We have reached the point of the season where Summer is officially here, although "Summer" does not officially start for another three weeks or so. By this time - as it has been for the last 13 years - the weather is hot and humid and, as The Ravishing Mrs. TB pointed out, likely not to get meaningfully below 90 F until sometime in late October.
I try not to compare "weather when I was young/growing up" with "weather" now, as I am cognizant of the fact that 1) My memory is not as good as I remember it to be; and 2) I have always lived places where Summer is "hot". That said, spending yet another Summer living among the hot and humid does make me think a bit (and more than a bit) about how why we choose to live where we do and how our preferences may change, especially as we get older.
When I grew up (in Old Home), we had hot summers, no less hot than they are now (but, as they say, "a dry heat"). And to add to the mix, air conditioning/climate control was much less of a common feature: for many years (I cannot remember specifically when the change occurred), our air conditioner was a built in wall unit in the living room. That said, I do not remember being uncomfortably hot; it was what it was. By day - especially in Summer - we were herded outside. My friends and I did all kinds of things outside which I realize now was - again - probably in the heat; I again have no memory of it being hot.
The heat in New Home is not, say, the heat of somewhere like a Tucson, Arizona (which I understand from a resident is a place where anything to be done outside is done before 0800 or long after the sun goes down). It is not specifically debilitating - one "can" do things in it. But it certainly is not pleasant and does not make one want to spend infinite amounts of time outside in it. Things can look pleasant outside, and even green - but the looks are deceiving and five minutes after walking outside after 1000, I am deeply regretting the decision.
I do not remember always being this impacted by the heat when we first arrived. And I do not think somehow it has gotten magically hotter (the first year we moved here was one of the worst heat waves ever in the location, and we have yet to come back close to that). What seems to have changed is me. It is that moment when one realizes "I do not really like the weather here". Followed by the statement "Why am I here?"
I do wonder - and I have a bit of anecdotal evidence - that this happens to people that have harsh Winters as well. For most it is something that they grew up with. And they have - for them - what constitutes a mild Winter somewhere else and begin questioning why the endure the harsh Winters, even as I am enduring unpleasant Summers.
One footnote to all of this discussion. What makes any of this endurable in large part - whether it be Harsh Winters or Hot Summers - is the fact that we live in a modern age of climate control where no matter where one lives, the temperature is always managed to a comfortable range of temperature. Were we to experience the temperature management of even 80 years ago - largely swamp coolers and fans - how different would our lifestyle and development be?
My locale is deep south Texas, hard up against the Rio Grande River , near its mouth on the west edge of the Gulf of Mexico. Waaaayyy down there. Heat and humidity is something to be reckoned with.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, always been hot in summer, but for the last few years, I've noticed the sun's rays actually *sting*, a minor pain on exposed skin. I did not notice that when I was younger.
Doing hard physical labor after 10 a.m. or before 4 p.m. is not recommended unless you have access to shade and a supply of water. Loose (2 sizes isn't too much) long sleeved shirt, left unbuttoned to release body heat helps. Wind can help or hurt you, depending on surface of land. Paving or blacktop - hot. Water or grassy land - cooler.
Like you, my maternal Grandma had no A/C except for one window A/C unit in a bedroom. Day time heat, a lot of us congregated in that room. She didn't mind heat and never needed it until very late in her life.
That sounds hot and humid indeed! I wonder if the sting is something new, or just something that we notice more.
DeleteI would imagine pavement and blacktop are something to be avoided if at all possible. Even in my limited experience, I only walk early in the morning or (less likely) later at night.
The two sizes larger shirt is interesting. I will definitely keep that in mind.
Like you, I guess my memory must be faulty. I grew up in an old farm house with out an airconditioner at all and only a woodstove for heat. I remember in the summer we spent much of our time outside under shade trees if possible and everyone had their own personal box fan that we plugged in and blew on us where ever we sat down for any length of time. If really hot, we would sometimes put ice cubes in a metal pan behind the fan. In the winter, we simply huddled around the wood stove for much of the day and piled on lots of blankets at night.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember that being much of a hardship at all but I can't imagine doing the same these days. I know from my time of living up north in the frozen tundra compared to living much further south now, that the body adapts well to climates. I'm sure you would suffer through winters this far north that I find mild just as surely as I would suffer through a mild summer down south, at least until my body adapted.
I sometimes miss those summer days spent on the porch stoop under the shade of that giant silver maple tree in front of the old farm house. Simpler times.
Ed, it is odd as I read everyone's memories that everyone has the same memories: what was done to beat the heat (or cold), never that it was too hot or too cold. I wonder if, when younger, we simply do not have the experience to assess it?
DeleteWhen I stay at The Ranch in the Fall and Winter, I try to make a go of things with just the woodstove. It works in that I am there by myself and thus having one fully heated room with the office off of that is not a terrible inconvenience; quilts on the bed seal the heat over me. That said, it become more difficult with more people and more bedrooms (they do have a gas furnace; I am just too cheap to use it on myself).
