Gatherings, home, Nature, Uncategorized, Weather

Making Friends with…

45 Comments

I believe that, as I write this on Friday June 11, we are in our 7th consecutive day in the 90s. I am not a happy camper. I wilt any time the thermometer rises above 80, especially if humidity accompanies the heat. Husband usually loves heat, to a point, and tolerates it much better than I, so we have what I call the A/C wars, just like my folks had. [Mom would just hole up in the air conditioned rooms, and Dad would hang out in his room (nice large one with its own sitting area and TV) with the window open – he had a nice magnolia tree right outside the window.] I can do climate control with shades in windows in the a.m., but by mid-afternoon I need A/C.I just looked ahead via Weather.com:  between now and June 24 in SE Minnesota, there is one (1) day when the high is predicted to be below 85˚ F.  And we are in a bit of a drought – greatest chance of rain predicted in that time frame here is 56% chance today, and there’s not yet a cloud in the sky.

So an interesting thing happened after I got up this morning – I’d had a really nice and complicated dream in the wee hours, and wakened with a pretty strong shift in attitude:  I am going to Make Friends with the heat. It could be that our entire summer will be like this, and I do not wish to be miserable all summer. Instead of hating and grousing about it, I will embrace it, and do what I can to enjoy it. This will mean shifting my schedule, my way of doing things, where I do things, and perhaps what things I do. And I may have to buy awnings or screens to create more shade for the patio out back (and my out-the-back-door summer kitchen – worth perhaps another blog post).

There is shade on our back patio till about 10:30, and there was a little breeze this morning. I invited a nearby friend over for ice water, if she could come by 8:30. (She’s an early riser.) After that I placed a lawn chair in the driveway under the beloved Hackberry Tree, and till about noon I perused my recipe books for chilled soup recipes. I have fans on right now, and am about to go to the NICE COOL BASEMENT to clean it up and find some sewing projects, perhaps clear a place that we could play Mexican Train. Once the A/C has cooled things off upstairs, I can watch movie clips for a zoom class I’m taking on Musical Theater…

In other words, I’m trying.

How are you coping with this heat wave so far?

Is there anyone or anything you might “make friends” with that could make your life easier?

45 thoughts on “Making Friends with…”

  1. I’m making friends with my old body. Retirement and covid have been devastating to it. In early February, weight gain led me to a strict keto diet combined with daily 10k walks. An online plan said that by doing this, I’d lose 40 pounds by May. After a month of this, the resultant edema scared me. My self-diagnosis was congestive heart failure. My geriatric doctor said no. “This is 2021, not 1981. Get over yourself!” His brutal honesty was helpful. Now it’s a brisk 10 minute walk before meals, more veggies, little salt and no beer. My feet and are now normal and losing 40 pounds by May 2023 seems like reasonable goal. Mr. Body agrees.

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    1. Don’t you love those optimistic, online projections? Glad to hear Mr. Body is doing ok. I have experienced the same thing. The effects of COVID restrictions and life without movement have been hard. My body is still recovering. With more movement most things are better.

      I am starting to think, though, that we are living through a repeat of the Biblical pestilences. Disease, drought, climate change, cicadas. Edema.

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  2. RIse and Shine, Baboons,

    I awoke this morning and went to my lovely porch where 66 degrees feels like heaven on earth. This morning I will be making friends with the weeds in my fenced garden out back. Yesterday morning I did the same with the front yard flower gardens, then watered them. Our suburb just instituted water restrictions and we are now in a drought. The weather app forecasts little rain in the next few days. At least the temperatures are going down. I need to clean, then bring some order in the basement, which is a cool project.

    Barb, I am in your shoes. Heat is not my friend and these days are difficult. Iced Tea helps. Big glasses of tea are a refreshing treat. Maybe a jar of sun tea is in the future.

    Meanwhile, you can come by for a glass of tea and find me in my garden, weeding this morning.

    OT, some of my garden seeds, beets and carrots, are not germinating. I have not encountered this before. Gardeners and farmers, any ideas?

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    2. It might be too hot to germinate, and they will germinate when it cools down. Sometimes you have to soak beet seeds for an hour or two before you plant them. Just keep the soil moist.

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      1. Thank you. I am just in for a rest after weeding. There are a few that sprouted, but I have not ever had this happen before after growing many beets. Weird. I think you are correct. Heat and water in the wrong quantities for 10 days did some damage.

