Friday, June 20, 2008

Hot Town, Summer in the City


Summer is hitting with a vengeance here. It is already over 100 degrees.

I am heat sensitive, a total wimp who spends all day inside with the air conditioner on. This morning, we went out to look at houses and after two hours (this being between 9-11 am), I wilted. Felt like a damp rag. Nauseous. I couldn't drive any more because my legs were cramping. It was time to come back. The air conditioning in the car wasn't enough. (Hear that, Infiniti?? Do something about it! :)

As I've been at the computer or around the house, I see people outside walking around, wearing shorts. Some are even walking dogs. They're riding bikes, hanging out in the park down the street and doing yard work. They seem entirely unaffected by the heat.

Just a few minutes ago, I went into the back yard and the sun has passed over. It's all shade. I sat for five or ten minutes and actually enjoyed the sensation of heat on my skin but the "edge" was off somehow. It just felt ... warm.

Generally though, anything over 85 degrees is too high for me.

How do you respond to hot weather? Do you do well in it or prefer to stay in?

(And before anyone asks how I will survive Thailand, it will be the same way I survive here. Air conditioning set to 75 degrees. :)

~*

30 comments:

Jen said...

I'm the same way in heat. Except somehow I do much better in truly tropical environments. I think the colors and foliage cheer me up so much that I don't notice the heat to the same extent.

Anonymous said...

I can't take the heat over about eighty. I have always gotten bad headaches, I think in part because I don't sweat much. Although I was not the one who wanted it, I'm really enjoying having a swimming pool. That helps tremendously.

Maria said...

Air Conditiong ... skirts ... flip slops... baby powder... cold wash cloth... and lots of water!

M

flutter said...

I live in Scottsdale. where it was a balmy and satisfying 114 today.

114.

My face is melting.

niobe said...

I really like hot weather. But it doesn't get all that hot here.

Anonymous said...

Dry heat? I can manage up to ninety, maybe a little higher. Humidity in the mix, I'm down as the temperature reaches over eighty.

Now if my chair is at the edge of the ocean, the sea mist kissing my face along with the sun and my toes are washed over by incoming tides? I'm jake at 110 degress, no prob. Walking back to the blanket, however, is another story entirely.

I've been praising the inventor of the air conditioner since childhood. Without coolness, this body gets nauseated, vomits, and is prone to headaches. Uh, no thank you.

Julie Pippert said...

I'm a cool weather sort of person. I think that explains it all. :)

Girlplustwo said...

we have no air conditioning. i can barely stand it. 99 degress inside my house last night.

QT said...

I love, love, love the heat, Chani. While hot n humid isn't my favorite combo, I can still function. Forget about the desert - I can go up into the 90's and still be ok.

hele said...

I like hot but only if there is water close by.

Angela said...

I'm a 75-80 degree girl myself. Not too hot -- not too cold, please. I feel you. Hope you're able to find lots of shade and AC this summer! :)

Olivia said...

I used to live in Scottsdale, Chani. Couldn't take it at all, at all. And I am the same way about the place of my heart, Hawaii. I need the a/c. All the time.

I'll tell you a funny story about LoveHubbie and I on the heat, soon.

Peace and cooler temps,

O

PS It's hot here, too, up in the 80's, but it's the first summery day like this and in our house it's cool (well insulated and windows closed, no a/c).

xxoo

Defiantmuse said...

well....I grew up in New Orleans. So I know heat. Not only heat but sticky humid heat that leaves you barely able to breathe.
I survived my childhood drinking lots of iced tea and sitting inside in front of the air conditioner.
Now? Same way, dude. I'm a cranky bitch in the heat. My hands and feet swell up and my face turns bright red. totally sucks.

Olivia said...

Okay, Chani, I wrote my story :)---on my blog!

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I love the tropics but really have a hard time in too hot temperatures. I also hate to be cold.

It has to be Just Right.

I generally prefer fresh air to air conditioning, but when it gets as hot as it's been lately (high 90's) I make an exception.

Sienna said...

I think there is a way around this, seriously.

I haven't quite planned it out yet, I am more the ideas person and someone else can figure in the nitty gritties.

