (no screen).

That summer we got new windows & I had them all open all the time (I miss those windows). Husband finally saw the wisdom in opening windows as opposed to going straight from heat to AC. We were blissfully happy once again....for a while.

Our problem arises with the setting of the sun. Once it's dark, Husband closes windows. All of them. Doesn't matter that it's 80 degrees in the house. It makes me crazy. I follow along behind him opening them back up. It's a vicious cycle. Last night I was arguing with BabyGirl about going to bed (she was too hot to sleep...grant it, this is the child who'd be "too hot" to sleep if it was 43 in her room at night). I opened her window & put up the fan. When I went back in the living room, Husband had closed the atrium door. The only thing keeping the cross breeze flowing beautifully through our living room.

The baby was sweating. I was sweating. I went in the bedroom to get her a onesie to sleep in, only to find he'd closed our bedroom window too! I opened them all back up & they stayed that way until after I went to bed. I wouldn't be surprised to discover he was grumbling in his head at me...I know I was at him. When he came in to go to bed, he shut the window. By that time I was fast asleep, so I didn't much care. He doesn't like to sleep with windows open. If the dogs are quiet, it doesn't bother me at all. I like listening to the birds & frogs & such...maybe that's how JG (Inkling & my cousin) got to be an expert on all things frogs & birds.

But I digress...This morning when I got up it was already 85 outside. The windows are all open (except in the bedroom where he's still sleeping). The war will last until we finally cave in & turn on the AC. Then the bliss can return once again.

The funny thing is, one day his mom & SIL were talking about running their furnaces in the morning & their AC in the afternoon when Husband chimed in, "Why don't you open your windows? That's just dumb." Until I came along, he did the same thing. Maybe that's why he has window issues...he was raised with them. Don't even get me started on opening curtains (I don't think he ever did that before I came along either). Some kind of window paranoia? Flash backs from living without AC when we were children (do you remember when AC was a luxury? The window unit was only turned on when it was the hottest of the hot)? Don't answer those. I'm just ranting.

I finally convinced Stupid Evil Blogger to load the pictures of my darling peonies. Aren't they fabulous? I wish you could smell them. The funny thing is, they're all the same color...or close to. I'm pretty sure when I planted them (4-5 years ago) they were all different. One was supposed to be white, one baby pink (a Sarah Bernhardt), and one almost burgundy. How does that happen? Cross pollination? And I think they look especially sweet when mixed with the daisies I picked on my walk Wednesday. Nature's showiest & simplest living together in my kitchen. I'm a happy FarmWife...all except for the window thing.