RememberGoliad
Veteran Member
They're trying to talk one into coming up the coast, but this time of year they rarely work their way inland, so central Texas is on the "hot & dry" side of most early chihuascos.
WEATHER Trapped in my bedroom. Heat index 103°
- Thread starter Dennis Olson
- Start date
They're trying to talk one into coming up the coast, but this time of year they rarely work their way inland, so central Texas is on the "hot & dry" side of most early chihuascos.
tiredude
Veteran Member
dude..... plug the crock pot outside......... if it is that hot why in the hell are you eating hot soups? (unless you are having digestive problems).I can’t be out in the front of the house. The living room is 82°. The a/c can’t keep up when it’s very hot and humid. I have that portable unit that I bought when the central air went out a couple years back. I’ve got it set up and running in the bedroom, which is at 70°. But I can’t just hide here in the back of the house forever. I’m making tomato cabbage soup in the crockpot on the kitchen counter, which has been going since 9:30 this morning, but that can’t be responsible for that much added heat. In any event, the soup will be finished in another hour.
It’s just miserable outside and in. I had to cut up a big cardboard box so it could be hauled away on trash day (tomorrow.) Took ten minutes, and I did it at 9:30 this morning. The heat damn near killed me even then. I wish the humidity would break. I cut the grass four days ago and it needs it again. Ain’t no freakin way.
eta: i thought you were gonna say, when I read this thread, that she wouldnt let you out of your bedroom and you were gonna emerge as a poor dehydrated version of yourself.....dogs too hot (like on Hee Haw) to care..........gatorade is good (and that hurts this ol hog to say). Riding lawn mower.
There’s something wandering around out there. It didn’t make the five o’clock headline so I assume it’s not a threat at this time.
It's been hot as heck here too. We went from a cool wet spring where my garden flourished. Three or four days ago, all heck broke loose with a high of 96 and a heat index of 109 that seemed to come out of nowhere. Our humidity is uncommonly high and that is from all that rain we've gotten up to now. I had no choice but to get out in it and wrap up my last minute garden issues. We spent all afternoon getting soaker hoses patched up and in place...no rain in sight.
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Our humidity has been so bad, lately, that you would be hard pressed to be able to strike a match outdoors, much less getting anything to burn. I'm already beginning to see signs of mold and mildew here.
Tristan
Has No Life - Lives on TB
You've probably done all this, but here's what I do when things get damned hot:
Replaced standard bulbs for LED's/fluorescent bulbs. Less heat generated.
Turn off anything that generates heat that we don't need at that time. That includes TV's, Computers, Stoves, unnecessary lights, etc. Refridgeration is a requirement; watching my wide-screen with a Blu-ray movie isn't. If I'm using my computer, I put it to sleep if I walk away and turn off the screen... With a SSD, start up is so fast I just shut it off - or just read a book instead.
A dehumidifier is possibly in our future, as well. A low humidity 84 is better than a higher humidity 80.
Small fans. Move the air more, feels a bit better.
We added venting in the roof, and an additonal layer of insulation - it's made a difference in how well our old a/c system has been able to handle the heat. thing
I would consider Gazpacho instead of cooked soup, too. Salads with cold cuts and cheeses instead of baking a Meatloaf, that sort of idea...
Meshed-backed chairs instead of sitting on the leather couch...
No shoes unless going outside. Kinda amazing how much heat the Tennis shoes help build-up...
Back in the day when we didn't have AC at all, we would take cold showers to shed the heat. Got through some summers of 100+ degree temperatures with saturation-point humidity that way. Would hate to do it now; I've gotten too acclimated to AC...
Again, not giving advice, just sharing what's helped in my situation in the past...
We generally run things a bit warmer than others do, feeling that being at least partially acclimated to warmer temps is an aid to dealing with it.
I feel your pain, Dennis. Hope you find a solution...
Replaced standard bulbs for LED's/fluorescent bulbs. Less heat generated.
