Open Thread – Stay Cool!
In the winter time, those in the Lower 48 often say to their Alaska friends who are braving sub-zero temperatures, “How can you live like that?” My answer is that you can always put on another layer.
This time of year when we in Alaska look at that awful weather map with colors ranging from orange to red to maroon, we wonder how those “in the states” can handle all that heat! However you out-of-staters manage it, we in Alaska wish you the best in beating the heat and humidity. No worries. Before you know it you’ll be having a 60 degree temperatures, and looking at our blue and purple map, thinking how glad you are to be just where you are.
So, hang in there and drink lots of water!
We’re used to the extreme heat/humidity here, but it normally doesn’t get unbearable until August. We have been experiencing August since May and I’m sorta resentful. I have had to give up cooking for several more months than I’m used to.
Count thatcrowwoman in the cold climate column.
The heat turns me into a slug,
but cold weather makes me sparkle and feel really alive.
Since DH Happy dragged me to the deep south twenty+ years ago, I’ve adapted a bit. We don’t use air conditioning, but have ceiling fans, and a window fan in the bedroom. Not much baking happens in the summer at our house. Errands get run early in the morning. Outside, it’s frequent breaks, plenty of water/tea/lemonade, search out the shade, or splash in the water.
I did teach several classes of 6th graders how to build and cook with solar ovens once upon a time, which some of them were then able to put to use to amuse and amaze their friends and families, and “for real” when our power was out after Hurricane Ivan. 🙂
It’s been overcast in the forest for a few days now, and so only in the 80s. Today has dawned clear and sunny, so it may be 90s before it’s over. I’m going to get out there and enjoy it some this morning, anyway.
Whatever your weather,
Play it Cool!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkdP02HKQGc
*
*virtual mudpuppy flashmob not rumbling, playing it cool to West Side Story**
*snaps*
Woo hoo…it’s raining! 🙂
Who would have thought that, after the wet spring we had, I’d get so excited about a little rain. Everything is so parched and brown and dry that it’s going to soak it up like a little sponge. I don’t think we’re going to get a lot, based on the weather radar, but any little bit is appreciated at this point.
Hearing some thunder too so it’s time to unplug the computer. ‘Night all!
Stifling here! 73 degrees, clear, and a nice breeze! I need to put on my shorts. I keep sending my nice, cool air to the rest of you, but it keeps heating up with all that hot air the Tea Party’s letting off in Nevada. Sorry.
I think you’re right about the tea party being responsible for all this hot air. I was wondering if that had anything to do with.
Here in wonderful Chicago we have had a year of extremes: third worst blizzard ever in early February; wettest ever, least sunshine ever, most days in a row of rain ever, in April and over night today, the most rain in one day ever since records have been kept.
And the Cubs look to be having the worse season ever but that’s another story.
The extreme heat doesn’t bother me. I don’t love it, but I will never complain. It’s the extreme cold and all that comes with it that I have trouble with. Can never get really warm. And the worst of all about winter is how early the sun sets. Actually how little sun there is at all during December, January and February.
I know Alaska has similar issues. But you have mountains. And that makes everything better.
The heat index hit 115 degrees–thanks to a dew point of 79 degrees and air temperature that hit around 100 degrees.
I’m frantically trying to keep the horses watered (and hosing off the oldest ones who don’t handle these extremes so well anymoer). But it’s better than some of my friends elsewhere: cattle are dying, just dropping over dead. Same for pigs. Milk cows are drying up. There are people who are being ORDERED not to water their livestock…if you don’t have a well, you’re stuck watching them die by inches I suppose. I have friends with chickens and they’re worried too.
There are only so many layers of clothes you can remove and not get arrested and a wicked sunburn. Even those of us who are ‘melanin enhanced’ can get sunburns (I’m looking at you, Bubbles).
It’s surreal. People who bought hay to last through the winter are already hitting it and there’s little to none coming. I’m waiting for dust storms to start kicking up.
