It finally looks like the summer heat is showing up in our neck of the woods. In the grand scheme of things it’s not too bad. I could be living in the hellscape that is Texas. I have a brother that lives down there and always have a good laugh at him when we talk about the weather (because we’re old). I figure we have at least another year or two before we talk about our various ailments and prescriptions.
Our neighborhood has it’s annual yard sale this Saturday. Six full blocks and the side streets. The early birds start showing up a little before 7 am. We only did it the year after we moved in. It was a great way to get rid of stuff that was going to live in the basement. I normally give it two go arounds looking for records. I have had some success in the past and there is some new additions so I’m hopeful.
I hope everyone is well and has the same number of fingers they had before the 4th.
I just wish we could get a little rain up here on the Blue Ridge. All the storms seem to just come right up to the mountains and then swing North (or South). It’s hot, but it never gets really hot in these parts because of the elevation I think. We might hit 90 but that’s about it.
Nothing like Texas, which was the worst place I ever lived no doubt.
It’s currently 89 here, which is relatively temperate for us. I think we hit 105 earlier in the week. Fortunately, the afternoon thunderstorms have kicked in, so that drives the heat down a bit. Of course, we’ve also had high winds and power outages. I thought I could pick up my neighbor’s mail (they’re out of town) and walk a half-block and back without breaking into a sweat. I was mistaken.
Ah, I would love to be part of a neighborhood yard sale. I have neighbors who have never not bought vinyl, and so their castoffs would probably make my day.
It is hot here, but not humid, and for that I am extremely grateful. I had my fill of humidity growing up in the Midwest US and visiting the coasts. No thank you, kind ma’am or sir. A co-worker in Philadelphia likened it to walking out into a steam bath.
I heard high heat explained this way once. If you live in a high humidity zone, like the Northeast, it’s like walking into an oven. If you are in a low-humidity zone, like Arizona, “but it’s a dry heat,” it’s like being in a microwave. Neither experiences are pleasant.
Speaking of the heat, I got my latest money-saving tip/please don’t cause the grid to collapse email from ConEd:
As far as cooking goes, no, it actually doesn’t bring better light. More light brings better light, if ConEd is able to provide it. A catastrophe waiting to happen. I wonder if I’ll be commenting here a year from now once the insane mandates are starting to roll out and no one, least of all ConEd, is prepared to comply with them.
It’s basic physics — you get the same amount of light with a single lightbulb lamp as you do with a much larger overhead fixture with multiple bulbs.
It’s the inverse square law. One 1000 lumen bulb at two feet away provides the same amount of light as 4 identical bulbs at 4 feet away. If you’re rich enough to have really high ceilings, that ceiling fixture needs to have even more bulbs.
That’s why rich people would have chandeliers — even they found it was too hard to illuminate their spaces with lights all the way on the ceilings, so they would bring the lights much lower to illuminate just what they needed.
It’s the same way that you get four times as much hair brushing a dog that is twice as tall as it was as a puppy.
I’m finally getting around to discussing this.
We have climate- and energy-friendly fluorescent bars under our cabinets that illuminate our kitchen counters. They suck and are worthless. They cast weird shadows and you’d kind of have to be under the cabinets yourself for any of this to make any sense. No no no no. What you need is the Hollywood klieg light-level illumination we have in the kitchen to be able to do anything like read a recipe or set the oven to a certain temp level.
Oh well. Up until the late 1800s people used to cook by candlelight and gaslight, so I guess we can go back to that. Except gas will be banned. We’re all doomed. Everyone in India and China must be laughing at us.
…I’m not any kind of expert but I think lensing has a lot to do with it…light in a radiant sense has a sort of penetrative aspect when it comes to how it provides illumination…& obviously you can’t cram a whole circus under the kitchen cabinet the way they do around film sets & photo shoots…but “cob” LED lights are pretty bright in a way that diffused strip light units that have bulbs with the same wattage rating are (particularly when first switched on before they warm up) not nearly so good for seeing things with
…wouldn’t want them in the overhead lighting, though…it’d turn even the most overstuffed environment into some sort of institutional-vibes zone
…so…I could be off base but I think a lot of the problems are with the implementation rather than the principle?
The next two weeks look to be unpleasant.
No clouds, no wind. Just an angry and unrelenting sun.
I hope there are a lot of King of the Hill style scenes of people standing around with beers and a few grills going while they wait for customers to make their rounds.
Some neighbors sell grilled hot dogs and cold water. They make a killing. Also the “Egg Roll Lady” sets up on a corner and has a line ten deep. Her sign actually says “Egg Roll Lady”. She is at all the large yard sales in the county.
*checks*
yep…all digits still present… one of my toes has gone numb for some reason
hitting the 90s all weekend…which is pretty much the top end of normal here
its a little warmer than is fun over here tho….will be plenty sticky…but i can do everything i need to in the morning and then hide out in the shade with cold drinks and ice cream…maybe do some people watching from a terrace by the water
should be fine
Shaun of the Dead! Excellent gif choice.
Still got all my fingers from the 4th but brain cells and functioning liver is a whole other story! I’m back to working outside on a deck and once it gets over 80 it is hard to be on your knees in the sun putting in fire hot plastic boards. We wrapped it up early & now first weekend I will be with my wife in over a month.
We’re back to average highs here for the next week or so. So disgustingly humid and high 80s/low 90s.