O.K. to some I will be whinning , I AM !We usually have 3-5 days above 90 or really humid.We are now on over 2 weeks .This kind of weather make me sick , this is one reason we chose this area.And to top it off it's been over 6 weeks without any measurable rain .We will have to start pumping water from the river soon if this doesn't let up.No second cut of hay , gardens are frying .Please someone tell me this will end soon please.Sorry to whine , I know lots of others are in the same boat .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), August 07, 2001

Answers

I'll whine right along with you. We moved up here from Atlanta to get away from the heat and humidity. I think we're a bit farther north than you (near Lake George) so we haven't been above 90 but a couple days but we've had a lot of 88's and 89's. We have 2 air conditioners that we would normally run maybe 6 or 7 days during the entire season. We have easily run them 3 times that much already. Our electric bill has been a bit much this summer. With no rain, I've had to water a whole lot more than normal. The cukes seem to be taking it the worst. They are wilted by noon everyday. No significant rainfall in sight either. Hopefully, this will break soon and we'll get back to normal.

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), August 07, 2001.

So sorry to hear. Sending my condolences and if I could, rain. Do as we do here in the South--Work outside only in the early am and evening. Nap if possible at the hottest part of the day. Drink lots of lemonade. Go swimming in the creek. Save your bathtub water and shlep a truckload of milk jugs filled with water to the garden in the early morning. Hang in there.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), August 07, 2001.

Cathy , had to laugh .We are as far North as you can get in the states .St.Lawrence county nearest big town Massena .I finally put the a/c in the window so I am a little happier.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), August 07, 2001.

Move over Patty and pass the lemonade. I'm boiling up here. We've had over 90 degree weather for a couple of days and it's suppose to be like this for the rest of the week. We have had a little rain so the garden isn't burning up but I sure am!

DH doesn't like A/C so I resort to fans especially in the bedroom. Can't even think of canning but really need to. I've got stringbeans coming out of my ears. All I want to do is sit in the shade with my feet in a bucket of well water.

Heard from friends in Vermont who say their weather is much the same so it doesn't seem to matter how far north you are. Of course, I'll be wishing for just a few warm degrees come January. Then you'll hear me complain about how cold it is. I guess I'm never satisfied!

Hang in there.

-- Trevilians (aka Dianne in Mass) (Trevilians@mediaone.net), August 07, 2001.

We are getting the same type of weather here in Northern Ohio too. Our garden looks pitiful. It always starts out slow but by the beginning July it usually takes off. Looked at first like it would again this year but now I can tell there is no way it will make it. Pretty green bean plants with not many beans on them, don't know where the cucumber plants went, won't be enough tomatoes to can, all the pepper plants are scraggly and even the zucchini is small and hardly producing. Very disappointing, especially since this year we really needed it to do well.

The grass here NEVER turns brown - until this year. Oh, well, at least it cut down on mowing time.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), August 07, 2001.

Patty, I'm in Maine, in the mid-coast area and it's been d... hot! Like you, over 2 wks. totalled of 90+ temps. We are 10 inches below normal rainfall. I dislike it terribly! At this rate, Nova Scotia is looking better and better!!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), August 07, 2001.

Hi Patty,

I wish I could tell you it will end soon. I wish it would to. Here in western Maine the conditions are the same as yours. My garden is not just frying, its well done already. The only things still doing really well are the arugula and radishes. The tomatoes are still hanging in there to. There's a pretty good breeze today but all it does is move the hot air around. Hopefully we'll cool off soon.

-- Murray Herrick (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), August 07, 2001.

90 would be a cold front in Oklahoma right now. It's been better than 100 for close to a month. Rain is something we aren't likely to get until the end of September or sometimes well into October. Can't swim in the creek, it dried up about the middle of July. My geese hang out around the water faucet hoping someone will turn on the water. The pond isn't even what you could call cool. There are days I won't let the kids even swim because with the humidity, even being wet doesn't cool you off. Our hay only made about a third of what it should have. I am in northeastern Ok, it's much worse in the western part of the state. Yes, it's HOT!

-- Mona in OK (modoc@ipa.net), August 07, 2001.

I can't make you New Englanders feel better, but you sure made me feel good. I'm so sick of humidity and heat, and I keep wondering why we didn't go further north where summers are summers like I had as a child, not steam baths. It's nice to be reminded that the grass is not greener on the other side--in fact, it sounds like it's quite brown. And I just mowed our grass that was almost knee-high after too much rain!

-- Katherine in KY (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.

Patty, I'm down on the shore of Lake Ontario and it's just as bad here! The ash trees in the low spots look like someone turned a blow torch on them with the leaves all going brown. YUCK! I'm hoping that some tail end of Hurricane Barry will finally bring us some rain. Keep your fingers crossed!

