It wasn't entirely surprising that none of the rooms in our new place have fans — I've heard that a general lack of fans is common in the northern and eastern parts of the U.S. — but what did surprise me is how much I'd miss those seldom-considered ceiling fixtures. I like having moving air, especially when I'm sleeping, so in Texas we often had our bedroom fan spinning all year long. It was weird on that first night in Virginia, to kick the covers off in the middle of the night and not immediately get cold again.
My mother-in-law commented on this too, as my in-laws stayed the night with us after helping me move all my crap across the country. My first thought was to turn up the air conditioning; hers was to open windows. (Obviously she'd lived in the northeast before.) And that was like, revolutionary to me. Open the windows?! Say whaaaat.
(All you people who live in the north are rolling your eyes and laughing at my ignorance/silliness. But seriously, this can't be a year-round thing, can it? What do you do when it's too warm inside in the middle of winter? I can't imagine you open the windows when it's snowing.)
So that's been a weird thing. Every time it gets kind of warm, I open a (screened) window or the (screened) sliding glass door. Elliott is having a field day.
Plus! It's legitimately fall here. In Texas, all the trees will be green one day, and the next day they're all bald. There's no pretty colors or crisp air, and most of the time it gets warm again after all the leaves fall.
But while Elliott was looking out the open back door with her whiskers pressed up against the screen, she jumped as leaves came streaming onto our patio, and looked over at me like she had no idea what was happening.
We'll get used to it, though. :)
Scenic overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Gorgeous, gorgeous place to see the fall colors! Pics don't do it justice.
Already scarf weather! Finally getting to put my enormous collection to use.
I open our windows in winter when the wood stove is ridiculously hot!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're enjoying new experiences together! I keep my house relatively cold in the winter time to keep costs down, so no need to ever open a window :) Enjoy those views!
ReplyDeleteGiggling at this. We, too, don't know what to do without moving air from the ceiling fans. After all, that's why there's the Winter/Summer directional switch on those things!
ReplyDeleteAnd opening windows. Maybe one week out of the year, total. Our windows were painted shut when we bought the house (because people down here don't open their windows, duh) but we were required to un-stick them by the (Yankee) bank.
Enjoy your new surroundings!
Good call. We always tried to keep the temperature as low as we could stand so we wouldn't have to pay for much heat too. We'll see how that works out here!
ReplyDeleteThat is one thing I never mastered - which way the fan was supposed to spin in the summer and which way in the winter. I don't know that we ever actually switched the direction!
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm jealous. I think THIS might be why Jordan and I continue to have arguments about turning on the air conditioning vs. opening the windows. And THIS is why my parents (in Texas) have the windows open a lot and Jordan thinks it's weird. It's just how I grew up! Opening the windows is the solution to any problem. I hate having them closed. You will get used to it, and you will love it. Enjoy the fall!
ReplyDeleteOh man, I am with you on the ceiling fans. In the dead of winter (which is not really that cold, but whatever) I sleep piled under blankets but with the ceilng fan on, because I need moving air on my face. I'm weird. :)
ReplyDeleteIs your family originally from farther north? I couldn't imagine opening the windows most of the time in Texas. It happened maybe, MAYBE twice in the four years we lived in our house. (Approximately the same number of times we used our fireplace.)
ReplyDeleteNo, you're totally right! That's what we did too.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Chicago originally, so yes farther north :)
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