Tired of the heat!!!!

I was born and bred in the southeast, and the humidity bothers me more and more every year, most likely because I am an athlete now so am actually out in it (plus I garden). Hubby and I took a fantastic trip to the southwest US (my first time there) this past May, and I fell in love with the dry heat. Did that ever feel good! We did tons of hiking in six different national parks and a couple of state parks, and I rarely even noticed any sweat. Here, I drip from my face, nose, hair is completely soaked after jogging, hiking, or riding. Ick, ick, ick!

But we are all different: when I was waxing poetic about the dry heat of the southwest to a co-worker after my trip, he said that he didn't care for it all that much. He said whenever he'd been there (he goes to Vegas fairly often on business), he always knew he was home when he got off the plane at RDU (central NC) and felt that humid NC air. He loves it!

I will say, we have low humidity often in the spring, fall, and winter, and I love those days, but the summer, which is long enough as it is, is pretty much uniformly soggy. Like a tropical rainforest. Really hard to get motivated to do anything outdoors this time of year! :(

Emily

Replacing the lawn with draught-tolerant flowers is really pretty. You don't have to go with cacti. In fact, cacti aren't really native to north Texas, but there are lots of wildflowers that are.

I've replaced alot of my yard with such flowers (native to Maryland, not N. Texas, of course). Go figure, this year, we've had ALOT of rain, but during the dry spells, I rarely have to water. And the flowers are so pretty!

Okay, back to the bike!

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Originally Posted by emily_in_nc

Hubby and I took a fantastic trip to the southwest US (my first time there) this past May, and I fell in love with the dry heat. Did that ever feel good! We did tons of hiking in six different national parks and a couple of state parks, and I rarely even noticed any sweat. Here, I drip from my face, nose, hair is completely soaked after jogging, hiking, or riding. Ick, ick, ick!
Emily

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May is nice. C'mon out in July/August. There is no heat index - it IS 115 degrees! The sun is relentless. Turn on your oven to 400 degrees and stick your head in it. That's Tucson. The pavement will give you second degree burns, so don't fall over.

I've been here 45 years. It never gets easier.

years ago went to visit my sister in NC, RDU area, I didn't know how anyone can move down there. I felt like I was breathing in water!

She said that she does minimal outdoor things in the summer, that is when she stays in and quilts etc. all the stuff she used to do during the winter up here

Often times I think I would rather take 3 months of hot and stay in than 5 months of cold ! You all get at least 9 months of great riding, we're lucky to get 7 (I don't like to ride in the dark on snowy, icy, streets when it is below 0 although there are some brave souls around here that do it !

Hang in there, soon enough it will be snowing up here and everyone now in the heat will be saying what a glorius day it is down there

Anybody else feel like a wuss watching the TdF riders in 100 degree weather?

It was 90 degrees this morning - before the sun came up. Ugh.

I'm in Western Illinois. We had a delightfully nice day with the highs in the low 80s. I celebrated the beautiful day and my birth month by riding my first Century. I didn't break any records but with my Significant Other (who rode his 75th consecutive month of centuries) who patiently coached me on, I managed to complete it in 8.5 hours and an average speed of 12 MPH. We rode Catrikes, he a Speed and I a Pocket. I'm sunburned, sore and stiff. and never felt better in my entire life.:)

Congratulations Brecca! :)

I used to like the heat. We raced in 112 degree heat today. We're not used to this in Northern California (especially those of us who live coast-side). It was brutal. Women were literally melting.

Wow. I've always hated the heat, would have been happy to whine about it hitting 97 in Seattle yesterday, 95/humid today, but am much impressed that velogirl and co. were actually able to race in 112 degrees. I could never have done it. Hoping everyone came through it okay!

106º here today. Unbelievable. 97º in Seattle? Crazy. It's 11:23 and still 86º out. I think I will get up at 6 for a quick ride with the cows.

even us poor Seattleites are TIRED of the HEAT!
I went swimming in lake Washington last night for
the first time in 10 years and it wasn't too cold it
was PERFECT!