I have memories of it being too hot or too cold. I remember just laying on top of the sheets late at night sticking to them waiting for that first cool breeze to come in through the window with the box fan in it. We often stayed up later during the summer as a result.
DeleteFor the winter, I remember not wanting to leave the confines of my blanket cocoon and when I did so, it was a mad dash to the wood stove in the living room where we completed dressing by its warmth.
We solved the winter issue a lot earlier than the summer issue when we all got electric blankets one year. It was much more comfortable sleeping when you could turn a dial versus adding and subtracting blankets. I was quite a bit older before we got the window a/c unit but it didn't do much for sleeping at night in our bedrooms which were too far away. That was only solved when we moved to my grandfather's house where he had central heat/cooling.
Ed, the day we got an electric blanket was magical day. I still remember my first one.
DeleteWhen I was little, I remember napping in the hallway under the swamp cooler. We had one mounted up high on the east side of the house and a duct that dumped in the hallway. It was chilly under that during the Lubbock summers.
ReplyDeleteWhen we visited our grand parents, dad's mom had a swamp cooler but wouldn't run it. "Too expensive". Dad would throw a ten spot on the table and go flip it on. It was like an oven in her house winter and summer.
I don't remember the heat at mom's parent's home. They lived a few miles outside of town and it was heavenly out there. They might have had a cooler in the living room window, but not any of the bedrooms. I remember cool breezes blowing in the windows at night... And the two towers with their red lights.
Like you said, I don't remember the heat in the summer. Even though it would melt the tar on the road in front of our house. I remember pushing on the bubbles with my bare toes. Now, it is hard to work in if I don't start early in the morning and acclimatize to it. The heat and humidity make it hard to breath. I've had that thought more often lately, "why do I live here?" It's only twenty miles for the heliosphere in summer. I agree with you, Mr. Carrier has made a huge difference in my life.
STxAR, one thing that I think has changed homes and climate control which is not air conditioning is the fact that we have more energy efficient homes now: thicker insulation (or insulation at all), double paned windows, better seals at windows and doors, etc. That all makes a difference in that if you can trap the desired temperature in and keep the undesired one out, you can lower your overall need. Also, one thing I have become acutely aware of is the overall generation of heat by things in the house.
DeleteOur summers were hot no matter where I was, but I have no memory of it being too hot to go out. Like you, I now actively ask myself "why am I living here if I hate the climate?"
I had horses for over 20+ yrs, 20+ yrs ago. Which means I was riding a hay wagon or in a hay mow at God knows what temp. I can't even fathom it now. Right now it is 80 with unholy humidity and I do not want to be outside. The sun does sting. But I live in the north where it gets pretty cold too. Not as unholy cold as it used to but cold. I don't want to be out in that either. I used to cut firewood at all sorts of temps. Can't fathom that anymore either. I have two old dogs. They want in when it's hot and in when it's cold. I see a parallel. I never received a manual on growing old.
ReplyDeleteHey Booms - The instructions on getting older seem peculiarly non-communicative on a great many things. I keeping hoping they will come out with a revised edition, but it never seems to happen.
DeleteThe "it gets really cold" and "it gets really hot and humid" seems like the ultimate version of unfairness to me. One or the other, please.
Thanks for stopping by!
Our small three bedroom in western KS had a single large window unit when I was a little rascal of the 60s. The summertime rule was close up the house by 8am and don’t turn on the A/C until 11:30. Turn off at sundown and open the windows. The little town had a good sized municipal pool. The folks always sprung for the season ticket so my brother and I spent most of the hot days there. Also had a township lake with a “crick” a mile from town surrounded by trees. Bicycle there with a small sien net and bucket for crawdad and minnows OR dig some worms from our garden and take a can of them along with fishing poles. Sometimes it was BB guns at the lake. 90-100° with 90% humidity was easy to tolerate.
ReplyDeleteToday I live < 20 mi from the eastern slope of the CO Rockies. Any temp over 90° with 30% humidity keeps me in the house. I blame being closer sun here in mile high country is what makes me so intolerant of the heat. Can’t be because I’m 65 years now.
That last one about KS and CO was from the….
ReplyDeleteFranknbean
FranknBean - Memories similar to my own. We would be carted off to the municipal pool during summer (when was the last time I went to one of those?), or occasionally the glory of a friend's grandparent's mobile home pool. We wandered our local creek as well, swishing for crawdads or hiding under the concrete bridge on the road above.
DeleteI can work in the humidity, and still try to push myself to do it just to toughen myself up. That said, I sure do not enjoy it.
Hot and Humid! I think one thing that factors in is how acclimated we are to our seasons. I know I've softened up as an adult and now, with added health issues, I find it even harder to regulate my body temperature. The heat seems hotter and the cold (what little we have) seems colder. -Kelly
ReplyDeleteKelly, I think I have too. The ability to regulate your body temperature may well be a factor. I think of my father, who in the last months he was at home had the wood stove cranked up to almost 85 F at times in the Winter - and he would literally sit right next to it.
DeleteFor cold, I have gotten to almost overbundling up if I am going outside.