Back Home by Chris Hardie
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Beating the summer heat is a pretty simple task when it involves turning on the central air conditioning unit and staying indoors.
But when you work outside and live on a farm, you can’t avoid the heat and need to embrace it. Growing up we had no air conditioning in the house. We had a box fan or two to move some air and my brother and I shared an ancient centrifugal fan that was shaped like a cash register, with the motor on the bottom and the vent on the top. We called it the hamster cage because it squeaked a lot. It had two speeds — moth-wing fluttering and barely perceptible breeze. It didn’t move much air and always emitted the smell of oil.
But inside the house was pleasant and cool compared to working outside. As the adage goes, you make hay when the sun shines and the cows still had to be milked. Hot is when you work in 100-plus degree temperatures for eight hours unloading or stacking hay bales and then having to finish the day squatting between hot dairy cows.
Cooling off also depends on where you live. I lived near Milwaukee until I was 6 years old and still remember Dad making sure that we had sweatshirts or jackets even on hot summer days just in case a strong east wind picked up cool air from over Lake Michigan.
Recently my wife Sherry and I visited Superior and Duluth and experienced the cooling lake effect. It was 85 degrees when we left home and in the upper 50s when we arrived in Superior. We did check the forecast before we left and each packed a fleece for the weather change.
But there is a big difference between 58 degrees without a wind and 58 degrees in a 30 mph wind blowing off an expanse of water barely topping 40 degrees, which is what we experienced when we visited Wisconsin Point in Superior.
Wisconsin Point is part of a 10-mile long sandbar that is split in the middle – with the other side of the split making up Minnesota Point in Duluth, MN. At the end of Wisconsin Point is Superior Entry Lighthouse, marking the entry to the Superior Entry Channel.
The lighthouse was built in 1913 and stands 56 feet tall at the end of a concrete walkway that is accessible only by first walking across a rocky breakwater. With the wind and the waves breaking over the rocks, we opted to view the lighthouse from a distance.
The lighthouse in 2019 was purchased by a tech industry executive from San Francisco who bought it at an auction for $159,000 but will remain accessible by the Coast Guard for keeping the light active.
Wisconsin Point includes sensitive dune habitats, which are being protected and restored. There are marked trails that take you through the dunes to the beach, where we sat on a driftwood log and watched the whitecaps. But it was regrettably a short stay, as our fleeces were no contest for the cold wind.
The next day we visited Minnesota Point when there were red risks and no-swim warnings issued by the National Weather Service for the danger of rip currents. That surf zone forecast is issued by the Duluth office and is based on wind speed, wave heights and direction.
The last thing we wanted to do was swim or surf, but the waves were fabulous – for the few minutes we could stand.
The next morning we purchased a couple of sweatshirts for some extra layers and revisited Wisconsin Point – which was still under a red risk. Even with the additional warmth we were only there a few minutes.
Next time we’ll bring our winter coats – no matter what the season.
Chris Hardie spent more than 30 years as a reporter, editor
