First Take

This scorching weather has me thinking a lot about my dad. He was a technician for the civil service and worked at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.

His specialty was airconditioner maintenance and repair.

As you can probably imagine, he was very popular in the summer with relatives and neighbors who needed their AC units or swamp coolers serviced. I accompanied him a few times on his side jobs, but it was mainly my older brothers who helped him out and earned some extra spending money.

I read this week that the ideal temperature for sleeping comfortably is 65 to 70 degrees. I wish someone had told that to my dad! When we were kids, he would always wake up in the middle of the night and turn off the cooler – even though it was still warm out. Typical, pennypinching dad.

I hope my dad has a happy Father’s Day in Heaven and that none of my relatives are bugging him to come fix their coolers.