22 August 20XX +1
My Dear Lucilius:
It is hot.
Not just the heat of a passing day or two of Summer. No, the crushing soul-sucking heat of a world that seems to have passed too close to the Sun.
I cannot remember a run of days here since my relocation that it has been this hot – nor can Pompeia Paulina, whose memory goes back farther than mine. Nor, apparently, anyone of Young Xerxes’ acquaintance either.
It is – and this word is used advisedly – d###edly hot.
The quail have had to be relocated to a wire enclosure near the trees in the back (and watched out the window0 during the day lest they perish. The bees are clustered around the front of the hive moving air around during the heat of the day instead of foraging. The water carefully trudged up and over in the morning only seems to keep them alive until the evening when they are watered more.
My wheat is drying nicely, I suppose. And fish drying is going along swimmingly (even in the heat I still retain the remnants of my humour).
The Cabin is reasonably insulated from this – thank my overspending in remodeling back in the day – but even at that we have the shades closed and do not do much. It has actually gotten bad enough that Young Xerxes and Statiera spend the days with us as their house is simply too hot.
You might wonder how four people do in a 900 square foot house. As it turns out relatively okay – so long as the topics of discussion are free from 1) The Heat; 2) The Wheat and its potential ripening; and 3) Whether or not there is sufficient toilet paper in the outhouse that will not necessitate a second trip.
You laugh. You should not. Heat tends to fray tempers as it turns out.
What do we do? Whatever food prep that does not involve heat. Some reorganizing (as if that had not already been done at least three times). Verbal reorganizing for Young Xerxes and Statiera when this latest wave subsides. Puzzles. Reading.
Oddly enough, no discussions about the future. Which may be for the best at this point – at best we have no idea what that might look like and speculating seems to create unneeded tension.
As soon as it remotely cools down Young Xerxes and Statiera are away to their home and Pompeia Paulina and myself are hard at work watering and moving quail back and relocating fish to the shed for the night and anything else we can do – fortunately the evenings are still long and much can be done.
It does cause me to wonder though about all those who lived in places where heat such as this is a common occurrence. Are they still there? Could they “sweat it out” in places like Arizona and Texas and The Deep South? People did once upon a time of course: The Civil War was fought in Summer in wool uniforms. But that was a different era and we have become a people used to comfort – or at least we used to be.
Odd to think that comfort can now be defined as “Hot enough to get work done without expiring”. How far we have fallen.
Your Obedient Servant, Seneca
Grandmom talked about sleeping in the root cellar when things got really hot. Lack of sleep is a nasty game changer between people.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I have only had 1/10th of that inconvenience and that has revealed how weak I am in this area.
DeleteIndeed, physical stressors such as lack of sleep cannot be underestimated. Ask any first time new parents...
Temps hit the low 90's Monday along with dew points in the low 70's, hence storms Monday night and Tuesday morning with...voila! power gone for a quarter million, not to return until mid-afternoon yesterday. Well the refrigerator needed cleaning anyway. Seneca faces the trials of Summer, how will they do in Winter TB? That's the killer season where this idiot lives..... :)
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Ugh, that is awful. The same sort of thing has happened on and around the states that border New Home as well. We were (fortunately) not impacted, but still - as you say, a lot of potentially wasted food.
DeleteWinter is the true killer where Seneca is. I guess it is in New Home 2.0 as well, more so than New Home. I have been told to expect at least one snow storm and one part of a week or a week where you are stuck at home. Power outages can accompany that, apparently.
Although I can remember carrying our own person box fan where ever we went in our old unconditioned farmhouse and I can remember going to sleep on the edge of the bed so when it cooled down in the early morning, I could roll over onto an area where the sheets were sweated through, I don't recall being uncomfortable. Partly youth and partly being used to it I guess but I know if I went to bed sweating in this day of age, I wouldn't be doing any sleeping. I guess i would probably revert back to the box fan and just point it at me until I passed out in my easy chair.
ReplyDeleteEd, you made me think as well - For my early years we only had a window style air conditioning unit that we would get in front of in Summer. But I do not ever really remember being able to not sleep in the Summer with heat the way it seems to be now - when it has been really hot in New Home 2.0 I have bunked with the rabbits for their portable air conditioner.
DeleteI used to be immune to the heat back in my "in shape" tree service days. These days I CAN sweat it out if necessary, but really don't want to. The wife and mother in law would be in real trouble if we had no AC. Electricity free, ex civilization, is surprisingly close by if the grid goes down. With out electricity, "They" estimate a 90% die off within 30-60 days. Complex systems are FRAGILER with DEI managing and maintaining the systems. (((Their))) Long March through the Institutions are coming to fruition. Hope all have planned accordingly. Pray for mercy.
ReplyDeleteT_M - A common theme seems to be our ability to tolerate heat disappears with age (cold too, interestingly enough: I wonder if as we age we really just want temperate climates).
DeleteI cannot imagine the outcomes of a world without power. Well, I can actually. It is just not pleasant to do so.
I was thinking today about hot weather. We didn't have air conditioning in a home until I was about 10 years old. The schools I attended weren't air-conditioned, either, for most of that time. It was nice to go to town & be in an A/C-equipped store, and especially a movie!
ReplyDeletePeriodically as an adult I haven't had it, although I do now. We could all do it again, if we had to. I'm enjoying the fact that--for the moment, at least--we don't have to.
People raised in weather like this just cope with it better, as those up north aren't bothered as much by low temperatures that I find very uncomfortable
--Tennessee Budd.
T_B - Humans have managed to adapt to most climates on six of the seven continents (no-one on Antarctica that we know of, except those alien bases I keep hoping are there) - and that before the development of any kind of climate control. In that sense we are a remarkably adaptive species.
DeleteWe had a home air conditioning in the living room and I assume we got a larger unit later (I do not recall this). But my parents generation did not have it at all, and even in New Home 2.0 where we live now many of the older homes and apartment units (up to the early 2000's, I think) were not built with it. It is unmanageable only for a few days when it is very hot; as in your past, we seek out "paid for" air conditioning in commercial locations.
Weather is very much something we can adapt and thrive in. I will say that making the change from one climate to another gets a bit more challenging as one gets older.
Dan and I live without air conditioning, primarily because we couldn't afford our electric bill if we used it. The lifesaver for us is being able to use electric fans. As does doing all the cooking and canning on the back porch or outside.
ReplyDeleteThere is some acclimation that occurs. I do like that when I go outside, the heat does not feel crushing. In fact, under the trees with a breeze, it can be quite tolerable. Depending on the humidity! On the other hand, on shopping days, I'm miserably cold inside the stores. I sometimes bring a sweater or light jacket to wear while I shop (and I'm still cold). That's when the heat bothers me most, coming out of really cold air conditioning.
Back in the day, folks has screened in sleeping porches for summer sleeping. And outdoor kitchens. Adaptation is a matter of lifestyle as much as acclimation and attitude.
Leigh, thanks for sharing. I have had to do a bit of acclimatizing here; the portable air conditioner we have in New Home 2.0 is dedicated to the rabbits (who live a very splendid life indeed), who really do not do well over 80 degrees F.
DeleteFortunately in New Home 2.0 we do not suffer from humidity near the way we did in New Home, which made almost anything highly unpleasant after 0900 in the morning. Dry heat I grew up in and can acclimatize myself too; humidity is something I will never understand.
Ironically, our work building is to the point that I have to bring a sweater to work. I joke with co-workers that I have reached the stage I mocked in others: glasses and in a sweater all the time.
No matter what the future holds, I suspect acclimatization is a part of all of our futures, by choice or by necessity.