I’ve got a neighbor named Hank who is what some people might call a Doomsday Prepper.
You’ve seen them on TV before, right, mostly end-of-the-world types preparing for a zombie invasion or some such foolishness.
Hank never struck me as the hysterical type, he was a normal dude who worked and went to church and was good to his wife and kids. In his free time, he was always working on a bunker in his backyard. Sometimes at night I would go over and drink beer with him while he worked. I started going over more often after he installed a little air conditioner down there. Being underground like that provides incredible natural insulation, as you might imagine, so a little bit of cooling goes a long way. No matter what it was like topside, down below he would never have to turn the AC on for more than a few minutes and we would be comfortable for an hour or more. The funniest thing happened, because after there were a few chairs, a mini fridge stocked with beer, and the air conditioner, it seemed that Hank stopped working so much. I guess he got done just as much as he really wanted to, and after that it was just a matter of sipping a cold beer and enjoying a cold A/C. Come wintertime it was pretty much the same, because a very small space heater running on low would still be enough to keep us toasty warm, even if it was snowing up there. Let’s hope doomsday never comes.