esrosedotblog

But no one does anything about it.

An old saying but one that has its own built in truth. The weather is the weather and that is it. Deal with it.

We moved to a climate which is pretty much unmoving.

In the summer, especially, there is nothing that changes. The days and nights are hot, hot, and hot.

So we talk about the minutiae. The sunrises. The breeze (if any) the dryness. The fact of "a dry heat". which is true but only means a comfort index drop of a few points.

This article in the NYTimes discusses the dilemma of being a weather person in this part of the country.

Well, Phoenix. Which is almost the same thing.

The Curse of a Phoenix Weatherman: Finding New Ways to Say ‘It’s Hot’

I was first interested to see that this guy reports from the end of the runway at Phoenix airport. The same thing here. The weather station is at the airport. Dual function. Makes sense.

But it also makes for a higher reading. Flat, concrete. Higher temps.

Nevertheless hot is hot and so we just go with it.

As for talking about it? Not much. When I leave my air conditioned meeting or my house and "the oven" hits me I might say something. A curse word. Or a joke of some kind to a friend. An old stale joke, not hot and happy. Just resigned. Irony plays a big role here.

But I am not complaining and neither are my friends. Unlike Florida where the heat rise is accompanied by horribly humid air, we do not have that extra burden. And in the winter? Glorious. We are in t-shirts and shorts while the rest o' yas' freeze you balls off. Well, the half of ya's that have them.

And here is another thing.

When there is weather. Rain! Frost! It is a conversational bonanza. So that is the thing. It is difference, change, the abnormal that gets us talking about the weather.

It just doesn't happen often.

Labels: desert, heat, weather

A heat wave here for the next 6 days.

It is 96 right now, at 4 AM. And will hit 115 sometime during the day. Afternoon.

We just hunker down.

Yes, it is a dry heat. It is bone dry. Everything dries up outside. The fountain gets filled once a day. The flowers the same.

But we are all desert plants now and adaptable.

Look.

I will happily trade this for one day of sleety snow or icy rain.

I will be happy to refill the fountain twice as often or more rather than be back in the winter stuff.

We used to go back and forth. North, south.It is pretty quiet in the complex right now. Most are away. Not us. A few die hards too. We have become desert rats.

Now, an occasional break is good. The four days in San Diego for me, a ride on the ship next week for John.

It is a little hard on the dog but no more than us. He gets some extra consideration for not being able to run out so often into the small yard. But he is OK. Shorter walks and out of bed a little earlier. Easy.

I get to relax some. Nothing is going on outside that does not absolutely have to. I water. I get the mail. I go do my chores out in the town.

And in a week, it will be in the 90s again, dry and comfy and then clear sailing until next July or August.

Labels: heat, weather

I don't report on the weather much.

It is always good. Rare to have it be cloudy or, more rarely, rain.

So it is tediously the same day to day. Oh dear.

Even in winter, as you might guess, it doesn't get very cold.

But we do pay the price for that some summer days.

Of course, we are not outside much. I just went for the mail. It is reported at 109 right now.

But, as you have heard, it is a dry heat. Not that dry for the desert but 9% is pretty low for any place else.

It is the first such day.

We had 120 once but that was in Death Valley. Here, this is pretty much the max. But you never know.

It tends to get hotter toward sunset and that is in three hours.

Labels: heat, weather

It is July and the condo complex is deserted.

Just John and me and a few others. The big horn sheep. And not many of them anymore.

There is a permanent population of about half the normal level. A considerable number of the properties are part time to begin with. People come for a month or two and then lease it out for the rest of the season to "tourists". Well, not actually. In our condos they are limited to thirty day minimum leases. There are violators but not enough to cause a fuss.

Then there are the full timers who, like John and me, take some time away in cooler climes.

We are doing more of this in 2014 than we have before. I would normally go to San Diego for five days and will do that in August. And, I went to London, Boston and Toronto just this past week. John goes to Italy but he is going in September for three weeks. A bit post summer that, but still hot. A get-away.

We decided when we first came here permanently that we would not be two place people. We had tried that with summers in Provincetown and the rest of the year in Boston. Weirdly unmoored. We just gave it up and never did buy a place there which is good as the real estate cycle on the Cape is a horrendous roller coaster.

Now, here. Hot. Dry. A dry heat. Cliche but true. We do not go out at noon and stand in the sun but it is usually good to have the place open in the morning and then close about 11AM. Open again when we go to bed if we are lucky but probably not until morning. My morning. Three AM.

So, we are holding down the fort. There will be no condo board meetings until September but a few of us are here for, at least, moral support of the professional managers. I will review the monthly finances. (We are ahead for the year but not too far ahead to piss people off. By the end of the Fiscal there should be no balance. We are tracking pretty well at this point).

Today and for the next several days, it is below a hundred. Unless the sun comes out. Partly cloudy. Maybe some showers end of day.

And deserted.

It is a desert after all.

