Concerning Dave

{{ It has been indeed Malick- good to see you back too }}

whooo tipsy posting

Oh yeah welcome back one and all

{{ Hey Forest! With Lance popping back in too the whole gangs all but here! }}

I guess you can say the forum has been a bit like the Hobbit, and we all thought we were playing Gandalf.

So the north pacific coast up where Dave lives is bracing for the hottest temperatures ever recorded, over 35 F (16 C) above the seasonal averages.  Since almost nobody has air conditioning, this can be deadly.  I hope Dave weathers it.

We are about to get some very warm temperatures for a long time ourselves.  I may see how long I can hold out in sympathy with those who don't have AC.  it's actually part of my research, so I have more than noble reasons for giving it a go.

Talking about AC I cleaned the filters the other day after a year of not using it, but are you supposed to get the machine professionally cleaned before you use them every year? I did wash the floppy filters at the front of the machine that you can remove yourself, they were quite dusty, but the deep ones I cant touch, are they full of nasty stuff? I don't want to get sick with AC dusty mould bacteria crap.

That's probably model dependent. I would normally think there'd only be one filter to clean/replace.

Updated forecast, only today will continue the hot weather, not as hot as predicted, and cool at night. Dave's mother should not suffer too much.

It shouldn't be bad at all since we're close enough to the ocean to hear it and the ocean makes its own weather. We're forecast for 90F- 32C today, then the local fog bank along the coast should come in and wrap us in grey drippiness. 30 miles inland though, they're talking about 112F-44C which is unheard of in this part of the country. That won't be much fun.
Regarding air conditioning, there's been a recent trend to replace old electric furnaces with modern heat pumps which pay for themselves in a couple years of electricity bills, and as a bonus they can be set to cool as well as heat when we get the occasional heatwave, so hopefully that will help some of the elderly shut-ins get through this.

Glad you'll be okay. One day of high temperature isn't really a problem: buildings have about a day of thermal inertia, which smooths out a spike to make it bearable. It's the long heat waves that are a problem. Got a 4 day one coming up tomorrow.

Go to the basement is normally my solution.. if you have a basement that is majoritarianly below ground, that is.

Unfortunately basements aren't very practical when you live in a  bog.

It reached 98F- 36C in the shade here today. We drove inland to visit Mom and we met temps of 108F- 42C with a tropical humidity and a stiff breeze that feels like a cross between a sauna and a blast furnace. "Takes the starch out of you," as my Grandma used to say.

Mom's in a place with AC?

My uncle came to visit me in NYC during a heat wave. He was in his late 70's and ridden a motorcycle from California to Massachussetts for a rally (that's clear across the country). When he left he was driving through parts of the country that were over 37 C. Normally wind cools you, but when wearing enough motorcycle gear that your sweat can't evaporate, wind above body temperature just serves to cook you faster. He gave up and stopped at a friend's house to swap out the bike for a car for the rest of the trip home.

Tough old coot. No longer with us unfortunately.

halfwise wrote:Mom's in a place with AC?

Yes there's a ring of R2D2 AC units standing guard around the perimeter of the building for just these events. I think it's probably a building code for these kinds of places.
It looks like our heatwave may be done for now, at least at the coast. There's a beautiful white haze in the sky this morning that should be building into a fog through the day as the wind clocks around to SSW off the ocean.

{{ 24 here today- plenty hot enough for my pale blue ginger headed Scots complexion }}

Only 35 here, so not too bad if you stay indoors all day in a darkened room.

35 C is pretty hot! About to get a couple days of that here.

So Petty's story reminded me that it would be good to check on Dave, and I saw the radar showing some rain in his area so a good time to call. As I anticipated his mom did pass away several months ago, and he hasn't been feeling so social. He may check in soon, though if he's more in the mood to just read without posting I think we can all understand.

{{ Thats sad news. Thoughts go out to you and your family Dave. Hopefully reading a few silly posts on here will at least bring moments of reprieve, and your farm is always waiting in Forumshire for your return Dave. Whenever you feel ready for it. }}

Dave will come back when he is ready with a good selection of odd shaped veggies.

Sad to hear such news, but it is good to hear from Dave.
Hope to see him back soon.

So sorry Dave, hope your heart feels a bit lighter soon