I've posted this week three times already about the monstrously hot temperatures we are having due to this terrible heat wave. (here, here, here). It was 108 actual degrees a few days ago and heat indexes (real feel) ranged between 111 and 114. So here is another take on "hot". This is "hot" throughout my day.
First thing in my day has to be a cup of hot coffee. This is a non-negotiable.
I am an educator and I have the summer months off (usually around May 22-Aug 1). I am a hobbyist writer, reader, and a researcher so naturally with all this time to myself I sit at the computer a lot and well, read, write, and research. My laptop model is known for getting too hot and known for its interior fan not being able to keep up. So I have this table fan blowing on the hot computer and also on me!
At some point in the morning it gets too hot inside the apartment and I have to turn on the air conditioner. It is tiny but mighty but sometimes the hot air just gets the best of it. I learned that if your AC is keeping your interior temps 20 degrees cooler than your exterior, you're doing well. With recent temps of 108, that means 88 degrees. So, by afternoon, it's HOT.
Lunch time! When it is hot out of course I don't want to cook. I usually have a sandwich or hummus and crackers for lunch, or tomato-cucumber salad. Something cool. But sometimes I would like a little something hot, so I make nachos. They only take 2 minutes under the broiler. I like to use canned chopped tomatoes with habanero peppers instead of salsa because it's lighter. But the tomatoes are hot! LOL, so if I don't get my heat in the temperature of the lunch I get it in the spice!
So by 3 in the afternoon it is just so HOT! Here is a weather science expert to explain the hottest point of the day: "In general, during a 24 hour day, the temperature is at its highest point about 3 hours past local "high noon", since there is always a lag effect. Of course, if it is daylight savings time, then high noon is closer to 1 pm and not noon. That means that in the spring, summer, and early fall, the high temperature is around 4 pm. In the late fall and winter, when the days are shorter, and we are in standard time, the high temperature is reached by 3 pm, and sometimes as early as 2 or 2:30 pm." So I do what the Europeans do and take a siesta. For me, that means a nap, by the open window if possible, or with it closed and the AC on if the temperatures are so hot.
Sometimes it is just so hot that I wake up HOTTER than when I laid down! I always wonder how this can be...it is one of those mysteries I guess.
If the temperatures are normal, like when we are not in a heat wave, I look forward to the evening when I can shut off the fans and the AC and peace and quiet reigns once again. The coolish breeze wafts in and all is well. My two cats- who like to sit in front of the air conditioner during the day- enjoy the night breeze too. They know how to keep cool!
Here is another picture of the cats because they are just so cute!
7 comments:
When I lived in Rome, in teh summertime it was too hot to even make coffee: we'd make it at night, and drink it at (hot) room temperature in the morning. Keep cool!
Sounds like everything is hot hot hot there! Hope you're keeping your cool!
http://hibiscusbloem.blogspot.com/2012/07/cooling-down.html
I enjoyed the tour of your hot day. :>)
My fibromyalgia does not respond well to heat, so I keep the air conditioner on at all times once the temps go up in the seventies and upward. (Those 50 hours without power was not well-received by my fibro body, but I managed okay).
One trick I learned from my husband was to put a cold, wet washcloth on the forehead and on the neck while lying in sparse clothing. I was skeptical, but he fell asleep. I tried it the next day when I was starting to ache and I was able to nap and feel better when I awoke.
It's uncanny how much your two cats look like mine! George is my black and white one and Scruffy, his sis, is my gray, tiger-striped one. Great companions for themselves and for us!:>)
I know about your kind of hot but in the house we are in now, there is flagstone floor in a large main area that keeps the house naturally cool (it's not so great in the winter for our heating bill...) and so we don't need an air conditioner. A hot caffeinated beverage to start the day - a must, I agree!
busy, hot days! And a nice cofee to start is compulsory.
I'd give anything for your hot weather (it is warm here, but not too hot), if I could have the time off as well!!!
Nicki
KEEP COOL!!
Sounds very HOT at were you live!
Have a nice summer!
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