Cool air now wafts through Chateau Thompson. Refrigerated air. Air conditioned air. After several weeks of resistence, we finally put air conditioning into the house.

The previous owners said they never needed air conditioning to keep the house cool but they had the benefits of shade from an 85-foot poplar that kept the afternoon sun from the front. We had to take the tree down because a bulldozer damaged the base and the roots were dying and that opened the door for a blistering sun that turned the front rooms into a sauna. We tried to delay the inevitable with window fans to supplement the ceiling units but finally gave in and trekked over to Home Depot to pick up a couple of free-standing portable units that give us 10,000 BTUs of cool air on the first floor and 8,000 upstairs. The master bedroom, which still has shade from other trees, says cool even on the hottest days with the ceiling and window fans.

With temperatures expected to hit 82 today and 85 on Tuesday, the two units have alreay cooled the house down tremendously and should fill the bill until we explore a central unit. With existing ductwork leftover from a long-ago abandoned fuel oil furnace, installing central air should not be that much of a challenge.

Way cool.