Very hot here too. We've been running in the 90s. We are also having April showers!

Also, the best thing we did was add another heating and air system just for the new room. If one goes kaplunk, we have another! lol

It's hotter than blazes here! When we step outdoors it's like walking into a sauna! The heat feels like a heavy curtain. And it's only June. Our heat index the past days has been in the low 100's.

Mona, our heat index has been the same, but today the actual heat is supposed to be around 102.

It's funny, when we built the new room our new front porch faces north. It used to face east where we could get the south breezes. We couldn't wait to have a nice porch facing north and be in the shade at all times. Well, it is, but there is not ONE breeze unless it comes out of the east, which is rare.

My dog is the only one who likes the heat because she loves being sprayed with the hose. lol

For the last two week up here in CT, it's been mostly cloudy/showery with temps in the low 70s. It is supposed to change to "regular" summer weather tomorrow (sunny and 85). Apparently, our weather was stuck in a loop of cool air while you guys were stuck in a block of hot air. Maybe your weather will break tomorrow, too.

Oh, it's awful, Oakley! We're expecting 100 degrees today, and combined with the humidity, it's positively draining. We had our first heat-related death in the DFW area yesterday - a man died while sleeping in his car with the windows rolled down. That's scary.

My DH missed his opportunity to take his hour-long walk (he does it for exercise) yesterday morning, so he went out during the noon hour. I warned him to never do that again! It's much too hot to be outdoors right now, and my heart goes out to those who have to be, in order to do their jobs.

As a side note, I think I've been overwatering my plants lately. A sign of overwatering is yellowed leaves, right? They otherwise look healthy, and have new growth, but the leaves started to yellow yesterday, so I think I'll cut back some on the watering - even though watering them daily seems like the right thing to do. It may not be.

Ugh. I hate heat and humidity. Even with air conditioning, I just seem to get sluggish.

I had a co-worker say today, "Well, would you rather have it 20 below zero?" Pretty much the same to me. 20 below or 90 above, I'm stuck inside.

Oh yes, we are, but I'm in the south and this is pretty par for the course for us, although a bit earlier this year. We had a drop in humidity though last night so today is nice. I can take hot alot better without the high humidity.

We have very mild winters though, and that works for me!

tina

In NJ- we are having the opposite. Only 4 days in June have reached 80 degrees, and it's rained almost EVERY day. The sun has been a very rare sight in June. It's finally supposed to be nice this weekend, but I'll be in the hospital- oh well.

It's been God awful around Chicago. Heat index in the 100s for days!

DH has been out of town since Saturday and I had a week of work and decorating planned around the house. It was going to be a big surprise and today is his birthday. Wouldn't you know it...the air conditioning poops out right after he left. I'm one of the people who would much rather have 20 below than be hot. I get sick and swell up when it gets this hot. Couldn't even sleep last night.

Repair guy was here for two hours today. It was low on coolant and had frozen up, literally. He had to turn the heat on (loads of fun) for a half an hour, just to thaw it out. Why didn't he just use a hair dryer like most of us women do?

I finally have air but, hell, this freakin' house is only a year and a half old. The air in our last house worked for seven years without doing anything to it.

He thinks the HVAC company who installed it didn't come for a final check before closing.

Thanks for letting me *vent*. I feel much better now. :)

I'm in Houston and we had a record 101 degrees yesterday and probably the same today. We usually only get a couple of 100+ days a year, and mostly in August. And we desperately need rain - who knows when that will come. And when it does the ground will be too dry and hard to absorb much water and we'll get floods. Oh boy!

Summers here are hot and humid and I spend very little time outdoors in the hot months. I just stay indoors and suck in major A/C.

