It is stupid hot

[Zoe Girl]

Argh in the middle of winter I thought I would never complain about summer, but here is summer and I am complaining. It has been about 100 the last 2 days. my rental house is older, it holds heat (except in the winter of course). I actually have a thermometer deal that i move from room to room with the swamp cooler to see how we are doing cooling it down. My room is still about 86 at 9 pm. The front room feels hotter.

So this house has bars on the windows and funny shaped windows so a window AC would not fit inside. I have one small swamp cooler, last summer they were ALL sold out. I do have someone who wants to give away a portable AC so I need to contact them, however I realize I do not sleep unless it is under 80 degrees! Last night it took a loooong time, like almost midnight, before it possibly got below 80. I opened the front door and am putting a fan directly there even though we get no real privacy, I think I will put damp washcloths all over me and try to sleep. I totally understand the old fashioned sleeping porch, I will see if I can get to the tent in storage actually.

The next 3 days are supposed to be about 90,

[pinkytoe]

Are you in Colorado? I was shocked to see Co Springs hit 95 yesterday. Cooler here in TX so that is very odd indeed.

[Float On]

Zoe, we have a portable AC in my son's attic room. It's doing a really good job at keeping his room cool and it balances the air/heat unit (like in a motel room) at the other end of the attic rooms. If you could get two of them - it would really help your house.

I was out watering my garden last night - it was crispy and it's just the start of this heatwave. Seems summers are hotter for longer periods every year - I may give up on gardening summer months and just do fall-spring gardening.

[frugalone]

I am really sorry this is happening to you. I freaking HATE hot weather. My house sounds like yours. It's always cold in the winter but hot in the summer. We had a minor heat wave a week or so ago and I remember it being 80 some degrees at 9 o'clock. I could hardly sleep. We have an AC unit but it needs cleaning (it's moldy, yuck).

If it could be like this past week, 75 every day, even including rain, I'd be very happy indeed. Maybe I should move to the Pacific Northwest.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Yea when we had a bit of a heatwave I fully made plans of how to cool things down a bit for a long hot summer though it's been fairly cool since then (by the way stop climate change!). Ok the thermal petroleum curtains I tried out to deal with the heat that smelled like petroleum lamb fat were a nightmare and went back (they really did smell like that, I made lamb this week and yep! :0!).

But I did hang some external shades.. Trying to continue to invest in this. But still it's a hot little greenhouse apartment (may just move eventually) and it does have a window box A/C, that makes too much noise and is annoying that way, but does work. Most older buildings are actually designed better than newer ones as they were built for an era without central air. However, you probably just live in a place that wasn't designed well. Whether one uses A/C has more more to do with where they live in this country and the design of the structure and surroundings that they live in than it does their personal discipline in resisting the siren call of A/C. Permaculturists are right: it's all about design.

[Zoe Girl]

Well today was better, only 5-10 degrees cooler outside and inside is more comfortable. And now it is horribly smoky due to the fires, the wind is high, and so it is a challenge. My old house (a much newer house) was better about moving air around. I actually had ceiling fans installed and it was such a good idea. We did put on the AC in a larger house but more for allergies.

[ApatheticNoMore]

If the smoke gets bad enough from fires I'd consider getting out of town at least for a few hours. I know what that is like, barely able to breath, it starts to affect one mentally :)

[Zoe Girl]

I am fortunate that my work has AC and it is out of the smoke. Considering the fires are a 45-60 minute drive south of here I am really hoping it won't stay this bad.

Hey my bedroom is down to 84 degrees at 11 pm

[Maxamillion]

I'm in Mississippi, it's hot here too. It's so hot outside, it just kind of takes your breath away. My car's air conditioner is broken and I can't afford to have it fixed right now, so having to go anywhere during the day is just miserable. I'm trying to keep all my appointments scheduled as early in the morning as possible and even then it's usually stifling by about 9:00.

[Gregg]

In Nebraska we've been low to mid 90s and humid lately. Not unbearable, but certainly not comfortable. My daughter's (outdoor) wedding was a year ago this weekend. It was 108* that day and I was in a heavy, wool, black tux. All of a sudden 94 in shorts sounds better.

[drbond]

One reason I am glad we moved from southern Ontario to Northern Ontario, on Lake Superior: cannot tolerate heat. We live beside a gigantic A.C. unit now ;-).

Tip for those suffering in the heat: buy 2 big cooler ice packs at dollar stores or Home Depot. Freeze them. Wrap in tea towels and use elastic band to keep them in place. Get into bed. Put one ice pack under your neck while reading for a while. Cuddle the other one. Works like a charm. Also, have a shower and wet your hair before bed. Also brings down the body temperature. Make sure you put the ice packs in the freezer when you wake up.

[frugalone]

We're getting ready for another freaking heat wave starting this weekend. I know I'm overreacting, but I actually dread, loathe and fear that kind of weather. I'm lucky we have AC at work and I have one AC unit at home (in the master bedroom). It just seems to make everything more difficult.

My car AC is broken, too, and I'm afraid to spend the money fixing it. I'm afraid I might need the money for something like dental work or a medical bill and then I'll be out. The car's windows are designed in such a way that keeping them open on the highway renders conversation impossible from the noise, and the air/wind goes all over the place and it's just a bunch of hot air blowing around, in any event. And that'll only take you so far...

[mnmlz]

I understand. My house inside is 93* right now and it is not the hottest part of the day yet. The record inside here is 119* We do not have air conditioning and only have two small windows.

I have lots of fans and I quite often will walk around with my hair wet to keep cool. Or will take a wet cloth and wipe my face, neck and arms. I also drink a lot of cold beverages.

[Alan]

We haven't gotten into the stupid hot weather yet. There have been a couple of outlier days in the past 6 weeks or so where the temps got up to around 90, but for the most part it's been a little cooler than I would have expected this late into the year. Mostly 70's and low 80's.

We opened the pool for the grandkids over the Memorial Day weekend and they've been in it quite a bit, but as of yesterday, the water temp is still a little too cool for my comfort.

This being the first day of summer, it looks like we're getting a little more seasonable. Expecting a high temp of around 90 today, with sunny skies, and more of the same for the weekend.

[creaker]

Could be worse - they hit 96 degrees - in Alaska.

[Alan]

That's not terribly unusual, the Japanese currents bringing in warm air from the Pacific and nearly 22 hours of daylight during the summer can do wonders in certain parts of the state.

[rosarugosa]

Frugalone: We haven't hit any terribly hot weather yet (good, because no a/c in our house), but I do find that I'm more likely to get that fear and loathing thing if I listen to the weather on TV. It generally turns out that my perception of the reality isn't nearly as bad. Sometimes they make it sound as though you'll instantly flash fry like a vampire if you step outside during the day! So I get my weather updates online, on sites where I just view temps and pics of sun/clouds/precip.

[pinkytoe]

96 sounds pretty good when summer here usually means much hotter than that. We have lovely mild winters but boy do we pay on the summer end. Today, I have all the blinds drawn to reduce reflective heat. Summer is just miserable in TX and it normally lasts about four and a half months, ie until Halloween.