So what to do?
Don't cook, at least not on the stove top or the oven. Rice maker, slow cooker, instant pot (absolutely fabulous way to cook without heating up the kitchen!), grill. But I can't even face the grill until the west sun is off our west-facing deck. (None of this is helped by the neighbors having cut down the tree that shaded our back yard, our deck, and our west-facing sun porch.)
Do all the outside chores as early in the morning as possible. I'm watering the potted plants twice a day now...
Drink lots and lots and lots of water. And iced tea. (I don't even normally like iced tea.)
Fans.
Afternoon naps.
When all else fails, I put a wet dish towel around my neck.
Cool baths before bed. Heaven.
And, ice cream. If you need an excuse.
REDs, what are your tips?
HALLIE EPHRON: My office is tiny and it has an air conditioner... so when it gets really bad I live in there. Sleep in there mattress on the floor. So far it hasn't been that terrible so I've managed with fans and when I get desperate, go out and water the plants and myself at the same time. And yes, drink lots of water. Fortunately our garden is very shady -- our neighbors are tree-huggers, as are we.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: No a/c in my house. Fortunately, living in Maine I can take advantage of the 25-30 degree temperature swings between day and night. I close the windows and the sun-facing curtains in the morning and open them again at night. Fans in the windows bring the cooler air into the house, so it feels fresh and pleasant in the morning. I've read about, but haven't tried, Solar film/solar shield/sun shade, all of which stop a lot of the solar gain from ever getting inside your windows (and can be removed when the cold weather comes again.) There are two rooms that aren't sheltered by the attic and thus heat up - I close the door firmly and forget they exist until nightfall. Pro tip: make sure the cat isn't hanging out in a patch of sunshine before doing this.
Like Hallie, I use fans wherever I work, including a large box fan that sits in the cellar doorway and sucks cold air up into the kitchen (and scares the cat.) I slow down, I drink lots of cold water and sugar-free Kool Aid. My secret weapon for really hot, humid days? I go to the movies!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: There's this great stuff, sugar free fizzy pink grapefruit drink. It comes in a slim plastic bottle. I twist off the cap, take two delicious sips, then put the entire bottle in the freezer. Then I set a timer (I know my limitations) for fifteen minutes at a time until it is nice and slushy. IT IS GREAT. We have no ac in our 1894 house--but somehow it stays fairly cool.. Except for about two weeks a year when it is UNBEARABLE. Then I just carry my fan from room to room. We do have a window AC in the bedroom--which is so weird, because sometimes it it too cold! And sitting in our back yard in the shade by the pool is ten degrees cooler than anywhere else. Oh! yes, how could I forget. We float! We get blow up floater rafts, and get pink grapefruit drinks and books, and then float on the pool and read. Come over and do it with us!
DEBS: Hank, that sounds so heavenly I may come all the way to Boston to stay with you!
And I've been buying boutique blackberry lemon ginger beer at the farmer's market. I keep it in the drinks fridge and just take one or two sips when I'm really hot. But maybe I should freeze it a little bit!
READERS, please tell us your heat secrets!!!
Lots of water is a good thing ... my preference is seltzer water.
ReplyDeleteWe have a fan on the kitchen counter so I don’t melt while I’m cooking and a fan in the dining room. All the other rooms have ceiling fans, so we are generally pretty comfortable. If it gets really hot, then we turn on the air conditioner . . . .
We have AC, but the living room (the largest room in the house) has only one vent. To keep the cool air moving, we use an oscillating fan in that room (it also lacks a ceiling fan) and keep the ceiling fans going in rooms that have them. Also, I make fruit/yogurt freeze pops which do wonders to cool you down. I think Cuisine magazine--if I'm not mistaken, had recipes for adult versions of freeze pops in their latest issue.
ReplyDeleteThe designers of my 1960 house got very artsy when it came to the windows: I have long horizontal panes with small sliders on each end, which are lovely but completely unsuited to window AC units. There is not a window in my house that will take one. Last summer, when my central AC system broke down, I checked into a hotel until the white knights at my AC company were able to rescue me. Ceiling fans, floor fans, takeout instead of home cooking, playing in the hose, cold showers . . . all of that works, as does running around more scantily clad than a woman of my vintage probably ought to, and time spent in movies and museums. My car has great AC, so road trips work. When all else fails, I dream of a vacation on the Maine coast.
ReplyDeleteI wear 100% cotton or silk, material that breathes. We drink copious amounts of liquid, tea, cold brewed coffee (home made) sparkling water, diet lemonade, carry a water bottle at all times..you get the picture. Our house has window a/c in the computer rooms. We don't watch much television during the day, We take long siestas in the hottest times. Our wake sleep schedule changes to 0400 hours to 1100 /sleep/ then 7:30 PM to midnight. NO OUTDOOR EXERCISE per my cardiologist.
ReplyDeleteAnd we count the days to mid October. ...
We have AC but when I get really hot, I go to our basement where we have our library, a bar, and a TV. It's nice and cool and makes waiting out tornado warnings much more pleasant.