Turn off anything that generates heat that we don't need at that time. That includes TV's, Computers, Stoves, unnecessary lights, etc. Refridgeration is a requirement; watching my wide-screen with a Blu-ray movie isn't. If I'm using my computer, I put it to sleep if I walk away and turn off the screen... With a SSD, start up is so fast I just shut it off - or just read a book instead.
A dehumidifier is possibly in our future, as well. A low humidity 84 is better than a higher humidity 80.
Small fans. Move the air more, feels a bit better.
We added venting in the roof, and an additonal layer of insulation - it's made a difference in how well our old a/c system has been able to handle the heat. thing
I would consider Gazpacho instead of cooked soup, too. Salads with cold cuts and cheeses instead of baking a Meatloaf, that sort of idea...
Meshed-backed chairs instead of sitting on the leather couch...
No shoes unless going outside. Kinda amazing how much heat the Tennis shoes help build-up...
Back in the day when we didn't have AC at all, we would take cold showers to shed the heat. Got through some summers of 100+ degree temperatures with saturation-point humidity that way. Would hate to do it now; I've gotten too acclimated to AC...
Again, not giving advice, just sharing what's helped in my situation in the past...
We generally run things a bit warmer than others do, feeling that being at least partially acclimated to warmer temps is an aid to dealing with it.
I feel your pain, Dennis. Hope you find a solution...
Exactly. I’ve been watching one puddle (on a concrete pad no less) at the school where I run the pups. It’s been there since the rain about 5 days ago. Hasn’t evaporated even in this heat and blistering sun. There’s just no place for that water to go. That pad must be 120° or more.
Oh, the crock is off and the soup done. Yummy.
nomifyle
TB Fanatic
My weather is like yours Dennis, it usually runs 80+ in the house with the a/c on, Dh is cold natured. I've got two fans blowing on me and I'm warm. Besides I don't the the a/c can make it all that much cooler. I've gone out side twice for a short period of time and it was almost like a blast furnace, but it will be worse when the temperature is 100.
Ribs for dinner and the oven is now off, Ribs were to die for.
God is good all the time
Judy
Ribs for dinner and the oven is now off, Ribs were to die for.
God is good all the time
Judy
TxGal
Day by day
Actual temp here is 93, right now, heat index is 104.
Our front and back porches run the entire length of the house and thankfully give us some shade...no porch on the west side, though. Around lunchtime we had two squirrels laying on the shady back porch on their bellies, arms and legs outstretched. They'd lay there a while then move to a different spot and continue cooling their bellies. Poor things, their respiration rate was really, really high.
Miserable out there....
We do have light blocking therman curtains on all our windows now, and they do help to keep the house a little cooler in the summer and a little warmer in the winter. Great investment.
Our front and back porches run the entire length of the house and thankfully give us some shade...no porch on the west side, though. Around lunchtime we had two squirrels laying on the shady back porch on their bellies, arms and legs outstretched. They'd lay there a while then move to a different spot and continue cooling their bellies. Poor things, their respiration rate was really, really high.
Miserable out there....
We do have light blocking therman curtains on all our windows now, and they do help to keep the house a little cooler in the summer and a little warmer in the winter. Great investment.
Sid Vicious
Veteran Member
Does your house not have any insulation? Usually let my house go up to 78* or so when I'm not home. Has no issues with cooling down to 70 within an hour. When is the last time you replaced the filter?
SouthernBreeze
Has No Life - Lives on TB
We have so much water in the ground, here, that when the temps and dew points go up, steam actually rises from the ground. It's hard to breathe in that environment.
I pressure washed the west side of the house, in the morning, day before yesterday.
Got done about 11am. Took a shower, hung on till about 5 PM.
Went to sleep and slept till 8AM the next day.
Took yesterday off.
Went out this morning at 8AM, about 77 degrees. Painted the west side and finished at 10:30AM
Took the rest of the day off. It is still 92 feels 97.
I have stopped eating big meals for the summer.
My go to for lunch is cucumber, red onion, tomato salad with some cottage cheese.
Its my cooling food.
Got done about 11am. Took a shower, hung on till about 5 PM.
Went to sleep and slept till 8AM the next day.
