Patterico's Pontifications

8/3/2019

Beating The Heat

Filed under: General — Dana @ 4:49 pm



[guest post by Dana]

An unflinching grip:

“Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square. Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon, after their three o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.”

I don’t know about where you live, but where I live it’s one hundred and hell degrees outside. When I walk out my front door, I’m enveloped in this intensely muggy heat and am quickly transformed into one of those wilted teacakes, sans the gracious decorum of the Mockingbird ladies. I turn around, and the cool refuge welcomes me back.

Here’s today’s weather map, courtesy of Weather Central:

Untitled

Forty years ago, I lived next to an elderly woman named Juanita, who was born and raised in Kansas during the early 1900’s. Her family lived in the middle of nowhere. She told me that it would get so intensely hot during the summer that the kids and their mother would take the bed sheets down to the pond, soak them thoroughly, and then return to the house with the heavy, dripping load. Their mother would nail a sheet across the wide-open front door with the hope of catching a breeze. DIY air conditioning. Then, with the remaining sheets, they would make up the bed that she and her siblings shared and hope for the best. She laughed when she told me this because she remembered that they would always wake throughout the night, soaking wet but never quite sure if it was because of the wet sheets or the damn heat.

How are you beating the heat?

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

51 Responses to “Beating The Heat”

  1. So thankful for air conditioning. Also, the map is obviously just a snapshot, and not specific to every region, city and town, etc.

    Dana (fdf131)

  2. I’m posting about something mundane like the weather because I simply cannot bear hearing anymore about the mass shooting in El Paso.

    Dana (0b79c9)

  3. In that case, I love AC but find that whole Nest thing to be unreliable in one’s time of need. Apparently the device cuses rolling averages to determine the operating temperature, but the lag makes for a first several hot hours during a temperature spike outside the house.

    urbanleftbehind (fb94d4)

  4. cold watermelon

    mg (8cbc69)

  5. Iced coffee watching the sunset.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  6. I’ve heard that during some particularly arduous heat wave, before the days of Freon altered domiciles, folks would congregate near the river for the night…

    tmm (3d89bc)

  7. When we didn’t have air conditioning, and I remember those times, we got big blocks of ice to cool off. And we were hot.

    DRJ (15874d)

  8. The AC started blowing hot air last Wed around 5pm. The thermostat is kept at 80f because we do not want to be so uncomfortable when venturing outside. So, really, there was not much suffering for the first 12 hours, because it remained below 85f for all of that time.

    However, Thursday saw 114 degrees on the roof, and it got to 93f inside, and so, yeah, much suffering all around. It wasn’t until Friday morning before the AC people finally came to the rescue.

    Ten minutes after they arrived, It was blowing cold again. Amazed, I asked “what did you do?”

    “I cut the power to the unit and let the system reboot” was the reply. He couldn’t explain why the compressor (or the electronics that controlled it) dropped out. “we’re chasing a ghost, I think” was his final analysis.

    Anyway, I was so glad that there were no parts or labor required. No charge at all because I purchased the entire system from them just three years prior. So, happy ending.

    felipe (023cc9)

  9. I grew up without A/C but can’t really remember being too bothered by the heat. We still went outside, played in sprinklers, had a slip ‘n slide, ate lots of popsicles, etc. Maybe kids are just more easily distracted.

    Dana (fdf131)

  10. Felipe,

    Surely it was still under warranty? We nickel and dimed ours the past five years knowing that it would kick the bucket any day. It finally died in the middle of last summer and we had to bite the bullet and get a new system. So glad we have it.

    Dana (fdf131)

  11. I remember the world before AC. We had a house (attic) fan. Mom would close all the windows except for two in the living room and a sturdy breeze would cool everyone in the room. Once, the breeze died down by about a third, and my mom screamed “close that window!” Then the breeze picked right back up!

    felipe (023cc9)

  12. Yes, Dana, it has a ten year warranty, but I expected to pay for a service charge – they have to make a living, too. The previous system (a single stage)worked for something like a hundred years straight with only the odd recharging and coil cleaning needed, man was it well built! So this was the first “under warranty” experience of my life with an AC.

    felipe (023cc9)

  13. I was unclear about what I meant by “no parts or labor required;” I was thankful that we didn’t have to wait for parts to be delivered, and then to wait for the repairs to be done.

    felipe (023cc9)

  14. I’m beating the heat by living in the Pacific NW, currently drinking a flight outside the Spada Farmhouse Brewery in Snohomish, where the temperature is 77 and the humidity is 48%.