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), August 07, 2001.

*pant, pant, pant* I know, I am vegetating in front of the fans, instead of picking those beans like I should be doing. Daughter is presently employing torture techniques to extract a promise to take her swimming. Radio is now saying it is 95 degrees out there.

It is August. In 25 days, it will be September. It WILL get cooler.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.

Sorry Patty, I thought you were closer to "the city". My mistake. I don't know which I like least - the heat we are having this summer or the excessive rain we had last summer. Do you have any ripe tomatoes yet?

-- Cindy in NY (cjpopeck@worldnet.att.net), August 07, 2001.

I'm in New York too. Good that you have a creek! Put the kids to work building a stone dam in the creek for a neat swimming area. Fun on a hot day. Good time to take dogs in creek for a bath, who cares if you get wet today!They'll love it too! We are now pumping water with the gas pump into plastic water storage tanks on the pick up truck ( 65 gallon and 210 gallon) and trucking it to the rubbermaid 50 gallon tanks in the sheep lots. The little farm ponds are almost all dry now. Thank goodness for the brook, the same one I cursed in '96 for flooding us out!

-- Kate henderson (kate@sheepyvalley.com), August 07, 2001.

Cathy , not a problem I just always laugh when i tell people I live upstate and they say where outside Albany ? Hehe ! I actually feel sick from the heat .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), August 07, 2001.

Well, it's early evening here in Downeast Maine and we had something falling from the sky...think it was rain!!? Felt nice, but it didn't last. It's still 88 degrees. Weather people say it should get down to the 70's this weekend. Sure hope so! And I have to say, I'm one of those people who never complains about the cold...I love to shovel snow, too! Really!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), August 07, 2001.

Hey,

I feel your pain in the mountains of east Tennessee too. Although we've had plenty of rain. Better start planting banana and cocoa nut palms, looks like global warming is for real.

CQ

-- Carter (chucky@usit.net), August 07, 2001.

Well....let me put it this way! I told my husband last night that there would be no sex until we get an air conditioner! Would you beleive the stores are sold out! LOL! He called all over and we're picking one up tomorrow at 8:00AM. The store has 24 of them coming in by truck and 19 of them are already sold!

-- Ardie From WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), August 07, 2001.

oy vey Ardie ;) It was 102 here in my part of southern cali last I looked if that makes you feel any better. Of course it's only 30% humidity out now and this is about average temp for this time of year. We've only had a light rain once since May.

-- Dave (something@somewhere.com), August 07, 2001.

I would not be whinning if this was normal for us , we would have choosen to live here .Its not NORMAL HELP.Someone save me , I'm melting {hopefully pounds off}ok I'm done for now .Thanks for listening.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), August 07, 2001.

Nova Scotia is hotter than Hades too! We have been well over 30's that is definately over 90 F too. Not bad on the coast with the breeze but inland(where I am) is terrible. The animals are out early mornings, and back to their shelters in the afternoons so that's what the children and I are doing too! It does cool in the evenings but this old 1840's farmhouse sure keeps the heat upstairs.Tip for non air conditioner folks-- A bowl of ice in front of a fan will blow nice cool air.

-- Terri in NS (Terri@tallships.ca), August 07, 2001.

Well...maybe Cape Breton? Isn't that further out and cooler?? Time to get out my atlas, I guess :-)!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), August 07, 2001.

Can you believe it???? western NY has been hot too... reminds me of the summer of 1988, was really hot, we decided to get a swimming pool and couldn't even find a wading pool, we even went as far as Erie, PA! Here in Arkansas its been tooooo hot for me, miss the east, and i thought VA/NC was hot? hmmmmmm we are in our 3rd maybe 4th week of 90, was 100 last week. Too hot for me.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.

I just checked the radar on a weather staion. It lookes like parts of (far) NNY is getting a thunderstorm. Hope you get some rain. The weather staion said the dewpoint is 77 degrees. That's almost tropical. Humidity is near 100 per cent and it's almost 80 degrees at 10:10 PM. This weather is almost scary. We most always get a break after a few days. People around here keep talking about the microburst we had a few years ago and how the weather is even worse now - yuck!

-- Tracey Burnash (burnash@gisco.net), August 07, 2001.

Just remember all that snow last winter, and going out in the knee deep snow to knock the ice from the animals' water troughs!

-- Christina in CT(not to far from LI Sound, thank goodness!) (introibo2000@yahoo.com), August 07, 2001.

Adding to that 90s+ temp & humidity here in northern Mi. & NO rain since the first of June the Fire danger is at the EXTREME level!!!!

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), August 07, 2001.

Adding to that 90s+ temp & humidity here in northern Mi. & NO rain since the first of June the Fire danger is at the EXTREME level!!!! Got to learn how to do the RAIN dance!......anybody know how?????