Follow the weather.

By that I mean follow the beautiful weather and countries and cultures I love so much.

Autumn and springs are fine in Oz, for winter and summer look elsewhere, Thailand/Cambodia would be gorgeous June July ? coincide it with programs building schools, education facilities and housing for disadvantaged families and (orphan) kids....wet season a long way away...but what to do for November, December and January and Feb? That's the heat of Oz guaranteed to kill a dog. I could probably hack the November. A little bit of a wuss.

Am still thinking this through.

The heat knocks me rotten tho', as a baby I suffered heat stroke and nearly died, humidity being worse than dry heat, the 40's in summer hit hard here..there is not a day goes by that I thank my lucky stars for our house dam (to swim in) and our 20 year old airconditioners that run like the clappers.

Never missed a beat.

Catherine said...

Ah, I only stop feeling cold around 85!! I almost never turn on the AC - in fact we didn't even have one until I was nine months pregnant with my son in the 90-100 degree Chicago July Scorcher. Now we have a wall unit in the bedroom, but no central. And that's how I like it. Nice and hot. :)

But not over 100. Never. Ever.

Anonymous said...

To me, 75-80 is perfect weather. I have a high tolerane for temps over that, unless I'm out in the full sun (because I curn easily).

MommyTime said...

I can't stand the heat either. Makes me feel all melty and cranky. I don't know how you can stand it out there, but air conditioning would be my only recourse too. It's nice to "meet" you -- and thanks for the comments at my place too!

Brandi Reynolds said...

I live in texas and anyone that has lived here through at least a summer or two just figures how to adjust after awhile. YOu save the dog walking and lawn mowing to early morning or later evening and spend the mid day in doors. If I do have to be out in mid-day, or especially if my dogs do-which I try to avoid-I always carry water and try to make it short.

Brandi Reynolds said...

I live in texas and anyone that has lived here through at least a summer or two just figures how to adjust after awhile. YOu save the dog walking and lawn mowing to early morning or later evening and spend the mid day in doors. If I do have to be out in mid-day, or especially if my dogs do-which I try to avoid-I always carry water and try to make it short.

painted maypole said...

i prefer the cooler weather, and I sweat a lot when it's hot, but I really try to get out into it a bit anyways, particularly because I want to feel OK sending my daughter outside to play, and I can't do that if I'm wimpy about it myself. ;)

Anvilcloud said...

80F is plenty hot enough for me. At least one can add layers in winter, but you can only peel so much in summer.

LittlePea said...

I like the heat but I find I can't tolerate it as well since my thyroid was removed. I have no temperature control it seems. I'm always either too hot or too cold. Between the 2 I'd rather be too hot though because I like the clothes(or less of) better. I've never been comfortable in long sleeves and pants...blech!

I do envy the low humidity of Southwest. I wish I could at least walk to my car mailbox without my shirt getting plastered to my back.

Amy Y said...

I hate to be hot!! I'm a big baby about it, though I don't get physical symptoms like you experience... I just hate to sweat and the feeling of my thighs rubbing together. Adding 35 lbs of baby weight on top of it does not help!

So besides the obvious ~ staying in the air conditioning... We go swimming, I take a shower and let my hair air dry (that's a nice natural air conditioning!), drink lemonade...

Nicole said...

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 100 DEGREES?!! UGH!!! Does that answer your question? ;)

I am a spring/fall girl. I dislike summer and I hate winter. Air conditioning is as essential as water here in my household!

Gill said...

Like you Chani I despise it if it is too hot.
I do like a breezy sunny day. No humidity.
Yes, when you get to Thailand, crank up the AC.
xox

crazymumma said...

being from a climate that is cold or cool 9 months of the year? I embrace it.

Liz Dwyer said...

I'm alright till it gets over 90. Then I'm unable to function. And my hands and feet swell ridiculously in hot weather. I'm glad our most recent heatwave has subsided because I was just dying!

we_be_toys said...

Oh chile! In the words of my grandmother, "anything over 65 degrees is too hot for me!"
Everything else in the world hibernates in the winter, but I do my hibernating in the summer. As REM says, "September's coming soon..."
Be chillin' my friend!