5341

A couple of register fans could work wonders.

5342
5343

Do you have any fans? Fans cool down everything, even cats and dogs which don’t sweat.

If you have any regular windows, any cheap window AC is going to vastly out perform any portable AC. The basic design of those things is a huge bottleneck in efficiency.

(For the curious)

5344

Yep, have fans all over, but the cats are stupid. They will just sprawl out in a warmer place in the condo. I assume if they feel sick they will find a cooler spot.

Window AC are banned by the HOA. It’s strange because every condo’s bedroom has this small non-openable window that looks to be the perfect size for an AC. It’s like they were designed for it.

The Wirecutter article says that the movable AC aren’t great, but it has always worked well enough for those few 90 degree days we get every year.

5345

I got a portable AC for the bedroom as the window isn’t suitable for a permanent unit. It’s noisy as hell and I’m sure it’s not very efficient but it gets the job done and it was about seven times cheaper than extending the real AC to the bedroom.

5346

Fans don’t cool down air and in very hot weather can make things worse.

5347

Wow. I’d never heard of these, that seems worth a try at least.

Get this, our HOA bans the use of in-window AC units. From ANY window, not just the roadside facing windows. Thus I have not one but two portable AC units in the house for times when things aren’t great. (EDIT: like @LeeAbe 's HOA apparently.)

… And this is where one of ours sits. We can let the entire house stay at one temp, but cool the bedroom at night to a nice, nearly chilly, temperature to sleep in. This is also the newer of the two units and much more efficient, etc. It’s not quiet but it’s quieter than the white noise machine we use to sleep.

5348

It is stupid warm outside for 530 in the morning.

5349

They can make a huge difference.

Currently have one of these in our bedroom (And would have more if it were possible, but we have some weird vents):

I’ve used Suncourt fans in the past as well.

5350

Aestophobia

(from Latin aestos , hot weather) is the fear of hot weather. It is the branch of thermophobia, fear of heat.

Well, it’s about 88 degrees F at 9am, and I’m sitting here in my home office trying to be reasonably productive while dreading what the day will hold. Stay hydrated, folks!

5351

Yeah it’s not even 9:30 and we’ve topped 100 already. I did a 5 mile run that was 78 when I started and 93 when I ended. Keep cool folks, it’s gonna be a toasty one.

And my son took the news about the dead tadpole as well as one could expect a 7 year old.

Which is to say, not very. He’s curled up under a blanket and refusing to talk to anyone.

5352

Thank God this is the last day (for now) of this total BS weather. I shudder to think what may await us in the rest of the summer. Yesterday (112 F) broke the high temp record of 108 F in Portland, that had in turn broken the 107 F of almost forty years. And we’re supposed to go up a little more today, then finally, mercifully, we’ll start getting some wind from the ocean in the later evening tonight and maybe get down to 80 by 10 PM instead of, you know, 5 AM.

5353

Monday is landscaping day at my complex. It’s mid 90s and they are out there with gas powered weed cutters and blowers strapped to their backs. That seems dangerous.

5354

Temperature-wise there’s good reason to think it won’t get this bad again, at least in the North West. But fires and drought will almost certainly get worse.

5355

Honestly that’s my real worry. We have been dry generally in the region and have had lower than usual rain in June.

Add in this extreme heat plus the usual complete absence of rain in July and August (average about 1.5” between them) and this could be a very bad fire season.

5356

Daily summer landscaping for a lot of the country. Certainly don’t envy them, though.

5357

Yeah, at least this ‘heat dome’ thing is going away soon. Or we’d be in real trouble.

5358

I saw folks in my neighborhood mowing lawns at around 7 AM on Saturday, which would normally be frowned upon because people sleep in. But if you wait until the sun is up, it becomes punishing.

5359

I’m not a strong optimist, but I think we will solve our energy problems and wind up with more efficient means to cool and heat. The water problems though… we have the tech to drink things twice. Perhaps the populace is now ready for it.

Kitties will be fine. They don’t mind getting very warm, just make sure they have easy access to water and throw extra wet food at them if you have it because pretty much no domestic cat is prone to drink enough.

You could try rotating your water for the fish, aka fill empty water containers with tank water and rotate it in and out of the fridge, careful not to overdo it.

5360

That’s what is worrying me on the cats. They aren’t eating much. Usually at 5am one of them is in full on bug the hell out of me mode to get her can food. Not today. One of them is sleeping next to me purring away, which is also odd for her. Supposedly purring can mean distress as well.

The fish thing is challenging because drastic changes in temp are bad. You also aren’t supposed to change the water too often. It’s stressful for them. (I don’t have a fancy self changing system.) Ice bags are working well enough so far this morning. Waiting for the sun to go overhead and will start the AC.