Saturday, June 21, 2008

Hot In The City

Its been stunningly hot the past few days! (photo included for karmic balance.)

Today, the heat was supposed to break with a high of 86 degrees, but I clocked it at 100 late this afternoon. We don't have any air conditioning.

I have learned the intricacies of managing the heat in the house to the best of my abilities. I know when to turn the window fans blowing out to vent the heat. I know what time of day to turn them around and point them back in. I know that if you open a window and feel a wave of desert heat roll into the living room, to close said window and pull the drapes.

I put my kids to nap upstairs today in a very warm room. I had the fan blowing out, the blinds had been drawn all morning to keep out the sun. The oscillating fan swivelled between one crib and the other. When they woke (they DID sleep!) they had wet hair and I stuck a thermometer in their room. It had been 97 degrees.

Downstairs it was 90.

We made a lot of lemonade and ate cold things like yogurt and frozen peas for lunch. I thought of going out and filling the baby pool but that would involve, you know, going OUTSIDE! Where it was stifling.

Its past the kid's bedtime but they are still up and playing because the sun only just went down, and the outside air is cooling. We are trying to blow some of that 88 degree air into their room before forcing them to bed. If they would sleep, I would put them down in my room, but they would consider it a time to explore, get into my stuff, play with the radio buttons and jump on the bed.

So, we wait.

And sweat.

5 comments:

Snowbird said...

Wow, I don't envy you. I guess I'll take the 50's we had up north last week over what you have. Maybe it's time to buy a window air conditioner!!

Emily said...

yeah, i'd think that would be the hardest thing, is getting to sleep when it is SO hot! hope it cools down some for you guys soon. :)

Shama-Lama Mama said...

It's supposed to be a high of 89 tomorrow. But then it was supposed to be a high of 86 today.

And the window air conditioner? The house we rent is in a housing association. You get fined if you put a window air conditioner in your upstairs windows (where its needed).

In the HA meeting minutes, it said one of the homeowners asked for permission to put an air conditioner in their upstairs window for their infant who is due to be born in July.

The HA told them to fill out an application and submit it to the achitectual committee.

gpc said...

I feel bad for you, extreme heat just sucks the energy out of me. I hope the association will reconsider, because all indications are that the desert areas will only get hotter. (yes, snowbird, it is ironic that michigan - where I never wanted to be - may end up having one the most temperate climates!)

Meanwhile, have you looked into portable ACs? I've seen them at costco & target & sears. The downside is that they are expensive and not very efficient, but the good news is that many places apparently accept them even if there is a window AC ban.

I suppose another choice is to create a 'sleeping porch' in a downstairs room, like they did in old florida (or so I've read)

Cindy said...

Oh my goodness! I vow to never again complain about how hot it is in here in Texas. While we've got you beat on the heat index thing... we have at least got air conditioning! You poor things! I say it's time to hit the malls, libraries, McDonald's and such just for some relief. Oh and PHOOEY on that HA, that's a ridiculous rule!