Labels: heat, Palm Springs, summer

DOUBLE WHAMMY

We had two power blips yesterday and true to past experience, the AC went down.

Overheated compressor.

Gotta get the guy and he checks it out and then pours water on it for 15 minutes.

Now I know this but he doesn't and so he has to go through the full diagnostic. He came just after supper. After about 90 minutes off.

It climbed from 77 to 85 in just that small amount of town. Welcome to the desert.

He got it going, good.

This morning, I was in the freezer out in the garage to put away the frozen stuff I had bought and I realized the freezer was not running. It was up to 20F,

Shit!

John said that it might not be plugged in. Before I dismissed his input we went and looked.

Goddamn. The AC guy had been boogering around doing the checkup and knocked the freezer plug out. One problem started another.

I have taped the freezer plug into the receptacle so that next time he will have to remove tape and pull to get the same result.

I remember that the first thing Tom checked when a computer went out was the plug. A product of the cleaning crew. Same here.

Labels: condo, heat

HIGH ABOVE

Yesterday or today are the longest day of the year.

Franklin and I can look forward to after supper walks that get cooler and cooler and darker and darker.

Because we are behind the mountains on the west our day is already shorter than a lot of other people. But since there is no moisture in the air, when the sun is out we get the full radiation.

Of course the heat will continue all the way to September. But this is the first sign of a change for the "better".

Actually we like the heat or we wouldn't be here.

Here. Everything you wanted to know and more about the summer solstice.

Labels: astronomy, heat, seasons

HOW HOT IS IT?

Hot enough that it will do in the hibiscus. Too hot for the blossoms to stay. Soon, the plants will go dormant for the rest of the summer.

Too hot for Booker and I to walk more than half an hour after dinner. And we need to stay off the black pavement. We can do that if we stay in the complex.

Too hot to keep the house open very long and soon, the day will come when we do not open it at all. Probably if and when it gets humid.

It is my opinion that HOT is late this year. And not as hot.

I like going out in it. The air has been very very dry. Four percent humidity a lot of the time.

This is not news. We live in the desert. And it is not complaint. When it gets too hot we just think about the northeast winters and the time between February to April. We will take this.

Actually, this is how hot it is right now. 107. In the shade.

UPDATE: It hit 115 later in the day.

Labels: desert, heat, weather

SEASONAL

The guy came today to do the autumn heat and air system check.

It is winter.

We need new gas jets things on the main heater. 300 some bucks. It is OK. Life is all maintenance and this is expected. Better it than me.

Labels: heat

OH OH HOT

I made too much of the cool June.

Now I am getting payback.

The summer heat has come. We have had several 110 days. There is "imbedded moisture" up there so we are getting a lot of cloud cover today which will cut it down a bit but still.........

I went to a pool party yesterday for awhile. This is really the only kind of party you can have this time of year.

I, unfortunately, chose to not take a suit. It was a walkthrough.

I could only do it for about half an hour. Their house was open with the air on but that isn't too pleasant.

I had a good time though. A lot of friends were there and I didn't have to stand in the introvert's corner. It seemed to be filled with some other people who I went and talked to as well.

I don't go to many of these but two young men who I really like a lot were putting it on and it was a way to let them know how much I appreciate them in my life.

That seems to get over my self absorption and get me into the "swim of things" even though I didn't take the suit.

Labels: gay life, heat, weather

CENTURY

We hit 100 degrees today. 103 tomorrow. The humidity is 6%. Hot and dry.

This is nothing new. It happens this time every year. But, being from Boston and all, we are still just a bit fascinated with it.

It will cool back a bit into the 90s later in the week but we are into the hot times.

We notice less traffic and more parking spaces. Easter was late this year so the snowbirds left early. If Easter was in March, they would go home for a weekend, then come back. Not so much this year.

Our neighbor Jane gets nervous over 90. She is making her plans for Seattle.

No northern climes for us. We are here for the duration. It will be hotter still and we will, mostly, like it. Baking out.

Labels: heat, life, seasons

CURTAINS

I went out back and saw that John had pulled our 'sun curtains' closed.

We are mostly glass across the back of the house. We see desert and mountains. The pool and our yard.

But in summer we black them out for part of the day to keep it cool.

When we moved here we laughed at some of the houses that had outside drapes; heavy canvas things.

Pulled back from the windows on the outside.

It didn't take us long to laugh on the other side of our faces.

The radiation heat on the back of the house was intense. Vertical blinds did not begin to do the trick because they were inside the house. The glass was as hot as a stove top.

So we got the outdoor drapes! Heavy canvas ones. Vertical awnings.

They are now 9 years old and look as good as they did the first day. Almost.

So today they are drawn; first time since October maybe.

It has been in the 90s all week and that is part of it but the most of it is that the sun is now up to the Spring level (next week) and it is hitting us longer each day.

The drapes are only up for a few hours in the afternoon.

They are doing their job. It is famously cool in the bedroom.

Labels: desert, heat, spring