    Paul Montagu (abf2de)

  15. I live in Chicago where our average annual climate change is 100 degrees from January to August. We just kind of shrug and cope.

    nk (dbc370)

  16. I solute you, Paul, and all who are blessed with such salubrious surroundings.

    felipe (023cc9)

  17. Now would be a good time for you, nk, to remind us southerners of how Chicagoans react to various temperatures.

    felipe (023cc9)

  18. This one, felipe?

    THE WINDY CITY TEMPERATURE CONVERSION CHART

    60° F: Arizonans shiver uncontrollably; people in Chicago are still sunbathing.
    50° F: Californians try to turn on the heat; people in Chicago plant gardens.
    40° F: Italian sports cars won’t start; people in Chicago drive with the windows down.
    32° F: Distilled water freezes; Lake Michigan water gets thicker.
    20° F: Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves and wool hats; people in Chicago throw on a light jacket.
    15° F: People in Chicago have the last cookout before it gets cold.
    0° F: All the people in Phoenix die. Chicagoans close the windows.
    10° below zero: Californians fly away to Mexico . The Girl Scouts in Chicago are selling cookies door to door.
    25° below zero: Hollywood disintegrates; people in Chicago get out their winter coats.
    40° below zero: Washington, DC runs out of hot air; people in Chicago let the dogs sleep indoors.
    100° below zero: Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Chicagoans get frustrated because they can’t start ‘da car’.
    460° below zero: All atomic motion stops (absolute zero on the Kelvin scale); people in Chicago start saying, ‘cold ’nuff for ya?’
    500° below zero: Hell freezes over. The Cubs win the World Series.

    nk (dbc370)

  19. I spend a lot of time in our pool in the Summer. We have two AC units in the house, downstairs (not working too well) and upstairs (works and can keep the house at around 79 degrees. I’ll have to break down and replace both after the first of next year.

    Colonel Haiku (e03aa8)

  20. Come to Florida and cool off!

    The temperature on that map for Miami is a bit misleading. We have a tropical wave over Florida that is giving us plenty of rain during the afternoon.

    Kishnevi (83552a)

  21. LOL! Yes, that’s the one!

    felipe (023cc9)

  22. But the mugginess factor can’t be ignored, kishnevi.

    Dana (fdf131)

  23. Or this one?

    The Chicagoan dies, and not having suffered enough as a Northsider is sent to “the other place”. He shrugs and remarks: “Chicago in June.”

    The devil is not pleased to hear this, so he turns up the heat. The Chicagoan unbuttons his jacket and says: “Chicago in July.”

    A bit miffed now, the devil turns up the heat even more. The Chicagoan takes off his jacket and says: “Chicago in August.”

    To make a long story short, the devil decides to switch tactics and starts bringing down the temperature. Meh:
    — “Chicago in April.”
    — “Chicago in November.”
    — “Chicago in January.”

    Finally, it gets so cold that all Hell is solid ice, and for the first time the Chicagoan shows some agitation. He jumps and starts shouting: “The Cubs won the World Series! The Cubs won the World Series!”

    nk (dbc370)

  24. That’s funny, nk. Thanks.

    Dana (fdf131)

  25. Oh, nk!

    Dana (fdf131)

  26. I left Saudi Arabia for Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County, California. 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and lots of fog.

    Golden Eagle (b498e5)

  27. I don’t know if you meant this as a “nice” post, Dana, but I think it is.

    nk (dbc370)

  28. It is nice. No matter what else happens, we can always talk about the weather.

    DRJ (15874d)

  29. For the last 21 years, I lived on the coast (like, 100m from the water), where the high today was 73, and never needed a/c (which was a good thing, since I didn’t have it…).

    Now I live about 10 miles inland, and it got up to 89 today.

    Tomorrow it’s forecast to reach the mid-80’s even on the coast.

    Dave (1bb933)

  30. I wrote the post because when a horrific tragedy takes place and the heart vacillates between anguish and anger, threaded together by disbelief, it’s good to have a neutral, familiar place to go. Or in this case, a thread to go to hang out at while you take a breath and are reminded that kindness can still be found.

    Dana (fdf131)

  31. Was in the mid-80’s today in NJ. No big deal. Just a bit too humid outside to be running around, but still perfectly comfortable for August.

    NJRob (4d595c)

  32. 14 .. currently drinking a flight outside the Spada Farmhouse Brewery in Snohomish,

    It’s thrilling to see that town named on this blog. I went to the high school there, grew up a few miles out of town. Therefore grew up intolerant of extreme heat, or very much snow. Of course you have to be able to tolerate more gray days than sunny ones.