Hey, my heat beats your heat any day!!! Although we have been much cooler than usual in June. Finally, we are normal for the next few days with temps like 104 and 105. But what saves us is low humidity. Right now we are at 104 degrees with humidity of 12%. Later in the week we will be in the upper 90's which is "cool" for end of June. In May we hit a record with 14 days in a row over 100. But June has been cooler than May. Coming up in July, August, and September is the monsoon season which helps control temperatures a bit. It's kind of the opposite here season wise compared to the upper Midwest. I used to hunker down in the winter months, too cold, too much snow to even go out. Here you hunker down in the summer, unless you have a pool. Everything has air conditioning, your car, the mall, stores, office, everyone's home - that's the law.

100 degrees is warm but not until it gets over 110 does it get miserable. You never leave a dog or a person in the car for any length of time - it can easily get to 140 degrees very quickly. I notice a lot of people with newer cars leave them running with the air conditioning on while they are in the grocery store shopping. I wish I could do that. I guess I could but I would need both sets of keys with me. Once I can afford to do so I am buying a reflective car cover. I had my windows tinted a medium dark color - probably too dark for CA - and that really helped a lot. For one year I had no tint and I think I got sunburnt through the window as I drove. You have to have those reflective covers inside that protect the dashboard and steering wheel from the sun beating in through the windshield. Get the sprinkler out and buy a portable pool! Keep cool!

Yes, threedgrad, but don't forget -yours is a 'dry heat' LOL!

Awful heat! Heat index hit 106 degrees ....

Jan

We've just hit our heat yesterday and today here in Chicago (northern suburbs). But I LOVE being close to our lake because we still have a nice breeze off the water and it's helping keep us cool - better than poor Parma, anyway!

Funny thing is exactly one week ago it was 58 here so we are literally JUST getting into smumer.

Well it is 107 in the shade at my house and I'm in TX with humidity as well. I'm guessing the heat index is above 110. We've not seen rain since early May. We usually don't see temps above 100 for an extended period like this until August.

As Johnny Carson said years ago, "Yeah, they it's a dry heat. But my oven is dry too and you won't catch me sticking my head in there." Or something like that.

Just took the dog out in the backyard for a hose spray time, 2nd one today. He loves it!

You can have some of our rain, lowspark! June has been an utterly wretched month here. Chilly and wet-wet-wet - we've had nights dropping into the high 30s and the high temps been running at least 10 degrees below normal for the whole month. I had to have my oil tank filled off-schedule because we're still often running the heat! We haven't gotten any work done on the porch because it's been so dang soggy, my back yard is so sloppy that Little Mister Prissypants (the dog) has to be bullied into going outside, and more than half the plants we transplanted from a neighbor's yard rotted. :-( We're supposed to nudge up to barely 80 next week, which is still below normal for the end of June and early July - we should have had a few days of 90s by now and most days in the 80s.

You folks in the heat have my sympathies though. I go splat with temperature extremes at both ends of the thermometer; cold makes me ache and hibernate, heat makes me dizzy, migrainey and sick. I get heatstroke very quickly. We don't have central AC, just two window units (1 in BR and 1 in LR), but as soon as it hits 85 I don't budge from AC of some kind. If it weren't for this rassenfrackin' rain I wouldn't complain about these temperatures at all.

BTW, 80 degrees can be enough to kill a dog left in a car. I remember seeing a solar-powered fan that fits into a car window to ventilate a car for a dog's safety; it came with an expandable grate thingy that fit into another window so the fan could be used to exhaust hot air, but IMO it's still not too smart to leave a dog in the car unattended no matter what the temperature. Around here dogs have been stolen, fed weird things, and idiots stick their hands in open windows to "pet the nice doggie", get bitten, and have the sheer nerve to take legal action against the dog owner. *eyeroll*

Here in AZ since it is warm all year even in January, it is against the law to leave your dog in the car at any time of the year. We had a famous case here where a canine police officer left a fellow officer, a gorgeous German Shepherd, in the car. The poor dog died. The police officer said he forgot Bandit was there. The dog was too well behaved, he did not bark. My dog would not be quiet for very long. Well, this community here in Phoenix became outraged and demanded action. Sheriff Joe arrested the officer for animal abuse and neglect. Well, some judge found him not guilty. It was such a sad story as are all the stories where the toddlers are drowning in backyard pools because they wandered away from mom or dad. I am glad my only pool is a 1 foot deep baby pool that Duncan uses as a giant water bowl.

