A little over a week ago, Lisa fired up the grill and slapped on a few burgers. While she was doing that, I made homemade baked fries in the oven. It doesn't sound like much, but when this meal comes together, it's better than any takeout burger meal.
We top our grilled burgers with cheese, smoked bacon, lettuce, onion, and tomato. Before putting our raw "fries" in the oven, they are tossed with olive oil, herbs, spices, and a crack or two of pink Himalayan salt.
It's an absolutely amazing meal all the way around.
On this particular evening, it was fairly cool outside. Low humidity. In the low 70's. A gorgeous early Fall day. However, indoors was a different story.
It was a little hot and stuffy.
I turned the dining room air conditioner on along with our portable upright fan in the dining room living room entryway. That's what keeps our kitchen nice and cool. And, it was cool even with the oven on 350.
When Lisa returned indoors with the burgers and our fries were done, I got a little irritated. There was no reason for my irritation. The dining room and kitchen were nice and cool. We had the makings of a scrumptious dinner. The table was set with our drinks and Yahtzee game.
Lisa asked what was wrong.
I stood in the space between our kitchen and dining room. I looked at Lisa.
"It's too noisy in here..."
That's when it all made sense.
The Summer season is too noisy.
We have 4 air conditioner units in our windows throughout our house.
A 10,000 BTU in our living room and dining room.
A 5,000 BTU in our home office and bedroom.
The home office air conditioner is only on late morning.
The bedroom air conditioner and fan are only on during the overnight. And, sometimes during the late afternoon, early evening hours if some of our kids are on our bed napping.
The dining room air conditioner and fan are only on when I have the oven on.
The living room air conditioner and fan are only on if it gets too stuffy in the living room and dining room.
About 90% of the time, we only have a single air conditioner and fan blowing.
In addition, the dining room ceiling fan is on to circulate the air and for some reason, it seems noisy to me.
All in all, there is always noise.
An air conditioner.
A fan or two.
This will make more sense when I tell you this...
There was a time when we couldn't wait to put the air conditioners in our windows and rev up the fans. That's when we lived at our old from July of 2012 until February of 2020. During that time, we rented an apartment in a 2 family home. The bottom unit.
During that period, the air conditioners and fans provided a sound barrier to the noise from various tenants that lived upstairs, especially from 2015 and beyond. It was a relief.
Now, not so much. It's quite the opposite. We no longer need the sound of our air conditioners and fans to drown out the noise from upstairs.
Now, the noise from the air conditioners and fans is just a nuisance.
I realized that last year, but more so this year.
Since the first of this month, especially on days and evenings when it's cooler, I shut off the fans and air conditioners. All I can hear are the crickets and the occasional driving down our road.
There is nothing but silence.
I'm not one to rush time or the seasons, but I'm looking forward to the time when we can the air conditioners out of our windows. Put the fans away.
Total silence.
Something we didn't have prior to buying our house in February of 2020.
Quiet.
This could be the very reason why we are both anxious for the Fall season. When the air conditioners come out. When the fans are stored in the closet. When all we hear is the faint hum of the heater. Heating our home.
We're almost there...
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