How awful. My heart goes out to you and those all over the country who are struggling to stay healthy and safe during this heat wave.
Hugs and good, cool, rainy thoughts being sent your way.
It’s 3:30 p.m. Saturday, July 23, 2011 and it is 100 degrees F in Deptford, NJ. I can’t wait for winter. I like cold weather. I like snow. Our kitties and dog are inside in the AC. Props to the young ladies out on the streets braving this unbelievable heat for Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Inc. spreading the word and asking for help to keep this very important organization up and running. Despite the heat, I did stop yesterday to chat with them and pledged a monthly contribution to help.
Sad… Very very sad….
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/calista-corp-liquidating-rural-alaska-newspaper-chain-ani
Ann – it is sad. i remember the time I used to type up the Cooperative Extension Service column each week for the Tundra Drums. I think there is another paper in Bethel now, isn’t there?
I had to grip my steering wheel very tightly yesterday, and it took all my will power not to stop my car and have a stern conversation with a young mother. Had the traffic allowed, I would have done so, but there was simply too many cars hurrying to take people to cool buildings or homes.
She was walking in 100+ heat in the middle of the afternoon with her pre-school age daughter. She had on sandals but the little girl was barefoot and obviously having problems with the hot sidewalks. The mother was talking on a cell phone completely oblivious to what her little girl was experiencing.
I’ve had stern conversations with people who leave pets or kids left in cars in the brutal summer heat..I’ve even called the police to come and help.
I wish I could have helped that little girl. I pity pets who are taken out into the high temps to run or walk with owners who, listening to the iPods or whatever never look down to see the pets panting so heavily and staggering after their owners. Their pads must be getting scorched!.
Just imagine what that little girl’s feet must have been like! Shameful that some “adults” don’t think about the children or pets in their care.
End of rant.
That makes me want to cry for that little girl. I feel for.all the animals in this heat. I’ve been putting fresh,cold water in the birdbath and a pot of water in the shade for the feral cats. They’re spending all their time hiding under my flowers, sleeping. My poor dogs are miserable without ac. They get to play in the doggie pool under the pine tree. I’m off to work. Pray I don’t chew out one of these douche bags that come into the store.
It’s been absolutely gorgeous here! Highs in the mid 60’s to 70’s. I melt the closer it gets to 70 I am glad that I no longer have to deal with heat waves. When I was stationed in CA our first summer there the temp. was 116 withOUT the heat index. Don’t miss that at all! It’s amazing how we become acclimated to our areas. When I was stationed in HawaiiI I can remember that there was a particularly cold winter one year. I can remember hearing on the radio that moms were keeping their kids home b/c the temp. was below 70 and they didn’t have coats!! LOL I remember that I thought I was freezing during that time and putting on an extra layer under my uniform and having to wear sweats and sweat shirts b/c it was so cold!! Now here in Alaska during the winter when the temp. rises about 0 we are running around outside in sweatshirts enjoying the heat. When it gets close to freezing who needs a sweatshirt that’s t-shirt weather!
My thoughts are with all you mudpups who are trying to stay cool! You could always plan a vacation to someplace cooler? While some Alaskans plan vacations to someplace warmer! Hmmm maybe there are some mudpups who could do house swaps!! 😉
I spoke too soon! The sun disappeared and it’s raining 🙁 atleast we made it to the store before the rain hit.
I’m one of those odd western NYers who’s actually a little sad when the last of the snow piles finally melt away in May. I always comfort myself that the melting snow also signals the start of gardening season so that helps a little.
I would take 30 degrees and snow over 90 and humidity any day. We’re lucky in Rochester that we usually get snow instead of ice, and the various transportation departments are really good at keeping everything clear and running. Although we had 127 inches of snow last winter, we only had one day when the roads were really treacherous because of when and how fast the snow fell. As my neighbor Buffalogal said, you can always add a layer when it’s cold but there’s only so much you can take off. I work in an old city school building where the first and last couple of weeks of school are always brutal when it’s hot…no AC, useless ceiling fans and a whole bunch of cranky, sweaty, smelly little kids (and staff!) sitting around, whining.
