->
 MM> Well I know that a lot more houses are air conditioned 
 MM> around here than were
 MM> when i was a kid too.  I think it is more in the lines 
 MM> of the systems becoming
 MM> cheaper (relatively that is) than anything else.  I 
 MM> don't remember any of my
 MM> friends having AC when I was young.  Now everyone does.  I don't think 
Our
 MM> weather has changed that much.
     I don't know how much air conditioners were 30 years ago (and I still 
find some that are that old here, still running - mostly old Chrysler Air 
Temps) but it's one of those things we become accustomed to.  Myself, I grew 
up in a home without air conditioning - we had an evaporative cooler that 
works just fine MOST of the summer - 'til the wet bulb goes over 54 degrees.  
We have an evaporative cooler on the house here and use it till the monsoons 
move in - lots nicer electric bill, one motor for the blower that is about 
1/2 HP and a tiny little water pump, maybe 1/100 HP.  More comfortable, to my 
way of thinking - it can keep the house in the 70's much of the summer and if 
you don't put the coolers on thermostats, the house gets so cold you have to 
get up in the middle of the night to shut them off!   Guess your humidity is 
too high to use these much, though.
 MM> I don't know of anyone freezing to death here.  I guess that is what is
 MM> perceived though from other parts of the country.
     Nope, I just hear a LOT about people freezing to death in the news and 
presume it is a common thing where it gets so cold.
                                                   
     NY 
 MM> is the same as AZ in your
 MM> statement above just replace "Air-Conditioned" with 
 MM> "Heated" and your in NY for
 MM> the winter!
    'Cept the only people dying of the heat are one or two people a year who 
go out and get drunk, then go jogging in the sun for ten miles or so!  Or 
people who go out in the desert, generally elderly people from out of state, 
without water and then are in trouble if their car breaks down.  We get, it 
seems, a couple of tourists a year who go in search of the Lost Dutchman's 
Gold, up in Apache Junction, in old cars in bad repair and don't take the 
precaution of telling anyone where they are or even carry a gallon of water 
in their trunk.  Then the idiots leave their cars to hike out in the middle 
of the day in 110 degree heat!  I'm sermonizing, but it seems that it's 
common sense to not leave the vehicle if you are 75 years old and broke down 
in the desert!
->    My mom lives about 90 miles north of here, where 
-> the temperature is 10 to
-> 20 degrees cooler.  As a native North Dakotan, she likes that just fine!
 MM> Now that I might be able to survive in.
     Only 30% of the state is desert, the rest is more like my mom's place.  
And up in Flagstaff, where Northern Arizona University is, it can still be in 
the 40's at night in the summertime!  Too cold for me, I won't live any place 
I can't ride my horse 365 days a year.
 
--- Maximus/2 3.00
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