    Radegunda (3578a5)

  33. 29 — Ah,those microclimates. If you don’t like the temperature, just drive a few miles one direction or another.

    Radegunda (3578a5)

  34. Dana — Anyone who says that weather is boring or trivial is totally wrong. We all care about weather, and we all talk about it. Weather is interesting – personally, culturally, scientifically.

    Radegunda (3578a5)

  35. Been a mild summer in Texas. Only 2 days over 100 so far. Last year we had 46 100+ days by this time

    Stacy0311 (3d63e6)

  36. Big Island for “Climate Change” 10 zones.

    mg (8cbc69)

  37. 76 at the coast with fog just offshore hugging the coast.
    My house is 84. I was riding my mountain bike in the hills a few minutes ago, and the radiant heat off the road was 109 with biting horseflies, deerflies thrown in for good measure.
    As the crow flies its the difference of 5 miles and 4000 ft.

    Used to be that only wealthy people had AC here. Some years you don’t need it at all.
    I still never use ac in my truck. my guys are working hard in the sun and I’m not going to be one of those guys who hops out of the frosty ac and wants to know why the job is taking so long.
    We had an elderly customer named Bob who lives up in the hills where it was hot. He pops his head out every few minutes and reads the thermometer on his patio to us: “hey did you guys know it is 98 degrees out here?”… a few minutes later “wow, did you know its 102?” All afternoon.
    The highlight of the day was when his wife came out on the patio to tell me something, he’s leaning his head out to listen and she accidentally shut his head in the sliding door. I felt bad for him, but it was the end of the weather updates so there was a silver lining for us anyway.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwE5gfZlMZY

    steveg (354706)

  38. We’re now in St. George, Utah where it’s 106…

    We had breakfast at the Peppermill in Vegas, where my wife ordered ham n’ eggs, the ham was about a half inch thick and bigger in diameter than a frisbee (16 oz)… covered the entire plate. So she had to take most with us in a box. We drove out of the pkg lot as she was fussing over Hammy in the back seat and turning the AC on back there so he wouldn’t get warm and uncomfortable.

    JKMN!!!

    Colonel Haiku (ae9700)

  39. This morning I heard on the radip, at about 88 am that it was 74 degrees and that the temperature was expected to got to 87 and the ultraviolet whatever was 9.

    Later I heard it was 85 degrees expected to go to 87

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6)

  40. a dry 106

    mg (8cbc69)

  41. good tune, steveg
    thanks

    mg (8cbc69)

  42. Steveg and Col Haiku are great storytellers.

    DRJ (15874d)

  43. Indeed, DRJ.

    mg (8cbc69)

  44. Bill Burr’s take on the Grammy Awards
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BevNkLH-q8

    steveg (354706)

  45. Oops
    Its his take on Paula Deen

    steveg (354706)

  46. Here is a link to a knucklehead who poses as a potted plant to scare people:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pPtJnX_flc

    One of my best friends growing up had a bit of an LSD problem and he used to go to the beach and wrap himself in kelp and jump up and scare the tourists. Here:
    https://www.fourseasons.com/santabarbara/

    He’d wrap himself in kelp and lay down in at the edge of the surfline and then jump up… well that lasted until a guy from France(!) hauled off and decked him. He was and is my friend, but it was one of the funniest sequences in how not to behave I’d ever seen.

    When we’d go surfing my friend would often paddle out into the kelp beds trying to rescue the “dogs” he thought were stuck in the kelp. Well, those were seals and they live there. We’d leave him out there until well after dark, make a fire on the beach and figure he was hopefully still just smart enough to paddle in and get warm.
    His mom died the other day at 96, god rest her great long suffering soul.

    In that website I linked you will see a pool next to the Pacific.
    We used to wait until a member or guest would open the gate, we’d rush in and dive off the three story platform and then leave…. grabbing beers from the bar on the way out (they moved the bar to the land end of the pool because of us)

    I can’t believe what a nuisance I used to be

    When kids vandalize, or otherwise mess up my day, I have no reason to complain.
    Nothing they do is anywhere near what I deserve

    steveg (354706)

  47. It started raining heavily sometime after 8 pm, then let off, thrn picked up again and didn;t basically stop till sometime around 10:15.

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6)

  48. 46 – lmao
    looks as if you had good times as a kid steveg.

    mg (8cbc69)

  49. I live near Boise, Idaho, where today’s high will be about 100 F. (But it’s a dry heat – despite all the rivers here, the climate is Desert.) To cope, other than staying inside with the AC at 75-78 F, I get up at 7 AM to do my food gardening, eat breakfast, shower, and go back inside.

    Pat* (950457)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1067 secs.