Hey, Slipstream, you’d better be careful…you keep talking about that nice cool weather you’re having in Anchorage and you just might wake up one morning to find me camped out on your front lawn! 😉
I still remember those last weeks in school in Rochester (suburbs). The teacher would turn off the lights, open every possible window, adjust the blinds, and then do her best to keep us paying attention. Without much success as I recall.
City school alumnus?
Lived in the part of Brighton that went to Penfield school district.
I work in the section of the city district closest to Brighton so it’s one of the nicest parts of our district. I live on the west side of the city in Greece but only moved to the area about 12 years ago so I didn’t go to school here.
I left in 73, just before 10th grade. But have been going back every year for a while to see the fall colors.
Leenie – I seem to remember you and I making mention on this board last winter that even though we were getting hit hard with the snow that we still preferred it over the stretches of humid 90s . Give me the 30s through the mid 60’s and I’m a happy gal.
And Jeff, you brought back a long forgotten memory about those last weeks of school when the temps got too high. The lights being turned off, the blinds being adjusted and , for part of the day, the teachers telling us to just put our heads down. In hindsight, I wonder if perhaps some of those teachers might have been dealing with a bit of pre-end-of-school celebration hangovers.
Great minds think alike!
I probably would be a lot less fond of the snow if I didn’t have a plow service for my driveway. I still have to shovel sometimes when his schedule and mine don’t coordinate well, but I do appreciate the rumble and crunch of the plow truck outside my front window on those really cold, snowy mornings when I have to be at work at 7:30!
No one at work ever bothers to ask me if I think it’s cold in our building because I wear lightweight shirts, many with 3/4 length sleeves, all winter. I usually don’t even bother with my coat when I have to go out to the classrooms in the two portable building behind our school.
Meanwhile, as I write about the snow and cold, I’m looking at the poor hydrangea bushes outside my window which are all droopy and saggy with the heat. Please, let there be some rain in the next few days!
I live in the High Plains Desert, at 5300′- 95 today, humid- for us (20%). Walked Miss Mocha before 8 AM; we know better than complain, given the horrible conditions east of us.
Stay cool, mudpups…
WHAT heat wave? Oh, wait, you meant somewhere other than Arizona… It was 91 yesterday, max humidity was around 20% most of the day. Then around 6:30pm we had some thunder/lightning and glorious rain! It rained lightly off and on until some time after 10:30. A nice cool night, and I slept well – with the fan on… No AC or even a swamp cooler here, just fans and as few layers as possible.
I live at 4100′ in the high Chihuahuan Desert, just seven miles from Mexico, lest anyone think I live down in the hot country. You know, like Phoenix (land of the crazies) or Tucson (land of the less-insane). 🙂
I’m about four miles further south and 900 feet higher than Bee Jay. We had good steady rains here all afternoon and evening. It was about 83 at its warmest yesterday around noon, and down into the low 60’s last night with a cool breeze and that wonderful, sweet rain smell.. People from elsewhere often ask “how I can live in the desert” in the summertime. It’s tough, I tell ’em. Ya gotta be a pretty rugged character.
It’s lovely there. The bf and I visited Patagonia and drove around the surrounding countryside. You live in a beautiful place.
What is it with these “right-wing CHRISTIAN fundamentalist? 84 were killed at a youth camp, and 7 more lives lost in Oslo. CHRISTIAN???????
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43857267/ns/world_news-europe/?GT1=43001
I always want to say insane is insane and knows no politics. But when was the last time an insane liberal atheist did something like this? Is there something about conservatism that makes people so certain of their beliefs that it is okay to kill others? Anarchists felt that way also too, but liberals? Not so much.
He apparently posted in some right wing Norwegian website that he wants to encourage “the beginning of a cultural Euro-version of the Tea Party.”
