Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Me and the Heat

I guess there is not much going on in my life since I feel it nesscary to respond to other blogs. I'm writing this one in response to aforrest's blog on the age old question, what is better-- too hot or too cold?
Personally, I'll take the cold. I find that as I get older, I can't tolerate the heat like I use to. My father is the same way. He hates the heat (that's why he bought a house off the coast of Oregon). Frankly, there are just too many uncomfortable feelings I associate with the hot weather.
Years ago, I lived in Cedar Falls Iowa, and my apartment would bake in the summer. The genious who designed the apartments, put the air conditioner on the roof, so during heat waves, the air conditioner couldn't keep up. To make things worse, I lived on the top floor, so hot air kept my apartment feeling like a oven. Even at night, it wouldn't cool down. I remember my referatgator couldn't keep up and spoiled everything. My poor ferret (my beloved, Basil)was actually close to expiring.
Years later, that summer still effects me. I get really cranky if the environment gets too hot. This summer has really been bad. It seems I run from one air conditioner to another. It's too hot to go to the park with Woogy or do anything else outside. I have even let my lawn go. I don't want to mow the yard in 100+ heat. The bottom line is, unless you have an air condtioner to go to, there is no escaping the heat. This must be what life is like on Mercury.
During the evening in the summer, who wants to relax with a nice warm cup of coffee? Usually, I spend an evening making gallon after gallon of Kool-Aid. When it gets as hot as it has, I try to convert Feinheight to Celeius. Then instead of being 100 F, it is 37 C. That sounds cooler.

8 comments:

Doc said...

I agree that extreme cold is better than extreme heat. One can always put on more clothing and still function. I've gone skiing when it was 15 degrees below zero at Lutsen on the North Shore of Lake Superior and was just fine. Of course I had to wear proper clothing and equipment, but I was able to stay out in the elements all day long. In fact, the coldness invigorated me and gave me energy (and motivation) to keep active. On the other hand in extreme heat, even if one was naked it wouldn't really help. One just gets more lethargic and unable to do anything active.

Doc said...

Another point, more people die from extreme heat than from all other weather related causes combined. Additionally, more calories are burned maintaining body heat than doing any other activity. Therefore when it is cold, people are burning a lot more calories. Cold temperatures are definitely more healthy for the average American.

Doc said...

I probably should have blogged on this topic myself, but here is another bit of info relating good health to cold weather. All the states whose populations have the longest life expectancy are north of the Mason-Dixon line - North Dakota and Minnesota being at the top of the list and also having the most extreme cold weather.

shakedust said...

All said, I still like hot weather better. In the summer, so long as you have A/C it is easier to plan for the weather. In the winter you have to make sure you have layers on then freeze until the car heater warms up to a useful temperature.

T said...

Freeze or Bake? I think I want to live where neither is an option. I want it to be 72 degrees everywhere I go! A nice breeze and mist once in while would be good too!

f o r r e s t said...

Both conditions suck! Are we on agreement?
It seems like in KC we get 2 weeks of 100 degrees in the summer and 2 weeks of single digits in the winter.

The question for me is which 2 weeks do I enjoy more? And honestly, I am more of a colder weather fan.

To me, the hot summer wins hands down for the very reason that when the sun sets the temperature drops to a warm 80's with summer breezes. That is relief from the day. Their is no relief from the cold.

Sorry, BB in the winter I bet your running from heater to heater.

Dash said...

The summer before T and I were married, I stayed in a little church appartment over the fellowship hall while T had the nice shiny apartment I had rented. Since it was an unventilated attic, it was hot (apparently hotter than mercury).

To make it easier to sleep I told myself that it was like a Sauna or one of thoe indian swet-lodges.

The church was Mt. Sinai Assembly, so I alway refer to is as my Desert Experience.

GoldenSunrise said...

I hate either extremes, but I can tolerate hot better than cold. I am more grumpy in cold weather when I have to scrape my car and my fingers are frozen.