I'm sick o' the heat :mad: My job today will be "keep the dog cool", 96 degrees is forcast in Hayweird, up from yesterday.

I'm skipping a planned 20 mile ride to make sure the mutt's ok which is of course most important. :D

The high yesterday at Camp Pendelton was 109, I think it was 104 when we rode through. :eek: I honestly have no idea how I rode as far as I did yesterday in that heat. Tiff and I usually get up at 4:00 a.m. and ride shortly after 5:00 a.m. to avoid it, but this ride started at 10:00 a.m. It was my second longest ride ever (62 miles) and was definitely more hilly than the longest ride I've done, which was 64. Though it was fun...this ride reinforced my desire to rise and ride before the sun starts shining! :D

I don't know if this happens elsewhere, but many neighborhoods in CA have electrical outages during heatwaves. I guess we're using too much, or we're undersupplied. It's been hovering around 113 in my area and the electricity's gone out a couple of times. Yesterday it went out at 4pm and stayed off until 7am this morning.

There are worse things in life, but I'm behind in watching the TDF, darn it !!

The low in Phoenix last night was 101 degrees.

Odd question dears

Do you guys have enforced water rotation days(not sure of the exact term) where you can only water your lawn on certain days??

(We have it all year round, not just in summer. For example, if your house number ends in 0 you water on monday & friday. )

Just wondering....:)

c

No, but we should. The electrical thing in CA is surprising because I thought we built a bunch of new power plants after the Enron thing.

Crazycanuck, We have them here in Houston, not currently but in years past they rotated on which days you could water your lawn depending on even or odd house numbers. They have also gone on boughts of no lawn watering what so ever.

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Originally Posted by dachshund

I don't know if this happens elsewhere, but many neighborhoods in CA have electrical outages during heatwaves. I guess we're using too much, or we're undersupplied. It's been hovering around 113 in my area and the electricity's gone out a couple of times. Yesterday it went out at 4pm and stayed off until 7am this morning.

There are worse things in life, but I'm behind in watching the TDF, darn it !!

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While I was gone riding on Saturday the power went out here for a short time. All of the clocks were blinking when I got home.

We've lost power three times in the last twelve hours (only for a couple minutes each). In addition to the increased electrical demand, I think the infrastructure (cables, etc) is vulnerable in extreme heat.

Does anyone remember the brown-outs and black-outs during the 70s on the east coast?

Velogirl--yes, I absolutely remember the brown-out and black-out days. I worry a whole lot about what's happening in Queens right now. Big cities are tough places to live in this heat when the power goes out.

Crazycanuck--Seattleites tend to not water their lawns in the summer, so watering restrictions are usually not necessary here. They will use 'em during a serious drought, but most people just voluntarily let their lawns go brown till the fall rains.

The heat and power shortages (none here, but there easily could be) has prompted me to really take notice of how I use energy and how I contribute to this whole mess.

I ride my bike to work, so I'm okay there. I've used my ceiling fans more than the AC this year (although some days....), and my water-wise garden that I've been working on the last three years is established and needs very little extra water. I bought a watering timer so that I can water in the middle of the night when demand is lower. My dishwasher also has a timer, so I set it for the middle of the night.

It might not make much of a difference, but every little bit helps.

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Originally Posted by salsabike

Velogirl--yes, I absolutely remember the brown-out and black-out days. I worry a whole lot about what's happening in Queens right now. Big cities are tough places to live in this heat when the power goes out.

Crazycanuck--Seattleites tend to not water their lawns in the summer, so watering restrictions are usually not necessary here. They will use 'em during a serious drought, but most people just voluntarily let their lawns go brown till the fall rains.

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yes, that's right! You'd think the emerald city wouldn't go brown in the summer, but it does! (and we're proud of it because we're conserving water for better uses)

Seriously, if any other nor californians are thinking about it, now would be the time. We're in the 60s and 70s up here, fog in the am, clearing by 11. I was on a retreat a little south last week--whew! In the 100s.

(I have a small spare room and big yard for camping :) )