Great…just great.
Not enough that they destroy our country, but now they have to destroy the rest of the world too.
It’s a good reason to go watch the matinee showing of Harry Potter !!! excuse me while I go put on some long pants, too chilly to go play golf in shorts this am…. ben runs for golf cart amidst flying tea glasses and crumpled sno-cone cups….
at least with a golf card, I don’t use smoke and mirrors to add up the total – just increase the dang debt ceiling, …. and play your silly gamemanship when you work on the budget !
I saw it in 3D. It took my mind off poor Amy Winehouse. She’s the only contemporary pop artist whose CDs I purchased. She sang like an old timer, her timing was impeccable, she wrote beautifully, and I loved her style. Too bad about the junk and booze. Like the 60s greats she resembled, she died at 27.
Real 3D (I’d only seen Imax prior to this) was quite impressive.
I’ll take the heat. I have Raynod’s Syndrome, so the cold is far more painful to me. Plus, a couple years ago I slipped on the ice in my driveway and broke my wrist. Cost me a fortune since I didn’t have medical insurance. Yesterday, I watered all my container plants. It works like a rain dance. Got some early evening rain and it cooled things down a bit. The cats are sleeping in all the windows today. Stay cool friends!
No Worries
Our answer is that you can always take off another layer. No sweat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wWScq0x-1Q
Another hot one here in southern Iowa today. But today we have AC. How different from the days when we were first married and had no AC.– Just a few fans. Remember sleeping on a blanket by the front door and hoping to feel a breeze coming in.
In today’s world, we wouldn’t think about leaving doors unlocked. How things have changed.
But I agree that the heat is better than the extreme cold, snow and ice. Don’t have to worry about falling and breaking an arm or a leg. I have been doing my grocery shopping after the sun goes down.—–But the heat has kept me out of my pottery—-no AC out there. GRRRRR!!
It’s hard to complain about this oppressive heat and humidity with the memory of this past winter in my mind. At one point, I had piles of snow 12 feet tall. The snow in the yard was easily 6 feet deep in January. It seemed as if every storm we had dumped 16+ inches on us and they came fast and furious.
It was 101 degrees here yesterday, with something like 85% humidity. Very icky-sticky. But at least I didn’t have to go shovel my car out. 🙂
Thanks for thinking of us, AKM.
We drove through Boston yesterday and it was 107!!!!!!
Arrived at my daughter’s house and it was a cool 99.
I don’t know…this heatwave isn’t so bad. At least we don’t have a shovel it.
I spent 5 months in shoulder pain from shoveling and this heat wave is not going to give me pain like that. I can always run indoors to my a/c and not worry about my car getting stuck in the driveway from ice/snow and piled high from the plows.
Cheers!
Agreed. In the winter you can hunker in and basically keep yourself warm with an extra sweater and some homemade soup. But this heat, there’s just no escape unless you have a/c. And not only no escape but it’s just plain unhealthy for our systems.
One of the news shows had a clip of someone actually frying eggs and cooking a slice of pizza on the sidewalk. If food is frying on the very same sidewalk that you’re walking on, well that’s just not right.
I’d say that I would cuff the ears of the next climate change denier that I meet but that’d mean stepping away from my fan and my spray bottle and that’s sooo not going to happen.
Imagining a big ol Mudpup pool party !
We’ve been escaping just about every day to the city pool. Our little boy is learning how to swim at an earlier age than expected, to boot…just because we’ve been going there so much. There’s an upside to the heat wave…if you have access to water.
Thank you, AKM. It is not nice, but you have to deal. I am getting up as usual at about four, but instead of being a lazy wretch for a couple of hours, I mainline enough coffee to jar myself awake, turn on all the outside lights, and do quiet yardwork for an hour or so.
I disturbed something this morning, though. They left their breakfast in the driveway. I came back in, turned out the lights, and am hoping to heck they come back for their meal. Very soon. Like now. Ick.