Hot enough for you?

This week, the temperature is expected to be in the mid-90s or hotter. On Saturday, I worked on painting the interior of a house in the morning and worked in my own yard in the afternoon. My sweat soaked through my clothes twice and dripped like raindrops as I walked along. Standing in the shade was tolerable, but barely, while direct sun made me feel like a piece of meat in an oven set to "broil."

Heat like this saps your energy. It hurts. It exhausts you.

Finding an air-conditioned space — and an excuse to be inside it — filled my consciousness. At the end of the day, after taking a shower and putting on fresh, dry clothes, I still felt exhausted. The heat would not let me go.

Every day has been hot for a couple of weeks now, and there is no relief promised in the 10-day forecast. I know there were spells like this when I was growing up, when no one I knew had air conditioning at home, when a single electric fan provided the only hint of relief, pushing the hot, humid air around the house. The grown-ups would grab a ladder-back chair and take it out in the yard underneath the big shade tree to escape the heat inside the house. My Vacation Bible School work was ruined in that upstairs classroom at the church. Perspiration from my face dripped on the drawing paper, leaving big, round splotches that multiplied and grew until the entire paper went limp with moisture. When we came in from recess at my elementary school, the boys would ask the teacher for permission to go to the bathroom to retrieve a few of those rough, brown paper towels to wipe our faces.

How did we tolerate it? How did we manage to work and to sleep through such strength-sapping heat and humidity? And what will it mean in future summers if global temperatures continue to rise, if two-week heat waves turn into two-month heat waves?

The "Sunbelt" (also known as The South) was transformed by the invention of air conditioning, but more intense heat could make the region less attractive (because of higher cooling costs) and the debilitating effects of unremitting heat. This current heat wave might be more than just unbearable heat; it may be a glimpse of what is to come.

The heat is upon us

The summer heat has arrived. After some pleasant mornings and bearable afternoons, the heat is upon us, and it's not pleasant.

Last Thursday, a friend and I set out in the late afternoon to erect a sign at a local intersection. The temperature hovered around 90 degrees, the hottest day of the year to that date. The sign, which was much heavier than we expected, had to be manhandled into position, and then we had to dig the post holes. By the time we finished, we were both drenched in sweat and longing for a refreshing, cold drink.

It was after 5 p.m. when we finished, so I went straight to the gym, despite feeling worn out from the exertion expended raising the sign. I planned to cut the workout short, but even that proved challenging. I was dragging from the moment I stepped onto the elliptical trainer and left the gym even earlier than I had planned.

The weekend was hotter still. I mowed grass early Saturday morning, but by mid-day the heat had risen to about 90 degrees. Sunday was even hotter. The heat was unremitting, searing against your skin as soon as you stepped out of the shade. Just standing in the heat prompted a flow of perspiration that soaked your hair and your clothes and dripped onto eyeglasses, making the heat not just uncomfortable but annoying as well.

This heat is forecast to last the rest of the week. We will dodge the worst of the heat if we can by hiding out inside air-conditioned buildings and moving quickly into air-conditioned cars to travel to another air-conditioned building. Utility bills will soar, and AC units will break down from the demand.

We've grown so accustomed to air conditioning that we can no longer tolerate heat, even the relatively mild summer temperatures in the 80s. Once, I lived through entire summers without ever entering air conditioned spaces. Windows stood open to catch any breeze, and electric fans stirred the hot, damp air, and hot nights left us in bedclothes damp from our perspiration, but we managed to tolerate the discomfort. We've lost that tolerance and cannot get it back.

A shady spot has lost its value

"He's got it made in the shade." That old expression came back to me as I was mowing the lawn in 90-degree midday heat. Part of the lawn was in bright sun. Part was in shade. The sunny portion of the yard was unbearably hot in my dark T-shirt and shorts. The portion shaded by a big chestnut oak was pleasantly comfortable with a soft breeze stirring the leaves.

I was reminded of youthful days before air conditioning, when summer Sunday afternoon visits often retired to the screened porch or to a couple of chairs dragged beneath a sheltering tree. Windows were thrown open to catch whatever breeze might stir. A shady tree provided quiet relief from the heat you could not otherwise escape.

People still complain about the heat on days like this, but those complaints carry less weight when the heat can be so easily escaped by simply walking into an air-conditioned house or turning up the AC in the car. And shade means so much less to us when there are better, more convenient and more liberating escapes from the midday heat. A big oak or maple that would have been a cherished asset 50 years ago has become an object of suspicion and doubt these days. There are the leaves that fall and must be raked. The tree's thirst for water competes with the fescue in the lawn. And a big tree can fall in a storm and destroy a house. Or so the thinking goes these days.

Many grand shade trees have been toppled as a prophylaxis against some future storm. What these timid homeowners are losing is the comfort of shade that can provide a quiet respite from outdoor heat and reduce the cost of air conditioning by reducing heat buildup on the home. And they might never understand what a cherished sanctuary a shady spot can be. They will never have it "made in the shade."