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), August 07, 2001.

Can I offer you any cheese to go with our whine? Yesterday we took the family to the amusement park. We were blessed with some cloud cover early on and then it started to rain..about 10 minutes of intermittent sprinkles and that was it. The the dang sun came out and the heat began to climb. It could have been worse..it could have been last week when it felt like it was over 40 degrees C..that real hot for those not on the Centigrade. The boys and I abandoned the homestead on Friday for the beach and had a little relief because the wind was off the water..but the wind shifted and the hot air off the land took that delightful cool breeze away. The weeds in the paddocks are drying up like mad, the sheep bleat a lot but aren't eating much hay so can't be too hungry (get grain daily), the chicken walk around or lay in the shade with their beaks open panting. The evenings have been lovely and cool but if we leave the windows open the bugs get in even through our screens so we use the AC upstairs. I used to say "Who needs AC in NS? Are those people insane? Open a window for cryin' out loud!" Now I am wishing I had a big ass industrial unit!! Guess the laughs on me for being a smart ass. ;o) If it didn't mean winter would come I'd be wishing for October right now.

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), August 08, 2001.

Allison...are you talking about those little tiny gnats (no-see-ems) coming through the screens? I've found that if I wait to open the windows after the lights are off they wont come in. I think the light attracts them!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), August 08, 2001.

I'm up here with Patty in the arctic regions of NNY :) Coming in from the hay field at 9:00 PM last night the sky was filled with heat lightning, not a drop of rain. Doesn't even cool down nights so you can get a decent rest. The only good thing about the weather is that hay is drying like crazy, should be no risk of barn fires this year from spontaneous combustion.

-- Polly (NNY) (oakridge@northnet.org), August 08, 2001.

Today is suppose to be even hotter and more humid than yesterday. I thought I had left Oklahoma several years ago :-). No, it's not quite that bad but it is miserable. Very thankful for our window unit downstairs. Everyone had to sleep downstairs last night as it felt like a sauna upstairs.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), August 08, 2001.

Global warming is a liberal tree-hugging myth. It's all in your heads.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 08, 2001.

Alison, we have those little screen crawling bugs in Minnesota, too. And they can BITE!!! I've found that if you hang a sticky fly tape by the light bulb, they land on it and within an hour or two they're gone for the rest of the evening. Seems to work pretty well for us.

-- Sandra Nelson (Magin@starband.net), August 08, 2001.

Just now read your post about the heat! it is so MUGGY here in the south and the heat is so oppressive! It really is hard to deal with. And we are getting by WITHOUT air conditioning this year...saving lots on our electrical bill!

I make sure all my animals have plenty of fresh cool water at all times which means changing out the water in mid day usually. Also my rabbits all get bottles of ice at lunch EVERY day and the bunny barn fan is on all day until late each night.

There have been some nights it has been almost stiffling. A ceiling fan in the bedroom and a fan on a stand helps. We drink plenty of liquids, do hard outside work early IF WE CAN, and try not to overdo.

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), August 08, 2001.

Good one, Soni! :-D

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), August 08, 2001.

Man, I guess I really screwed up- just got home from visiting the Yuppie Boyfriend in Dallas, where it was around 104-107 every day and dry- I couldn't wait to get home to Fla where at least we are getting rain. Ha! Drove through town today and saw a thermometer that read 106. We have had so much rain that water is standing everywhere and the mosquitos are so bad I can't step out the door at night. (NOT complaining about the rain, just the skeeters. LOL)

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), August 08, 2001.

Sorry folks, it is my fault it is hot in NY, Maine area. We left Oklahoma to take the kids to a camp in Maine, planning in part to enjoy the cooler weather...the heat followed me. Sorry about that!! We go home on Friday, perhaps the weather will cool down then for you. lol It is still cooler here then home, but we were told to bring sweats because it was so cool up here. I would really love so me shorts about now!! Hang in there, you will be ok. Cindy

-- Cindy in OK (cynthiacluck@yahoo.com), August 08, 2001.

As for screen proof bugs...some are no see ums and some are these itty bitty little mothy things. Some skeeteres get in too. These windows are sliders and they really seem to let EVERYTHING in! as for waiting for lights out...Oh how I wish that could be so but about 6 months ago the 4 yr old developed a terror of the dark. has to have his light on, his door open and often a light in the hallway too..all of which is visible through our bedroom window at the other end of the hall. Sucks to be me...LOL There was a break in the humidity today but it was still plenty warm. seemed cooler though. :o)

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), August 08, 2001.

