To Heat or Not to Heat

Once the calendar flips to May, I hate having to turn the heater on so it has to be really chilly before I’ll do it. It isn’t like May is always warm but May is so close to summer and I want to put the cold weather behind me. Turning on the heater feels like a retreat back into winter and I want to look forward to summer weather and not back to winter.

Plus, the trees are all leafed out and there is abundant daylight so, even if the temperatures aren’t summer like, all the signs suggest it is far close to summer than winter. Especially now when we get to mid May. I mean May is half over and June is just around the corner. We are clearly into spring/summer and turning on the heat doesn’t feel right.

And, when we do have the cool mornings, the day can usually be saved when the sun comes up because the sun is out for much longer and that gives the house more time to heat up naturally. There have been several days when it feels chilly in the morning but I’m turning on the AC before we go to bed because things have warmed up that much.

Today is a different story. It is cloudy and we’ve had on and off rain most the day. The air temperature outside currently sits at 60 so it is in heater territory at this point. Plus, on rainy days, things just feel damp and that makes it seem much colder than it really is. I went outside and it actually felt a little warmer outside.

All signs suggest that turning on the heat (even for just a little bit) wouldn’t be a bad idea today. The cat is sleeping by my feet now because he can’t find a really warm place in the house since there is no sun. I’m sure he’d appreciate it. Well, he really wants me to just sit in a chair with the blanket so he can sleep on me for the afternoon. Sorry, kitty but that’s not happening.

The rest of the week is supposed to be more May like so it would only be a one day thing. Still, the psychology of having to surrender and move backwards keeps me from turning on the heater. (My wife could do it at any time but, for some reason, she never thinks to). But she’s not complaining about being cold so I’ll keep it off for now. We’ll have to check the indoor temperature later in the day because it may have to come on overnight. That’s probably not as bad because I generally won’t hear it come on.

The funny thing is that average temperatures in September are warmer than May but I have less of an issue turning the heat on when we get those first cold days in September. Something about being past Labor Day and having the leaves starting to turn that gets my mind shifting from summer to fall and heat in the fall isn’t a problem.