Tips for Beating the Heat this Weekend (and anytime)

originally posted by: PhilbertDezineck
Even more, I just sit in the pool all day long, it helps to keep cool after a hard day watching the help. a reply to: gallop

I have a pool too its just a kiddo pool I share with my dog.

Ahaha..

Dude, I love you!!

... not in a dog in the pool with you kinda way, just... that made my morning !! haha

a reply to: CynConcepts

Yeah but 12 guys died of a stroke watching you do that...

a reply to: generik

Good points about not making the temp settings too drastically different. I keep ours on the high side as well -- about 80°. One reason I like doing errands as early as possible is because I can't take going from the heat of the day into an air conditioned store and out into the heat again. It can make me feel nauseous.

We'll be putting our heat survival skills into practice today. The A/C quit on us sometime after midnight last night. As of now, we have windowd open, blinds drawn, fans circulating, and are planning to ride out the worst heat in our basement where it's always 10+ degrees cooler. We are on the repairman's list for sometime today, but there's no telling when or what it will take.

Current house temp is 83 at 10 am, so it's warm but tolerable right now. We have most everything shut down. I am posting from my phone. The biggest thing is that we have options to get through if we need them.

a reply to: generik

Amen on the dangers of A/C

When I started working in the Middle East (30 years ago now), it was not westernized nearly as much. Your credit American Credit card wouldn't work, except at a major international bank. Most people spoke hardly any English. French or German was more useful.

Anyway, back then they said that your body needed to "learn to sweat." They only places they had A/C, outside of the "American sector" or tourist zone, was 1) hospitals and 2)pre-schools, because the buildings were so huge that the inner rooms become a sauna.

The other thing was that most traditional buildings walls a couple of feet thick, and tiny doors. I mean like 5 & 1/2 ft tall. And small windows. They'd open the windows at night, because the dry air is pretty cool, like less than 80F. And not many bugs. Then they'd leave it cold and dark during the daytime.

It took me months of banging my head on the lintels of doorways to learn to reflexively duck when I walked into an old building. I probably still have grooves in my scalp from that.

I think that region is much more modernized and thoroughly. westernized, and city people live like Americans, like hamsters in a set of plastic chambers and tubes.

a reply to: Graysen

My family's big farmhouse is similar- thick limestone walls. Takes it forever to either heat up or cool down, so it can maintain a fairly stable temp for a long time with little effort. Our more modern, crap city house will become an oven this afternoon in the upper level.

PS.

Anyone have an opinion on the ability of an argileh/hookah loaded with "al-mericahwana" to beat the heat. Maybe only at sundown; but we didn't have a pool....

a reply to: ketsuko

Oh no... what bad timing for your AC to go out!!! I'm glad you have a basement -- hopefully at least semi-finished. And options. Do take good care and be safe.

Good luck!

a reply to: Graysen

Sounds like a perfectly cromulent way to relax... and sleep... despite the miserable heat

a reply to: Boadicea

House is still below 85, so we're surviving. Basement is a pit. The former owners were flippers who slapped a finish on it without properly sealing it so it promptly was destroyed by annual flooding when we took over.

We paid to have it sealed correctly, but saving money to refinish takes time.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Boadicea

House is still below 85, so we're surviving. Basement is a pit. The former owners were flippers who slapped a finish on it without properly sealing it so it promptly was destroyed by annual flooding when we took over.

Flippers..... grrrrrrrr! We have flippers working on the house next door to us and it's been one problem after another. They took out a section of our fence, destroyed three large aloes, and on and on...

We paid to have it sealed correctly, but saving money to refinish takes time.

Well, at least it's cool. At this point, that's a big plus for you, so you can at least be thankful for that small wonder. Maybe it can be something of an adventure for your son too... or maybe not. That's the kind of thing my son would have loved but my daughter would have hated!

I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that the repairman comes soon... good luck!

a reply to: Boadicea

a reply to: Boadicea

One thing I might add - a trick I learned from visits to the tropics - eat spicy food!

Because hey - you gotta eat, regardless.

The spices actually make you sweat some (most people), and this cools you, as long as you drink plenty of water with your spicy food. This kills two birds with one stone - delicious food, and cooling too!

Also, do this during a 'siesta' … or mid day resting period, avoiding the hottest of the mid day sun. Three birds now?

a reply to: Fowlerstoad

Excellent points -- thank you!

Mexicans really knew what they were doing with their siestas, eh? My mom used to find it fascinating that our streets and shops could be so empty in the middle of the day, but booming at night... but it's just practical to rest during the hottest part of the day, and save activities for the coolest part.

a reply to: Boadicea

Totally!!! Yeah, the Mexicans do it (the spicy food + mid day rest thing) among the best in the world!

One summer in-between college years I worked on a railroad steel gang pounding spikes and scooping rock to lay new ribbon rail. The track temperature was 135 degrees Fahrenheit, and people were dropping like flies. I had just come off a job working night security at a meat packing plant so it hit me hard. Had I not been to young I couldn't have taken it.

Drink water. Get in the shade. Don't work on the railroad.

a reply to: Blue Shift

Oh man... that's hot miserable work under the best conditions. Kudos to you for getting through it! Metal can really reflect and radiate heat like crazy. My sister-in-law once sat on a hot penny and literally had Abe's mug burned on her bum for a week.

So another tip in there: Hot metal can seriously burn -- be careful!

87 degrees at 2:30. Our basement is still much cooler. We're strategically moving our window fans to pull air from the shaded sides of the house. Catch the right places, and it doesn't feel too bad. Quite a few more hours until cooling though.

originally posted by: ketsuko
87 degrees at 2:30. Our basement is still much cooler. We're strategically moving our window fans to pull air from the shaded sides of the house.

Good thinking!

Catch the right places, and it doesn't feel too bad. Quite a few more hours until cooling though.

For such a simple device, fans are pretty amazing.

No sign of the repairman yet? If he doesn't come, make sure to use the fans to blow the hot air out of the house tonight, so you can start fresh in the morning at least. I hope the repair guy comes soon. I can't imagine what they'd charge on a Sunday. I'm sure Saturday rates will be bad enough.

How's your son handling it? No doubt that's having as much impact on you as the heat!

a reply to: Boadicea

Son is fine. One of his summer camps hits the pool and spends time outdoors. He isn't totally acclimated but he's buried in a movie with lots of water. House is normally 77ish anyway.

We're on the list for today, but when they get to us is anyone's guess. We'll be called 30 minutes before the repairman arrives. Timing depends on our place in line and how hard previous jobs are.