Took yesterday off.
Went out this morning at 8AM, about 77 degrees. Painted the west side and finished at 10:30AM
Took the rest of the day off. It is still 92 feels 97.
I have stopped eating big meals for the summer.
My go to for lunch is cucumber, red onion, tomato salad with some cottage cheese.
Its my cooling food.
lonestar09
Veteran Member
Don't want it and don't need it at this point. Still trying to dry out from all the rain in May. Crossing fingers that it doesn't happen
lonestar09
Veteran Member
Where is this? Sounds almost like Shangri-La
Henry Bowman
Veteran Member
Where is that??? The gateway to hell ???!!!???
Jubilee on Earth
Veteran Member
A beautiful 79 degrees and sunny with low humidity here in Northern Michigan. That’s pretty much our forecast for the next 2 weeks. I thank God every day we made the decision to move back up from the south. I thought I liked heat. I thought I KNEW heat. Nope. I did not. LOL
House is brick exterior. It acts like a pizza oven. The A/C is undersized for the load. Nothing I can do about it.
Where do you live?
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Walrus Whisperer
Hope in chains...
Dayum! It's 102 here, dry as a bone, which is why people here have swamp coolers. I went around early and watered the chicken yards so they could be a little cooler. We've been promised 107 by wed. Never been in that kinda heat before....
cyberiot
Rimtas žmogus
Two sweaty thumbs up for Tristan's suggestions in post #47.
Some additional tips on keeping cool I've picked up during my years in Hell:
1. Adjust your ceiling fans seasonally. In summer, they should rotate counterclockwise to create a downdraft. In winter, they should rotate clockwise to create an updraft. Consult your manual to learn how to reverse fan direction.
2. Table fans are great. Wet down your clothing and sit in front of one if you're wilting. Save money by remembering that fans cool people, not rooms. Turn 'em off when you're away.
3. Keep little ice packs in the freezer and apply them to your wrists and the back of your neck to cool down.
4. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Caffeinated coffee and tea, alcohol, and sugary drinks are dehydrating. Drink plain ole
'murrican water. Preload before you go outside to work in the heat, replenish while you're out there, and reload when you come back in.
5. Try to keep the sun from directly hitting your window glass. Hang an outside shade, or a sheet if neighbors aren't an issue.
6. If you've got the bucks, install an attic fan to vent rising heat.
Back before air conditioning, people in Phoenix would place a block of ice in front of a table fan to cool a room. Houses also featured sleeping porches--screened-in rooms with canvas shutters you tip open and hose down at bedtime. The smallest breeze creates a cooling effect. I lived in such a house, a kit bungalow built in the 1930s, when I first moved to Phoenix. No
AC, just an evaporative cooler.
Some additional tips on keeping cool I've picked up during my years in Hell:
1. Adjust your ceiling fans seasonally. In summer, they should rotate counterclockwise to create a downdraft. In winter, they should rotate clockwise to create an updraft. Consult your manual to learn how to reverse fan direction.
2. Table fans are great. Wet down your clothing and sit in front of one if you're wilting. Save money by remembering that fans cool people, not rooms. Turn 'em off when you're away.
3. Keep little ice packs in the freezer and apply them to your wrists and the back of your neck to cool down.
4. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Caffeinated coffee and tea, alcohol, and sugary drinks are dehydrating. Drink plain ole
'murrican water. Preload before you go outside to work in the heat, replenish while you're out there, and reload when you come back in.
5. Try to keep the sun from directly hitting your window glass. Hang an outside shade, or a sheet if neighbors aren't an issue.
6. If you've got the bucks, install an attic fan to vent rising heat.
Back before air conditioning, people in Phoenix would place a block of ice in front of a table fan to cool a room. Houses also featured sleeping porches--screened-in rooms with canvas shutters you tip open and hose down at bedtime. The smallest breeze creates a cooling effect. I lived in such a house, a kit bungalow built in the 1930s, when I first moved to Phoenix. No
AC, just an evaporative cooler.
Evaporative coolers don’t work in high humidity.
