Got to NM, got off the train and thought, wow this is nice! Of course it was actually hotter and few days later I forgot to sunscreen my ears (doh!) and literally had blisters.
Ouch! My wife and I once did a camping trip thru NM, and we visited the Acoma Indian reservation in the northern part of the state. The main pueblo sits on top of this rock mesa; a very beautiful location, but since the housing units are passed down through the matriarchal lineage by tradition, and there isn't any electricity (they have to use solar panels), nor water or fuel (both have to be trucked in), hardly anybody lives up there anymore. However, a few do. I went inside one place that was set up as a small tourist stand for snow-cones; outside the pueblo, it was 110 - inside it felt air-conditioned; it was actually a little chilly. With walls three feet thick, the thermal mass kept everything at an even and cool temperature. I wish my shop was like that.
See - on topic!
And to bring us back on topic, I solved the "cool my shop" problem by putting a small heat pump in. It's a split unit, like a typical home would have, but the indoor part is completely self contained and hangs on the wall (no duct work, etc).
This is what I was thinking about doing; a small split ductless system - maybe next spring if I can swing it. My biggest problem, though, is the likely need for a separate circuit to run it. I am not sure if that will be possible, until I can get an electrician to check.
BTW - I have read on those units that they can be hung or somehow mounted to the ceiling? Right now, that's the only possible place for one in my shop. Do you know anything about this?
My shop is a detached garage, so I can't exactly mooch off the house (well, I guess I could have ran a duct across the driveway, but I don't think the wife would have appreciated that.
I was thinking about doing the same thing, but due to the way things are arranged in our house and in my shop, I am not sure how it could be installed for the return air to the a/c unit (there's a bookshelf on one side and peg-board on the other in the way). Still, its an option that I will be looking into as well.