The kerchief-around-the-neck form of AC. It brings back memories.

Fifteen yeara ago, we were taking a trip into central Kansas with my elderly parents when the air conditioning in the car went out. My mother (a redhead who never handled heat well) looked pretty bad.

We persuaded her to try the damp kerchief, and in a few minutes she looked better and was much happier. She didn't want to do it, of course, but I told her she would look like a football player, so that made it all right.

In a wildlife refuge we parked the car near a prairie-dog town and waited. Soon they were popping in and out of their burrows, whistling and running around. All of us were enchanted.   I forget what birds we saw in the afternoon, but in the evening we saw and heard a barred owl. Neither of my parents had ever seen an owl. I still remember the owl, gliding through the black trees and silhouetted against the last orange of the sunset.

Fifteen years later, a damp kerchief helped us take the 95-degree heat as we watched Kansas City defeat Manchester United. Can't get much better karma than that.