Somebody--turn down the heat!!

Good grief, I think I have been waking up in Arizona the last several days! Thursday it hit 101 degrees. Friday (yesterday) it was 102, and today it hit 104! This is supposed to be the cool zone.

I guess global warming is here to stay. Thank heavens, it is supposed to start colling down tonight. At least, I think that is what the weather guy said. I hope!

Don't you just love these Spring afternoons when the temps are a cool 102 or so, and generally only a light sweater is required for comfort. It gives me the shivers!

Jim Woods (Tucson)
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

You are so funny!

I once left Phoenix where it was 120 in the shade, and landed in Alaska where it was 55, I was freezing and the silly residents were in shorts and short sleeves! What a shock to my system!

Zada, just where did you find shade in Phoenix? I think there's a city ordinance against shade there. I really enjoy getting out of the air conditioned car in Phoenix and having my glasses steam up to total blindness. Incidentally, the hottest it's been here in Tucson over the past 29 years that I've lived here is 117.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Can you both send some of that glorious weather over here to Scotland. I keep hearing about this global warming but over here there isn't much sign of the warming round here. Summer seem to be getting worse though I must admit the winters aren't quite as cold as I remember from childhood but that could be just my mind playing tricks on me as I look back.

Science has reported that people who live in colder climates live longer. I guess with global warming people will start dying off much earlier.
For those who say they enjoy the hot climates, do they use AC?

AC is not the norm here, Abe. But I think if this keeps up it will become standard equipment for homes here. My car has it, for some reason.

I think most homes in the hotter southern regions have either AC or the old 'swamp coolers'.

We NEVER use AC . . . except maybe in the car, in the house, at the office, in the mall . . . other than that, not at all. In our hot and dry season, we use the evaporative cooler; when it's hot and wet, like now, the swamps don't work so we revert to AC. Don't leave home, or stay at home, without it.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Jim,
if I understand what you wrote, you use AC all the time.
That being the case, why do you like hot weather?

Abe, I do like the hot weather. I'm out it as much as possible, for short times. Especially driving with the top down. But the AC feels so good when I do come in, like now for instance. I've been out cutting down a couple of oleander trees that are taking over the house. It's too hot out to stay too long at a time, but the Sawzall and I will get my job done, no matter what the temp, and hopefully with minimum exposure for me to skin cancer.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

Jim,
I'm an outdoor's person. I like the forest and help with logging. I work in the vineyards and do gardening. But I hate the heat.
There isn't anyone in our village that has AC. We fortunately have ways to keep cool when it does get hot. We have those thick stone walls and the cellars are always cool. The heat just saps the strength out of me. I feel tired and don't want to do much of anything except try to keep cool. When it is cool or cold, I can work and keep warm and that means I get the exercise I need.

My brother lives in Florida and tells me how fortunate it is that in winter he doesn't have those heating bills like we had in the north in Pennsylvania. And I reminded him that in the summer, he leaves his AC house, gets into his AC car and goes to his AC office. In winter, we get out of our heated house, into a heated car and go to a heated office.

I become a cave-dweller during the late summer--dashing from one air-conditioned cubicle to the next. My muses have packed up and are vacationing in Canada. Got a nice postcard from them last week. No wonder everything I write at this time sounds like drivel.

Zada,

It seems like just a week ago you thought winter was coming! The weather's been crazy in Massachusetts, too. We've had so much rain this summer and thunderstorms almost daily. Temps in the 80's are coming back this week and there's no rain is in the forecast for a whole day!

Abe, about now I could use some logging help. Have you considered a vacation in Arizona? Jim

Here it is a beautiful day -- and overdue! Last night we had a terrific downpour, and this morning I was actually removing moss from the windowsills. It's been very rainy, lots of cloud and too little sunshine in the last 3 weeks or so, but today is sunny, 77 degrees fahrenheit and with a brisk breeze. Perfect summer day!!

Today was great! under 80 degrees, a little thunder, some lightening, a few minutes of hard rain and lots of wind. Now, that's what I like!

Jim,
I would be pleased to help you, but not in the heat. I'd probably have a heat stroke.

Zada, it was only 86 here today, too (Texas) because of the rain that we desperately needed. But in a few days, it'll be right back up to 99!

It was glorious today, with a high of 66. I even went out and mowed the lawn! We may get a couple of days worth of showers as well, so I had to get the grass down before it becomes a jungle.

It was raining again this morning here!

That sounds like here, Pol, but I doubt that we will go immediatey back to a heat wave. We got rain this morning, and I am hoping for more. It's 69 degrees at 1 p.m..

69 at one in the afternooon?! That sounds like Heaven to me! I just keep missing Canada more and more with each hot day we have here. I loved the weather there. Oh, well, fall will be upon us soon.

Depending on your location there, the weather in Texas during the winter can be brutal. You probably won't be missing Canada for too long!

Today is quite cool, and as promised, the trees are starting to show active signs of change. Now I just need 2 more days without any rain so that we can get the deck painted...

I just wish it would snow in Texas. That's what I really miss from growing up in NY. We want to try to get back to Canada in the winter to see the snow. But I don't know if that will happen this year.