It was so hot today that

[texanwitch]

my tough yard cat came in the house and will not go out.

She came to the back door demanded to come in.

Normally she sleeps under the house which is cool but not today.

[love_katz]

1. I hope you and the kitteh can manage to stay cool.

I hate summer heat.

The only way I can stand it is to go swimming up in the mountains (where the water is cold ), or go camping or to the beach.

Can't afford to do either one, anymore, so I stay inside with the a.c. and fans, when I can.

[texanwitch]

3. This is one tough cat.

I had to make her come in when it was cold.

She is sleeping in tonight I guess.

The house is cool, I have the solar screens on the windows.

Makes a big difference.

[love_katz]

7. What are solar screens?

Sounds like an interesting product.

[texanwitch]

10. I made them myself.

Solar screens are just window screens that reflect the heat back.

The screen comes in rolls, one roll or each regular size window.

Each roll was about $15, and will have payed for themselves many times over.

You can just staple the screens right over the windows.

The south and west windows are the best places to put the screens.

Now there is a cheaper way, the old southern way.

Heavy duty aluminum foil, shiny side out on your windows.

Painters blue tape is the best use, it comes off easy in the fall.

[love_katz]

12. Can't afford it now...

but will have to check in to it.

Thanks for the tip.

[texanwitch]

13. Go to the store and get heavy duty aluminum foil and blue painters tape.

Put the foil on the windows shiny side out.

It will keep the heat out and will keep your place a lot cooler.

This has been used in the south for years.

[love_katz]

15. Good idea. Affordable, too.

I am doing pretty well today. I put those foil-like car shades in some of my windows, then pulled the blinds behind them.

Blocked some off with big pieces of cardboard, and covered the big south window with a dark colored flannel sheet.

I also cleaned out my fireplace, opened the chimney, and have a fan blowing upwards at the mouth of the fireplace.

A friend of mine also suggested putting a fan, blowing upwards in the crawl space where my attic would be...the purpose is to help blow the hot air out of the roof sofits (spelling?), which also draws cool air from ground level up through the spaces in the walls.

These measures, combined with 3 window mounted a.c. units is keeping it livable in here.

However, I will try the ice trick with cooler and towels tomorrow.

Our employee fridge makes lots of ice, so I will try to get there early grab a bunch of it.

Thanks for the tips!

[texanwitch]

16. I grew up in Texas, so I know tricks to stay cool.

The cold towels work very well.

Keep at least 3 towels in the cooler.

Your blood will cool off, so will you.

I lived in a place without ac, the cold towels really helped.

Also damp sheets on the bed.

I was poor at the time.

I grew without ac, just window fans.

I like my ac now.

[love_katz]

2. Here's hoping for a cool down, soon.

Please, Weather Gods, please cool it off for us.

Thank you.

[texanwitch]

4. We have two more months at least.

Please September come quick.

I didn't go out at all this weekend.

[love_katz]

5. Ack...2 more months of baking. Ugh!

I look forward to October.

These days, with climate change, it doesn't really cool down until then.

I don't blame you for not going out...I did the same thing this weekend.

I am dreading the next 2 days...I have to work, in a vehicle without a.c.

It is miserable, and the humidity level is much higher than is normal for our here.

I will be drinking lots of water and iced tea...and wearing a trench to the bathroom.

[texanwitch]

14. Keep a cooler with cold water and ice with you.

Soak some some towels in the water and place them around your neck.

Your blood will cool down and so will you.

I had a job when I had a truck with no AC, the cold towel trick helped.

[Bertha Venation]

6. poor kitty

Poor sweet texanwitch

[texanwitch]

8. This cat will not go near the door.

It is cooler under the house but not today.

The heat index was about 105.

[Bertha Venation]

9. Damn, that's unbearable. n/t

[texanwitch]

11. I have put out extra food and water for the birds.

It is a tough time for animals.

July and August is the worst.

I keep my house on the warm side 79 during the day.

It is fine with a fan going.

I don't like getting over cooled.

After to go out sometimes.

[vanlassie]

17. It was 110 here. I saw some black crows who appeared to be panting

[pinboy3niner]

18. Now we know you're putting us on

'Panting Crows' has to be the name of a rock band. C'mon, fess up.

[vanlassie]

21. Good one! No I even took a picture.

There were six of them and one in particular appeared to me to be struggling. I stopped and took the pic and considered asking my neighbor to let me turn on her sprinklers for them. Then I decided I might be being a bit too codependent... So I went on my errand and when I got back I turned on MY sprinklers!

[texanwitch]

23. I can't keep enough water out for the birds.

The birds do like the sprinklers.

[Denninmi]

19. It's quite cool here.

Only mid 70's today, once the sun set it cooled off rapidly, probably 62-63 with a moderate NE breeze. Whatever, I'm sitting here with open windows and need a blanket.

[texanwitch]

20. It cools off here at night.

The night time temp will cool down to the 70's.

Stays cool until 9 am and then back to the heat.

I don't keep the house that cold.

Summer sucks here.

[pinboy3niner]

22. We're in the doldrums here now, nights don't get cool

Set a record high at 115 today, and only expected to cool to 76 tonight. It gets hot fast in the morning, and people end up running A/C 24 hours.

[texanwitch]

24. I turn off the ac about midnight.

The house is cool enough for the night.

We had heat index about 105, that is bad enough.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

26. We drop town to low 90s or mid-80s at the coolest

Right now (9:20 PM) it is 105, but it is actually starting to feel like it is "cooling off."

The other thing that people don't understand, unless they live in the desert, is that during the winter we were hitting overnight lows of 10 degrees. I had the pipes break on me and didn;t have running water for two weeks.

[pinboy3niner]

27. You make our current 95 seem positively refreshing :)

In the high desert of L.A. County we tend to run much hotter in the summer and much colder in the winter than most of the county.

When I lived in Northern VA I had a pipe break in winter. While we were vacationing in CA an upstairs shower valve froze and burst, and it ran for 5 days before the postal carrier notified the fire department. They broke in and shut the water off, but God, what a mess! The rock wool insulation got saturated and brought down the ceiling, and there was a foot of standing water in the basement because the flooding washed things that clogged the drain. Luckily, we had good insurance that covered it--even though I'd been dumb enough to leave the furnace off while we were away.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

25. 112 in Pahrump, NV

Worst time of day is from 1 PM to around 8:30 PM. Temperature usually peaks around 3 PM. I have a swamp cooler on the roof but no A.C., and when the temps pass 100, the fans I have in the house only recirculate hot air (they morph into "space heaters&quot .

[texanwitch]

28. The summer I didn't have ac, I remember the space heaters well.

Our worst heat is from 1 pm to 7 pm.

I grew up without ac, we made do with window fans.

[RebelOne]

29. I grew up in South Florida with no A/C. Even my schools did not have A/C.

It is not so much the heat that gets to you but the humidity, which is horrible in South Florida.