Whine, whine, whine! My turn. It has been over 100 degrees here in southeast KS for about 6 weeks. And NO rain. The gardens are gone. Picked the last tomato yesterday. All the tomatoes rotted on the vine before they ripened. Glad I got my salsa canned. However the habanero peppers are just now comming on and I don't know what to do with them. Guess I'll freeze them until I can figure it out. We are watering everyday, but only the perennials. This is the third summer that has been soooooo hot and dry. Last winter was one of the worst we have ever had. How about some global warming in the winter. Our air conditioner never shuts off. Temp never gets below 80. Had the highest electric bill EVER. Just had the propane tank filled today, getting ready for winter. Talk about a double slap in the face.

-- Belle (gardenbelle@terraworld.net), August 08, 2001.

How about a little whine from N.W. CT? Yup, it's hot enuff to melt the streets and cause the trees to spontaneusly (sp?) burst into flame! And, now I'm gonna boast! Canned every morning this week so far, starting on Sunday :-] (smirk). 'Course, I made sure I was done and out of the house by noon! (I may be a martyr, but I ain't STOOPID!) Bread-n-butter pickles on Sunday, Spiced Blueberry Jam on Monday, a gallon of fermented pickles and 14 pints of lo-salt dills on Tuesday, and (today was the killer) a triple batch of Plum-honey preserves and a double batch of Honeydew-Lime preserves! Jars,jars everywhere - and the kitchen is a disaster area! Spent this afternoon in a friend's pool, and have the fan set up in the bedroom, moving the hot air around...no A/C...ach, who needs it! After spending time in a canners kitchen, 90+ is nuttin!!!!

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), August 08, 2001.

We have the fair going on here and I felt like I was going to pass out on Monday. The 4H kids kept wetting down their animals but I felt sorry for the animals in the petting zoo. We usually go all week but after that day, we've stayed close to the pool. Going on Saturday for the open goat show and Grand Prix. Said it was going to be cooler by then. Hope so.

Am I going to see you there Patty?

-- Dee in NJ (gdgtur@goes.com), August 08, 2001.

Bad Cindy..bad.........Now please go home and take your dam heat with you!!!!!! Ok so if it's all in my head .....how come my bod is complaining so??.....99 today!!!whew.......no ac, but good fan...

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), August 08, 2001.

I'll outwhine all of you!!!

I'm still working on getting my land so for the time being I'm working at a storage facility/uhaul rental center. Alllll, paved blacktop. One of our customers had to be taken to the hospital yesterday after he collapsed from the heat.

Supervisor came in and had me go out on the lot with him for three hours while he cut locks and got the units ready for auction. The more I said the heat was killing me the slower he got.

I had heat stroke about 12 years ago and my internal thermostat has been messed up ever since. Can't take the heat, thats why we moved up to VA from FL. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!

-- stephanie nosacek (pospossum@earthlink.net), August 10, 2001.

Jeez, is it bad EVERYWHERE? Or is it just the whiners who are posting? :)

Here in cold, rainy Orygun, it's the hottest it's been since the summer of 1977! It got up to seventy-two degrees. I'm sweating buckets. I can't wait for winter!

Seriously, it is the hottest in 24 years, I think. It got up to AT LEAST 110 today. That's what the temp was when I checked the thermo at about three thirty. It might have been a little hotter earlier; I didn't look at the thermo until I came in for a break from digging..

At least it's still cooling off at night, so the house is staying pretty cool.

JOJ

SO glad I left Texas back in '68!

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@ecoweb.net), August 10, 2001.

I'll bring that cheese if I can whine too! We finally got rain today (I can't remember the last time). Although our temps have "only" been in the mid-upper 90's, the heat index has been registering 110- 115 for weeks. We've been living (Mom, Dad, 4 kids, 2 dogs and 2 cats) in the living room, near the window unit for at least 3 weeks (though I've lost track of time). DH doesn't understand why I've grumpy after being in the heat all day (so hot that ice melts before it gets near the fan!), trying to bake bread because yesterday's is already molding, and trying to can what food is surviving this weather. Been sick from the heat, and can't let the kids play in their bedrooms (thermometer has been reading 96 or so upstairs - with the windows open and the fans on!) Do wish we didn't have an electric bill to deal with...

-- Tami (Iowa) (miketami@iowatelecom.net), August 10, 2001.

Here in western Oklahoma, anything under 100 is considered a cold spell! I waited til 9:30 the other night to do some outside projects, the radio said it was 97! I'll try midnight tonight, might need a jacket. HA!

-- cowgirlone (cowgirlone47@hotmail.com), August 10, 2001.

Thank goodness! a break! from the heat/humi ......check a weather map....my area will dip to the mid 40's tonigh...wow thank goodness...

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), August 10, 2001.

Rain!!!!!!!!! Glorious wet beautiful life giving thirst quenching RAIN!!! sarted last night and has beencoming down nicely . I hope it keeps up for a couple days at least!

-- Alison in N.S. (aproteau@istar.ca), August 13, 2001.