ReplyDeleteMy go-to drink for a hot night: Icy vodka w cranberry juice and seltzer w a spritz of lime and a squirt of Cointreau over ice... lots of ice
ReplyDeleteHallie, mine is icy gin with lime or lemon, a splash of Clemont Creole Shrubb (the BEST orange liqueur), and a splash of pomegranate juice. Yum.
DeleteI’m a vodka girl, too, with pink grapefruit seltzer and fresh lime. Love love love . As I get so old, the amount of vodka gets less and less and less.
DeleteWe keep the gin and vodka in the freezer, too!
DeleteNo AC here but the house is only 10 years old and the windows are really good at keeping out the heat. Even so, I do as Julia does, close the windows, pull the drapes or shades until the sun goes down. I have ceiling fans in the bedrooms which makes for better sleeping and the dog really appreciates it.
ReplyDeleteNo a/c in my old house. Living in the countryside , in a corridor of wind and farther north than most of you helps a bit.
ReplyDeleteWhen really hot, I open every windows early in the morning to cool the place ( mornings are cooler than the nights). Before the weather becomes too high, I close the openings. I only draw the curtains on the west side where most of the heat comes through. Fans do a good job, no cooking, walking early.
I love summer, it was so,long before it came this year.
We have central air, but we've needed it only 3-4 days so far. And it always gets turned off at night. Like Julia said, that 30 degree drop at night makes for cool fresh air in the bedrooms and great sleeping. When we moved in, 19 years ago now, we put ceiling fans in all the bedrooms, all you need on a summer night in upstate NY. Plus a quilt.
ReplyDeleteOur house is almost a hundred years old, high ceilings and great circulation, so it stays about ten degrees cooler than the outside. That is not an advantage during the winter though! Oddly enough, we have just two dogwood trees and a maple out front, but the neighborhood is heavily wooded, so we have the advantage of shade without all the fall mess.
The patio is on the north side, so it is shaded by the house from late morning on, always comfortable. I don't envy those of you who live in the south. I can't take those 100 degree Texas days any more. And I hate AC, so ours only goes on when it is both hot AND humid. That could be today. Its only 63 at 8 a.m. but according to Alexa, it will be 85 with matching humidity later today. That qualifies as AC time.
Ann, we are having a cool weekend. Highs only in the low nineties...
DeleteDebs, that made me happier than ever that I won’t be coming your way until Halloween
DeleteAnn, I wondered if that was why they scheduled Bouchercon so late:-)
DeleteWe have central a/c AND ceiling fans in Cincinnati. The deck boards are too hot to walk across by mid-day, and I test the asphalt street with the top of my hand before walking the dogs at dinner time. I found a killer recipe for tortellini salad with asparagus and basil dressing in the Washington Post which I make first thing in the morning.
ReplyDeleteYum, Margaret! Please share!
Deletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/tortellini-salad-asparagus-and-basil-dressing/16968/?utm_term=.02d9169b2731
DeleteYum! Thank you!
DeleteThank you, Margaret!! That sounds wonderful!
DeleteDeb, I was so sad for you over. The loss,of ‘your’ shade tree, but a possible fix is an awning which we have added this year. Our house is in the Maine woods and was built around 1985. It’s great for us seniors as we live on one floor but have a full finished basement. About five years ago, trying to save the planet!, we had an energy audit which found we had too many trees to install solar, and we were leaking. So in came the guys who test and seal the house. Out went the old pink insulation in the attic; in came recycled paper blown in place of the pink stuff. Everything was sealed and the icing on the cake was our heat pump which works as an AC during the summer. As we experienced last week, it can get both hot and humid here. So good steady heat for our winters and cool, dry breathable air for V’s CPOD in the summer. We use much less old which is our tiny environmental offering.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds great, Celia. Our house is SO leaky. Our goal this year is to replace our nearly 25 year old downstairs AC, and maybe put a power awning on the west facing sun porch.
DeleteOur previous, 80-year old, house holds a chill for a long time, or heat in the winter, since we insulated the walls and attic. We are still adjusting to the new house, where the HVAC guy made some serious miscalculations in sensor placement. Eventually, we hope to figure this out.
ReplyDeleteBut as Margaret says, ceiling fans are a must in Cincinnati, where the humidity is the worst part of the hot weather here. We have them in all the bedrooms, plus the family room and the back porch. We have really enjoyed sundown time on the porch, thanks to the fan, and the trees shade us from mid-evening on. Cellular shades make a big difference, too: they insulate in summer and in winter, and cut down on the solar gain, as well, if you keep them closed.
I have central AC, and I love it. Sometimes I use fans for a little while before turning it on. Summer is not a problem for me; it doesn’t feel confining to me, as winter does. No matter how hot it is in the summer, I’m not going to slip and fall while walking to my car, carrying in the groceries or bringing out the trash, etc. I don’t need to worry about whether or not parking lots or streets have been plowed. In the summer I feel truly alive and most like myself. Most places are air-conditioned, so no matter where I go I am comfortable, and getting there is not dangerous.
ReplyDeleteWinter, on the other hand, is just one long nightmare for me!
