Someone wrote that “taking a daily temp is a chore” and that got me thinking. In our little world, we have certain things that need to be done on a regular basis and can be called chores. Grocery shopping, meal preparation, dish washing, floor sweeping, taking out the garbage, taking the green garbage to the compost heap, mowing the lawn, regular daily prayers such as the Mass and the rosary–yes, praying can be a chore, shoveling the walk in the winter and watering the yard and garden during summer dry spells, harvesting the tomatoes, etc. In our little world, daily temperature taking was no more of a chore than having to go to the bathroom and could never be put on the same basis as our other daily and periodic chores. And with today’s electronic thermometers, the time involved is probably less that it takes to pray the Morning Offering and the Guardian Angel prayer.
With regard to use effectiveness, it is my understanding that comparative studies show that mucus plus temps has a higher effectiveness than mucus-only.
The temperature sign is extremely helpful to the couple using natural family planning.
John Kippley