It has been hot here too and I love it. The hot weather averages out the year for me so I will never complain.

I'm another Chicagoan and I hate hate hate this heat/humidity....I work outside most of the time:( We've had tons more rain in April and May than normal, we're still getting rain but it's not been quite a daily event in June. So the mosquito crop this year is 'simply awesome'.

I had the day off yesterday and needed to do some garden work...went outside at 6:15am and was drenched with perspiration when I came in at 8:30.

I'm experimenting with and am on a quest this year to find the best non-Deet insect repellent. Anyone have any suggestions?

Eileen, a toddler can drown in just a few inches of water. Their brains are not necessarily developed enough to tell when their faces are underwater, and they're often too top-heavy to easily get themselves out of water when they've fallen in. Unless a yard is securely fenced with locked gates, standing water should not be left unattended.

Lido, unless you're moving around quickly outside try out the new Off! Clip-On. No DEET, no smell, nothing on your skin. We live close to wetlands and a small river, compounded by all the people who leave their kiddie pools full of water, so the mosquitos and other water-reproducing insects like blackflies are just horrible. We've had very good results from the Clip-On. Save your receipt in case it doesn't work for you.

The active ingredient Picaridin (Cutter Advanced, GoReady) is considered safer by some than DEET, and it doesn't stink; it's recommended over DEET by the WHO. (The World Health Organization, not the band!) Although it's relatively new in the US it's been used for more than a decade in Europe and Australia.

Permethrin is ineffective when applied to the skin, but you can spray it on clothing and shoes, tents, etc.; there are some questions as to its safety with long-term exposure to large amounts and it is HIGHLY toxic to fish and cats.

For the all-natural stuff, Lemon Eucalyptus is the only plant-based substance recommended by the CDC as a mosquito and tick repellent applied to the skin, with effectiveness comparable to a 7% DEET formula, but some people find other substances to be just as effective. You may have to try a few different natural repellents to find one that gets along with your body chemistry - what works well for one person often doesn't work at all for another, which is attributed to differences in body chemistry the same way perfume can smell very different on two people. They do need to be reapplied much more frequently, sometimes lasting as little as an hour, and they're very strong-smelling.

Do know that the essential oils the natural repellents are based on can cause photosensitivity and skin reactions like rashes - "natural" does not mean "safe" - and sunscreens can dilute the repellent. Also, do not use it if you have pet birds or cuddly cats, or wash it off before coming into contact with them, as both species are very sensitive to essential oils.

I have a 6 foot tall concrete block wall that surrounds the backyard. The gate has a padlock on it and even when unlocked the person has to reach to the top of the 6 foot tall gate to unlatch it.

I am glad I do not have a pool because I do not want to drown or have any of my pets fall in or have the upkeep of a pool which is expensive.

I never realized that a pet could drown so easily in a backyard pool, but it happened to my boss's dear little dog, Sophie. She was an elderly doggie, and one day when she didn't come back inside as usual after making her backyard rounds, they went in search of her and found her floating in the pool. So sad!

55 children have already drowned here in the state of Texas this year. On average, 70 kids drown here annually. What a tragedy.

While I can appreciate the allure of a pool (my parents and inlaws each have one), they do scare me somewhat. I've heard more than a couple of horror stories about pool drains malfunctioning and sucking people to the bottom.

I had to get out this afternoon at 2, I "cooled" my car before I got in it, and I swear, it was cooler outside. lol.

COLD FRONT coming! On Sunday it's supposed to get down to 90. Whew!

Give me frigid weather anyday over this. At least we can keep warm in the winter even without heat!

My body adjusted to the heat after just one year but I do not think I could have adjusted to high humidity and 100 degree temps for months at a time.