Fake Shemp
Banned for resurrecting the mayonnaise thread
Sid Vicious
Veteran Member
Amarillo is on the dry side of the state, and significantly north of me.
Do you understand how air conditioning works? How the heat exchanger on the outside of your house works? It doesn’t seem like it to me.
Do you understand how air conditioning works? How the heat exchanger on the outside of your house works? It doesn’t seem like it to me.
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tiredude
Veteran Member
but im sure its not a hot heat!........ (said to everyone thats never been in the south)....... got off a plane friday with a group of folks from KC....... they said 'Shhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiittttttt) its hot down here........ that time of year (a bit early)
amarillo is different than austin..... trade offs
amarillo is different than austin..... trade offs
I can deal with dry heat.
One thing that bugs me about the south in general (including Texas) is that water here is almost uniformly mud. I’ve never really seen clear, cold water down south. I won’t swim in mud. I;ve only been in a free body water once since I arrived in 2011.
One thing that bugs me about the south in general (including Texas) is that water here is almost uniformly mud. I’ve never really seen clear, cold water down south. I won’t swim in mud. I;ve only been in a free body water once since I arrived in 2011.
hunybee
Veteran Member
ClassyCwgl
Contributing Member
I have not worn in humidity but reviews say they work great:
I wet and drape around my neck, or throw on my legs or had my feet in them last night for awhile. They really do get cold and last an hour or 2. Material is thin.
For totally redneck cheap diy window film get foil wrapping paper from Dollar Tree. I have used on west facing windows in the Mojave desert and they work as well as shade cloth and let some light through. Hang them, do not stick to glass as they are a pita to clean off.
Mission Half-Face 6 in. x 8 in. Blue Polyester/Spandex Neck Gaiter 109032P - The Home Depot
Keep cool for hours with the Mission hydro active cooling gaiter. The versatile instant cooling gaiter can be worn multiple ways and speeds up the natural process of evaporation by absorbing heat from
www.homedepot.com
I wet and drape around my neck, or throw on my legs or had my feet in them last night for awhile. They really do get cold and last an hour or 2. Material is thin.
For totally redneck cheap diy window film get foil wrapping paper from Dollar Tree. I have used on west facing windows in the Mojave desert and they work as well as shade cloth and let some light through. Hang them, do not stick to glass as they are a pita to clean off.
Nothing evaporative works in humidity.
Jubilee on Earth
Veteran Member
Wow. I just saw your forecast for the next week, Dennis. Approaching 100 next weekend. Is the Texas grid back up to 100% capacity where it can handle this kind of strain for the rest of summer?
hunybee
Veteran Member
Fezzik always loves it like an icebox.
We are upstairs listening to music, and I am under a blanket and shivering. My hand are like icicles. I reached over to put my hand on his face and lean over to kiss him. After the initial shock and he got his heart started again, he said, "aaahhhhhh....it's like air conditioning for my face. My neck is hot too. Put your hands on my neck!"
LOL
He says "cold hands, warm heart. Your heart is a volcano"
Hahaha
We are upstairs listening to music, and I am under a blanket and shivering. My hand are like icicles. I reached over to put my hand on his face and lean over to kiss him. After the initial shock and he got his heart started again, he said, "aaahhhhhh....it's like air conditioning for my face. My neck is hot too. Put your hands on my neck!"
LOL
He says "cold hands, warm heart. Your heart is a volcano"
Hahaha
Firebird
Has No Life - Lives on TB
We also run all LED’s now, just replaced all of our windows, I keep everything off that isn’t necessary, and run fans in any room we are occupying.
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Esto Perpetua
Veteran Member
It doesn't usually get that hot where I am(SF Bay Area). One week last year it was triple digits with the highest being 106. I stuck cardboard in the window for a few days. I bet that insulating material the nomads use would work way better but I'm not going to spend the money for just a couple of days.
Jubilee on Earth
Veteran Member
And here’s the forecast for Phoenix. Dry or not, these are some hot temperatures. Is this normal for summer, or is there some kind of heat wave moving its way through?
