Greetings from sunny Walla Walla. Extraordinarily sunny and hot Walla Walla. We are in the middle of a week-long heat wave with highs in the triple digits. As I write this (Thursday evening) the mercury has just edged from 105 to 106. Yes, it is dry heat. Dry like an oven, as we say over here. It’s time to beat the heat!

 

It feels like it’s been hot forever.

 

I agree, Lily, because it doesn’t get very cool at night. It was over 70 when I got up at 4 AM and 82 by the time I finished my walk at 7:30.

 

Just don’t make me wear those shorts with the zipper up the side. It pinches my skin!

 

I would never make you do that, 9. The a/c is keeping it down to 80 indoors so any lightweight clothing should be comfortable. Outdoors is pretty much off-limits from noon until. . .well, it won’t get below 100 until after 8 PM.

 

Outdoors is a tough place to beat the heat. Some of the garden veggies (I’m looking at you, tomatoes) are loving it, but the poor zucchinis were wilting. I had to improvise a tent for them, constructed from a metal table frame, bamboo poles and a white sheet. The wax bean seeds that I planted 5 days ago are already sprouting. Apricots are not only rapidly ripening, dozens have fallen to the ground with a mighty splat, victims of the heat.

Heat treatment for wilting zucchini: an improvised tent.

You’ve been good about keeping things watered.

 

That’s true, 9, though it’s practically dark by the time it’s cool enough to do this in the evenings. The planted beds get watered nightly. Lawns are watered in the morning every few days.

A product of the heat: icky, sticky fallen apricots.

Exercise is a logistics challenge, not only outdoors but in. I try to get yoga done before it’s hot enough to justify turning on the a/c. Even so, by the time I’m finished it’s a struggle to change out of my yoga top and pants; though humidity is only 36%, I feel like they’ve been glued too me.

That sounds like a psychosomatic problem.

Sticky is as sticky thinks? Perhaps, Lily. One positive change: the heat wave has nudged me into joining the (air-conditioned) YMCA. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time to gain year-round access to a pool. I’ll sign up shortly after this blog is posted (and after I get yoga out of the way). My one big concern about joining up: is my vision good enough to operate the combination lock on my locker, as my reading glasses are likely to be in the locker?

Definitely and older person’s problem.

And if you watch what you say about older people, Lily, you may live long enough to become one.

Who loves the heat? Beans!

The heat is making all of us grumpy, including poor Hoosegow, the guy with the permanent fur coat. He petitions for a brushing several times a day and scowls at me when the late afternoon heat is so overbearing it literally does feel like an oven. This may sound better than heat accompanied by high humidity; even so, I doubt you’d want to linger in it. It feels like when you’re baking something and you open the oven door to check if whatever it is is done. If you wear glasses the sudden rush of heat ignites the frames. Waves of intense heat soar up your nose and singe your nasal passages- –

Uh, you’re kind of exaggerating about this.

Only to make a point, 9. Too much heat is too much! I’ll bet some people go heat crazy in weather like this, just lie naked and drooling and listless on top of the bed and wait for it to go away. It takes a cool head and a good methodology to prevail. At night, when the temperature at last goes below 80, I open the screened doors and windows and let the cooling air pass through the house. Daytime, when the indoor temperature reaches 78, I close the doors and widows, pull the blinds and switch on the a/c so it can kick in at 80. Activities that require moderate to heavy exertion and/or take place outdoors are completed by 10 AM and resumed, if needed, at 8 or 9 PM. Hydration is an integral part of the day. A full glass of water is advised after any physical activity, even a 100-foot round-trip to the mailbox.

A more optimistic forecast earlier in the week. . .things have heated up since then!

I’m really looking forward to Monday, when the forecast high is only 98. In today’s update, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are forecast at 110, 109 and 109, respectively.

Our heat plan is to play it cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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