This last week Summer arrived with a vengeance. The good part was the fabulous full moon (pictured here); the bad news was the heat wave that followed. I'm not a big fan of hot weather, actually I hate it, so please pardon this rant. I'll do a better MTM post next week, I promise.Summer in Southern California can be pleasant and it can be unbearable. These last few days fall into the unbearable category. Some cities have set new records as temperatures soared into triple digit territory, and Los Angeles and other cities have set up cooling centers for senior citizens or anyone else seeking relief from the heat. Though we had rain this winter, there's been very little in the last few months and the hills are dry as the proverbial bone. I'm expecting a bad fire season in the state, and as I write this, fires are still raging in Northern California. On Saturday, when the house in Anaheim hit 90 degrees in the kitchen, we took off for San Clemente where the temp was 15-20 degrees cooler outside and about ten inside.
I know some of you are wondering why the spoiled California brat is complaining so much, but you have to understand this: neither of our houses has air conditioning. Many older homes in Orange County simply don't. Until recently, it wasn't really needed very often, but in the last couple of decades, summers do seem to have become hotter. Or at least we're getting more frequent heat waves. I'm not sure which. All I know is air conditioning would have come in handy this weekend. It's supposed to cool off next week, but probably not for long.
Hope it's cooler where you are.
Linda
My Town Monday comes to us via Travis Erwin, http://traviserwin.blogspot.com/. Thanks, Travis! Click on his site to read his latest post and find links to the other participants.
Update: Tues. June 24, 2008
Check out Barrie Summi's Surf Diva post for an idea on how to cool off.
L.
Posts
22 comments:
I"m first!
We had heat(90+) and humidity a couple of weeks ago. Now we're having rain.
What a beautiful moon! Thanks for another interesting post (even if it is a rant of sorts :-)
What a lovely photo of the moon! Linda, I couldn't agree more about the heat. It's hot! Many So-Cal homes are not air conditioned because usually we don't need it. Good to hear seniors and others have places to go for relief in Los Angeles. We run the AC for a few hours during mid-day. It's going to cool off, I hear.
I was in Irvine for a swim meet this weekend. Which means I spent hours and hours and hours at the side of a pool. IT WAS AWFUL! It was sooooo hot.
Debbie, wish you could send us some rain.
Kathleen and Barrie, thanks for the corroboration. The weather has been just stinky. The swim meet must have been awful, Barrie, esp. if you couldn't jump in the water to cool off!
Hope this week is better for all.
Linda
It's bee hot here this year. A dozen or so days above 100 but we have gotten some rain this week so things are looking up.
I have been hearing the same rant from my California relatives for the last few summers. I recall visiting their when I was a young girl and it was hot, but the humidity was low.
These days, my relatives tell me the temps and the humidity are high.
The other thing I recall was that my Gma did not have an air conditioner, but a water cooler perhaps?
I hope you can stay cool! Too cold or too hot are both conditions I do not enjoy!
Heat is perfectly fine as long as you don't actually have to do anything beyond lying around !!!
I hope it eases up for you soon!!!
Hey Linda, I linked my Surf Diva Surf School post (today's) to your surf history post. :)
And, no, I couldn't jump in the pool at the meet this past wkend. Arggh!
I always forget that California is not as hot as its nearby desert neighbors.
Linda, the full moon shot is perfect! Besides, it's quite all right to rant about something, especially heat when you're cranky from no A/C. In Toronto, the sun peeks out for a couple of hours this morning and then several thunderstorms with tornado watch. Its been raining for the past month, almost, with reports of tornado touchdowns. You'd think we were in Toronado Alley (SW Ontario does have tornados quite frequently in the summer, they just don't as a rule come into the city...I'm touching wood as I write this.)
Everyone is having wierd weather!
Good post Linda, now I feel better.
Sorry it's been so nasty hot. That always sucks.
Though, we've had a rather beautiful stretch in Michigan. Usually temps in the 70s, maybe a shower or breif thunderstorm in the evening, then it cools down to the low sixties to make for good sleeping. =)
Finally, something that's better in Michigan than Cal! XD
About two weeks ago, we had our first taste of summer weather here, and we, too had triple digit temps. I don't blame you for complaining. It's hard to move let alone think when the heat soars that high. I feel badly for the elderly, the housebound and the animals. I always hope they each have someone to check in with them. I'm glad you escaped the heat for a while. Maybe a window air conditioner - just in case - would be a worthwhile investment?
~Debbie
I don't blame you for complaining, either. The heat is hard on me, too. It's not bad here (CT) right now. But the humidity is building and I can feel it. Still, I hear lots of people say how we don't need AC up here -- but I disagree.
Mary, your Gma probably had a swamp cooler. They work well in low humidity but are not such a good idea now.
lyzzydee, lol, I don't like the heat and humidity even if I don't have to do much. I changed the bedsheets on Sun. and I was dripping wet by the time I finished. :(
Linda
Barrie, thanks for adding the link to my surf history post. I'll add one to your Surf Diva post. Very interesting. Hope it's cooler in San Diego today.
Linda
Clair, your weather sounds lovely. I bet the foliage is green and pretty there, too, not dried out and brown like here. That's something else MI has over CA!
Debbie, glad it's cooled off on the East Coast, too. We went into Micro Center on Sat. and a man was walking around with a 3-mo-old puppy in his arms. I was so glad he didn't leave the little one in the car. The news said car temps can get up to 140 degrees in this weather. Alas, we don't have the right kind of windows to add the window type of A/C
Linda
Rhonda, I've been in the East during heat waves and I disagree, too. A/C is practically a requirement these days almost everywhere. Some people may not think the earth is getting hotter, but I do. At any rate, it seems hotter than when we first moved to CA in the 1960s. Back then you didn't go out at night without taking a sweater with you, esp. at an outdoor concert venue like the Hollywood Bowl. By the time the music was over, you'd be snuggling into it.
Linda
Patti, the desert areas of Calif. are as hot as Arizona and Nevada, but the coastal area has been called a Mediterranean-style climate, though if the droughts keep up, we'll be desert, too, soon.
Barbara, I was really pleased with how well the moon photo turned out. I used one of my husband's "good" digital cameras. Wow, you've had some really weather in Toronto. It has been a strange year, weather-wise. Wish we could trade you some sunshine for some of that rain.
Linda
Linda, I'm so glad the weather has cooled off enough to get me invigorated about things other than swimming. I am glad our pools are kept cool. I tried to swim laps in Texas once. The pool was as warm as bathwater.
I know what you mean, Kathleen. As a kid, I lived in Miami for a while and there was no relief to be found at the beach in summer. The ocean was as warm as bathwater. :) I'm so glad it's cooler this week.
Linda
The moon was so beautiful. I love when it hangs low and huge in the sky like that. I was at #1 son's 1:00 baseball game on Saturday. It was scorching! I feel bad for my neice who had to play a triple header softball game that day. Brutal.
I love looking at the full moon, too. Yikes, playing softball in the heat must have been brutal. Hope we don't see too many days like that this summer, but I'm not hopeful.
Linda
Post a Comment