Whew! This week became one of those where we get the fans out of the garage, start calculating which windows get the most heat, move all the books aside to reach the A/C (which hasn’t been touched since last summer), turn the A/C back off at night and hope for the best, and wake in the morning to discover that the kids have all migrated downstairs to sleep in the [slightly] cooler living room.
It’s also kind of hard to cook in a hot house at night, and very hard to sleep. …
(Of course, we also keep reminding ourselves that just last week, we were all complaining about the cool temps and that it didn’t seem like summer at all around here! Sheesh … )
We’re pretty wimpy here in So. Cal. Or maybe we’re just spoiled. If the weather isn’t a perfect 75-80 degrees, we tend to complain — too cold, too hot, too many clouds in the sky, not enough. …
How does your region deal with the heat? Does everyone love to complain?
In AL it goes something like this….
“Whew, it’s hotter than a b*tch in heat!” or “Whew, it’s hotter than a billy goat in a pepper patch!”
Yeah, we southerners are classy like that. Our southern expressions for the cold are much worse. 😉
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Everybody in Washington complains also – it drives me crazy. We are used to the colder temps, but it doesn’t seem to matter, they always complain no matter what season. Too much rain, not enough, summer hasn’t shown up, now it’s here and hot…just like California! I thought it was just here, so I am glad to see it’s not…I am one of the ones waiting with baited breath for the heat – bring it on!!
Texans don’t complain about the heat. We commiserate.
It’s hot in Texas and it’s humid. It’s a pick your poison mentality. If Texans had to take one or the other, it would be the heat. When the temperature goes over 100 that’s bad enough, but when the humidity takes the heat index to 111 it is just miserable.
Texas has the most man-made lakes of any state so Texans take to the lake to cool off. Shopping malls are another popular choice because someone else is footing the A/C bill.
In a perfect world it would be November all year long in Texas.
We’ve had national weather heat advisories here in Memphis, TN more days this summer than not. We’ve hovered in the mid- to upper-90s with a heat index around 110 for weeks. However, that said — it’s still much cooler here than where I grew up on the Gulf coast. Jeesh. In coastal Louisiana, it’s 99% humidity all day, all night, every day and night with thermometer temps in the 100s and heat index in the ridiculous. So, I will take my Memphis misery about any day over South Louisiana.
I remember Southern California summers with deep longing about this time each year. Ah. Those mystical “2 weeks” in SoCal. When I first moved there, I was aghast that so many places didn’t have A/C. How could this be? Was this not almost a new millenium in civilized America? Everyone assured me that you only need A/C in SoCal for about “2 weeks” every summer. Coming directly from South Louisiana, this all s0unded absurd. How can anyone not need A/C in the summer? I pretty much figured most Southern Californians for liars. (smile) When I lived in Fountain Valley, it turned out those 2 weeks were really only about 4 — much to my shock and awe. But, when I moved just a tad inland to Tustin, those 2 weeks turned into about 8.
Of course, in Louisiana, that means A/C for 8 months… not 8 weeks.
For the most part, the other three seasons in Tennessee are utterly lovely. Four real, actual seasons (something I did not experience in either Louisiana or California). After the hot summer, we get all the benefit of the color-bursting, pumpkin-picking autum with just the hint of crispy air. Then comes a fairly short, but beautiful winter with several snow days — enough to go sledding and have spontaneous snowball fights, but completely melted in 48 hours. Springs are beyond glorious. A native from SoCal would be amazed at the truly shocking explosion of green in the spring. Virtually overnight the world is transformed and leaves and vines reach out to grab you as you can’t help but to get outside and walk with arms outstretched.
Sure makes Tennessee summers worthwile.
Good luck to every0ne. Stay cool. Here’s a toast to all air conditioners functioning without fail.
Well, Louisiana sounds a bit like Florida. It starts getting hot here in May and stays that way through October. (none of those furry long sleeved Halloween costumes for kids down here!) Its rare for it to get over 95 degrees, but with humidity in the 80 to 100 percent range, it feels much hotter. We are lucky to live about 4 blocks west of the beach, so we do manage to get wind most of the time which makes it more tolerable — in a ‘standing in a hot blow dryer’ kind of way. And cooling down at night? Nope, none of that nonsense. Its usually in the low
80s so it doesn’t feel very cool. (Wow, guess I hit a wrong key or hit the limit on the number of words!) No matter what though, it beats summers in Ohio. All I can remember is that it seemed to rain every weekend!
Posey — Sounds like at least Alabamans make up for the complaining in creative sayings though! : )
Debi — E tu, Washington? I thought Washington wouldn’t complain so much because there’s not as much heat up there, but I guess they do, huh?
Dave — November all year long? Hmmm, I think I would like that, too! And that Texas humidity sounds brutal! Ack. My hair would always look terrible there. : )
Shea — Oh my gosh, I miss you, Shea!!! I miss our conversations about these kinds of things (and books, and such!). Loved your story about the “mystical 2 weeks” in California. (It is kind of true, though. I think I run my A/C for only 14 days a year.) But you’re right — the rest of the country gets its payoff in the lovely change of seasons. Hang in there in that Tennessee heat!!
Helene — Florida sounds a lot like California, only with humidy. But the timing sounds about the same (through Oct.), and the 80-degree nights are what we’ve been having. But Ohio. … yes. I remember as a child visiting you and rest of family in Ohio on summer and being absolutely STUNNED that it rained in the summertime. I could hardly comprehend it. (And not just rain, but lightning/thunder — the whole deal!) My kids were asking their Ohio cousins if it was WARM when it rained??? They couldn’t quite wrap their minds around it either! : )