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      2. I’m guessing this is true, about it being too hot. I was doing research on grass seed because we have to fill in all the areas along the new sidewalk and driveway and everything I read online said once it hits 90 and above it’s probably too hot for the seed to germinate

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  4. I just read the front page of the paper in which the return of the MN State Fair is predicted. Now I can spend the next 2+ months fantasizing about the State Fair.

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  5. I am making friends with my body. Too much stress eating and not enough physical activity last year was not kind to me. By November, many of my winter clothes did not fit. So I got serious about eating better and getting my body moving. 7 months later I have shed the “Covid 15” plus a couple extra pounds – still need to get rid of about 6 more. I walk between 3 – 5 miles nearly every day (really early on the hot/humid days) and have devised a workout that covers strength, flexibility, and balance. I definitely have more energy and my summer clothes fit like they should.

    In my younger days heat and humidity didn’t bother me too much. But as I get older I am much less tolerant. It doesn’t help that my whole head sweats profusely when it’s hot plus a high dew point – no fun to have sweat soaked hair. Sitting in the shade is no help. If outside, I need to be in or on water to be really comfortable. Thank goodness for A/C both in my home and my car. And I am grateful movie theaters are open again.

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    1. After being away from my office desk for three days, I have greatly reduced lumbar pain, so I need to have our ergonomics person take another look at my desk set up and how I have my computer arranged. i did this once already, but I don’t think it helped.

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      1. At the flower shop, pre-pandemic, I had a standup desk. It was great. I usually stood all day, and maybe sat down during lunch. During my long absence someone else got my standup desk, so now I have to sit.

        When I was doing the tax work earlier this year, I sat on the couch in the living room. If I go back to that work next year, I think I will set up a workspace where I can stand.

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        1. Wish I could somehow give you my standup desk. We all got the new technology a couple of years ago before pandemic. And my new cube has a standup capable desk as well . I keep trying it but I can’t stop thinking about the fact that I’m standing up. So I don’t get anything done.

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  6. It was very hot and humid for my cousin’s funeral. Yesterday was cooler, but we drove 500 miles in terrible winds. Today is calm and beautiful and cool. Not much comment on my eye, by the way. It was good to see everyone.

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      1. We drove 500 miles on Wednesday, 200 miles the day of the funeral driving between Brookings, Watertown (to pick up our only surviving, elderly aunt) Pipestone, and then back to Watertown and Brookings, and then 500 miles yesterday.

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  7. 40 years ago a guitar teacher told me that we get 10 perfect easier I have expand of that to say we also get 10 hot days 10 cold days 10 rainy days 10 snowy days and that leaves a bunch of middling days but it seems to make the 10 hot days and 10 cold days particularly more tolerable and it has always made the 10 perfect days more meaningful

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  10. It would probably make life easier if I made friends with early mornings – especially on these hot days when going out for a walk or working in the yard would be good to do before the day heats up… but I am not now, nor have I ever been, a morning person. After 5+ decades on this planet, I am not one to fight it. Too nice to stay cozy in bed as long as I am able – double-y so when I have a dog curled up with me…

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  12. I just keep thinking I’m sure glad I’m not still milking cows. I would be so grumpy about milking in this heat. But not as grumpy as I would be if it was muddy as well. Hot and muddy is the worst when milking a cow.
    I have really not done much physical labor. Working inside, trying to stay in air-conditioning. And yet I keep thinking, I’m gonna have to figure out a way to accept this and deal with it…

    I have put a fan up for the chickens and opened some doors so they get extra ventilation. And keep their water filled.

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    1. Btw, we don’t have AC in our house either. Lots of fans helps.
      But the car and truck have AC, and the tractors, and some of the theaters I’m working in… but most of my summer job list doesn’t involve AC so I’m gonna have to suck it up.

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  14. I’m not a friend of the heat. It doesn’t help that we don’t have central air. It also doesn’t help that I have a strange resistance to putting the air conditioner up in my bedroom. Even as a kid I somehow thought I had to be strong enough to get by without.

    I did OK the first five days (fans in my room and spending time outside) but by day 6 My bedroom which is on the south side of the house, was just too hot . Turned the air conditioner on for a while to cool the room down. And then on day seven I really couldn’t take it — left the air conditioner on overnight. And I realize it’s completely ridiculous of me to feel as if I’m a failure because I turned the stupid air conditioning on for a while.

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