The weather is actually cooler than it has over the past week here in the Valley of the We-Do-Mean Sun. It was only 96 today, probably because we had some cloud cover. Now, at quarter to nine p.m., it’s a chilly 91.2, with a 20% chance of rain.
Yesterday I was over at SDXB’s place in Sun City: 110 degrees and overcast. Holeeee sh!t. The sky was this glarey white, all over…it hurt your eyes to drive, even with dark glasses on. And my shades are dark!
Last week it hit 115 at my house; SDXB got a reading of 120 in his backyard out in Sun City.
It’s way early for this kind of heat. This is Fourth of July heat. And humidity readings between 25% and 62%: that’s August weather.
Mercifully, we still have power here. Both the local power companies have had outages all over the county today. No air conditioning in these temps is truly not fun.
I don’t even want to think about what the power and water bills are going to be this month. My poor son, whose home is in the predatory Arizona Public Service’s district, is going to see an 8% increase on his already exorbitant bills. He already gets $350 bills for his little 1300-square-foot house, which he keeps uncomfortably warm during the summer months when he can’t use the swamp cooler. By comparison, my house — which doesn’t have swamp cooling — will max its power bills at around $230 for 1860 square feet, with a pool.
When I moved in here about 11 years ago, I figured the pool added about $40/month to the power bill. Rates of course have gone up since then, so it’s probably a little more. But his house has no pool, and APS charges him about $100 more for a much smaller house.
Can’t complain too much, because the spring was gorgeous and it lasted on and on.
Still. Sure could do without that $400 car repair bill on power bills for 115-degree days.
The pool is heavenly, though. How did I ever get through a summer when I lived in houses that didn’t have pools???
{Answer: it used to be one helluva lot cooler here, that’s how!}
This is the first time in two years that I’ve been able to use the pool. Neither surgeon — boob or belly — would allow me to go anywhere near a swimming pool. By the time I could get back in the water last summer, it was water was getting too chilly for comfort.
Results: I got fat (have dropped five pounds over the past few weeks! 🙂 ), and the pool has been so extravagantly neglected that it’s taken a lot of work to get it cleaned up and stabilized. Had to backwash twice over the past few days. But now it looks pretty good. I think it’ll be OK until this winter, when it will need some maintenance upgrades…probably a repla$stering job.
The new mother duck is hanging around out there. She waddles out of her nest about once a day, usually early in the morning, stands around looking skittish, and then disappears again. Ruby and Cassie are riveted by her.
I’m pretty sure this is not the famous DuckDuck. She’s much more shy and nervous than last year’s Duck, who seemed to have little or no fear. DuckDuck was not impressed by curious dogs, nor would she move off if the human walked into the pool area. This little bird, who seems a little smaller than DuckDuck, is very wary and will take off if she thinks you’re excessively interested in her.
Speaking of the swimming pool, it’s time to take a quick dip and then go to bed. And so, away…
That’s great that you’re able to get back in the pool again. I’m sure you missed it a lot. Our weather has been strange, last week we had a couple of days where it was low 60’s for the HIGH, then it moderated to around 80 (which is where it should be). Saturday jumped up to a high of 94 but now we’re like 20 degrees cooler than that. Usually the ups and downs like that are in the April and May months here and we would have moderated a bit but not so far. Should be an interesting summer!
Wow! That is WEIRD weather.
Our spring was unseasonably long and cool this year — probably thanks to El Nino. But they say that effect is going away, so we’ll probably return to drought conditions this fall. Your part of the country is affected by El Nino, too, isn’t it?
The pool is indeed very pleasing. But it’s more than just enjoyable: it’s the key to good health in these parts. In the summer, it’s really the only practical way to get any decent exercise — at least, it is if you dislike gyms as much as I do — and it also seems to provide a type of exercise that’s especially invigorating and reviving for older people. I burn a lot of calories swimming around (and also in keeping the thing clean!). Even though it’s not weight-bearing, it is aerobic. I find I feel a LOT better, overall, when I can swim for half-an-hour to an hour every day.
Yesterday I got back up to 10 laps. Hope to reach 20 in the next week or so, increasing by two a day. The sun comes up so damn early that you have to get into the drink before about 5:30 if you want to swim for exercise; but if you want to walk your dog, you have to be out on the street by that hour. So most of the actual exercise swimming gets done after dark, in the evening. What I’m hoping for, ultimately, is 10 in the morning and 20 at night. That plus the wimpy dog walk and maybe some yoga (if I’d ever get off my tail long enough for that…) should get me back in shape by summer’s end. I hope. Barring any more vicissitudes of age…
Ugh. Yay for the pool! Sorry you had to be away from it for so long. It’s warming up here – humidity generally around 70-99% (not kidding) and 80-90 degrees right now. Feels like thick air…
Ech! Sounds like springtime on the Persian Gulf.
In the summer, the humidity would get so high that occasionally rain would start to precipitate out of a clear blue sky. Routinely, in the mornings water would be dripping off the eves into puddles on the ground, as though it had rained during the night.
We never had blue northers, though… 🙂