DebRo
So agree… Sometimes it is too cold in air-conditioning
DeleteWe put A/C in a couple years ago. Our house (1928) tends to get cold overnight and stay cold - although when it doesn't get cold overnight that doesn't work so well. Ice. Cool showers. Lots of water. Don't use the stove top or oven (the menfolk can stand in front of the grill).
ReplyDeleteI wish I could take Koda's advice - lay flat on the tile floor (and the vinyl planking in the sunroom must be cooler too because he spends a lot of time laying there).
Our dogs lie either at the bottom landing on the stairs (cold air comes down from upstairs AC) or in our tiny downstairs hall half bath. It's in the very center of the house (our tornado shelter) and the ceiling vent really cools it off.
DeleteNo real secrets for me. I use a fan when it is really hot. I rest and do as little as possible when I can. I have ice cubes. I do the lawn mowing early in the morning.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the notion of afternoon naps, I recommend watching episodes of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross. His voice is a natural sleeping pill. I woke up this morning at 7am. Did some chores, ran a couple of errands. When I came home, I made a light breakfast and watched an episode...and fell asleep for the last 10 minutes of the show. It's like a miracle drug or something.
Yes, Debs! Freeze it, and it gets nice and slushy. Once I actually, confession now, could not finish my martini, so I put it in the freezer. Because it had alcohol, it does not totally freeze. The next day, I put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds, and it was totally a martini slush. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteAs I sit here, reading everyone's comments about heat, I'm figuring out my day. Supposed to be in the low to mid 90s today. My personal thermostat is wacky, I usually warmer than everyone else so I don't do heat well and it's my weekend for Altar Guild. Our church has no air conditioning. Building is almost 150 years and built open to the ridgepole. There are a series of ceiling fans and I borrow a room fan while I'm working in the sacristy. But that's it. I'm usually done before noon and then I hide in my apartment with the fan blowing right at me. Today, however, there is memorial service at 2:00.
ReplyDeleteMy way to deal at home: fans and living alone means I can direct it at me - one in the bedroom and one in the living room. K start low and increase the speed as the day warms. Iced anything, no cooking - apartment would never cool off. Sugar free juice bars in the freezer. Cold packs. Those squishy things that can be either heated or frozen. There are two of them in my freezer at all times and I put one behind my head at night to help cool me off so I can try to sleep. Dinner out. I will close windows and blinds as a last resort, there are lots of nature trees in the complex so I try get as much natural light for as long as I can in the morning.
No A/C? I melt just thinking about that. However, growing up, we didn't have central air until I was a sophomore in high school. At some point my parents put in a window unit in our living room, but we had a finished basement that always seemed to stay cool, and raising the windows at night helped. And, I'm guessing, Hank, that your 1894 house is somewhat constructed toward some air flow conditions? I am still surprised though when someone says they don't have central air. Boy, have I gotten spoiled or what. Of course, our air conditioner is getting rather on in years, and every summer over the last few years I keep saying, just one more summer, please. So, we do have fans to help out some when the heat is really bad and our unit has trouble keeping up.
ReplyDeleteDealing with those days that are extreme, there is no oven use on those days. We had such a day this past week, and I had planned on having BLTs for supper. I cook my bacon in the oven, so we picked up something to eat that night. Cold drinks always help. An ice-cold Diet Coke is a real treat when the heat gets so awful. We have a wonderful large tree out front that helps shade the house, but we have been told that it needs to come down, as it's unhealthy and posing a threat to the house. I haven't quite gotten to the point of saying "take her down," as I love that tree, but when it's gone, I just wonder how much our house is going to heat up.
Kathy, I would get a second opinion on the tree, see whether it just needs pruning or cabling (from someone who doesn't make their money taking down trees!)
DeleteWe didn't have AC when I was small, but our house was in the country so the air was cooler, and we had an attic fan. On the very hottest nights, my parents would make pallets for us in the backyard and we slept outside. I guess that was a hardship but I remember it as being lovely.
I think you're right about a second opinion, Debs. And, it's so funny how we view things like sleeping outside as an adventure when we're kids and lose that magic when we grow up.
DeleteDrinking lots of water helps. Trying not to drive the car on hot days because of SMOG alerts! Wearing light color clothes.
ReplyDeleteIt helps that my small space living is over a garage so it is usually colder on my floor than other floors.
Yes, Diana, we've been having air quality warnings all week here, and I can really tell it.
Deletethanks!
DeleteLifelong Floridian here, I cringe at reading your heat worries. Stay cool and safe. Here's my favorite goto no-cook meal that's mostly healthy and refreshing:
ReplyDelete1.5 cups frozen cherries
1-5.3 oz.container LF Greek cherry yogurt
1 cup ice cubes
1 hearty squeeze of Mio Cherry
10+ ozs Diet Cherry Cola soda
Throw it all in a smoothie blender and let 'er rip. Pour into your favorite large Tervis Tumbler and sip.
Liz, that sounds delish, but what's Mio Cherry?
DeleteHi Deborah,
DeleteMio Cherry is a "Liquid Water Enhancer" normal people squirt in bottled water. You can search it on Amazon. I buy mine at Publix or Wal-Mart. I go for the one with caffeine, but it comes without too. I also double this recipe for a guilt free extended lunch.
Run away! Far far away!
ReplyDelete