Dog days are here again, what are you doing/not doing-to cope?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
V

vitauta

Executive Chef
Joined
May 19, 2011
Messages
4,428
Location
va by way of upstate ny
it seems sirius, the dog star, is having its way with us again. how are you spending these dog day afternoons? anyone know the astronomical explanation for our current dog day sufferings? i made extra room in the freezer compartment of my refrigerator yesterday, and put in four extra ice cube trays. while i know that hot drinks are better for you than chilled ones in hot weather, i cannot seem to convince my non-intellectual sweltering self of this practical truth....:cool:
 
vitauta said:
it seems sirius, the dog star, is having its way with us again. how are you spending these dog day afternoons? anyone know the astronomical explanation for our current dog day sufferings? i made extra room in the freezer compartment of my refrigerator yesterday, and put in four extra ice cube trays. while i know that hot drinks are better for you than chilled ones in hot weather, i cannot seem to convince my non-intellectual sweltering self of this practical truth....:cool:
Click to expand...

I swear, when I read your comment; " i made extra room in the freezer compartment of my refrigerator yesterday..." at that point, I was sure I was next going to read "so I could crawl in the freezer to cool off"..., but you fooled me! :LOL:

I'm hiding inside the house, inside the car or inside some other places with air conditioning. My yard looks like hell, and needs mowing badly, but I just can't bring myself to go out and do it lately. Here in the Southern USA, it's hot and humid. Pretty typical for this time of year.

I'm listening to a duet of my air conditioner running and my wallet sobbing. My last electric bill was the highest one I've ever had in my life ($350). Yikes!!!! :ohmy: My A/C is set on 78F, but it runs, and runs, and runs. I just had it break down and the dual capacitors were replaced and the freon topped off ($218). I now have 57F air at the vents.
 
Last edited:
Not much different here. I am loving it. I became unemployed a few weeks ago, which was a mixed blessing, so it is sort of like a holiday for me. Shorts, sandals, kayaks, bbq, the odd playing gig, cleaning out a few storage areas around the house, ice cold beverages. I am going to enjoy it until I have to go back to work.
 
A/C and fans make it quite comfortable and cooking on the grill helps. The great outdoors-you can have it.
 
Thank goodness for AC and ceiling fans! I've made coffee ice cubes which facilitates iced coffee, one of my favorite coolers, AND keep plenty of my favorite sodium-free sparkling mineral water in the fridge. So refreshing. :)

Watermelon helps remove the humidity. Makes a tasty salad with feta, arugula and a lemony vinaigrette.

Avoiding cooking wherever possible. Have nowhere to grill except my stovetop, and even turning on the gas heats up the kitchen.
 
vitauta said:
while i know that hot drinks are better for you than chilled ones in hot weather, i cannot seem to convince my non-intellectual sweltering self of this practical truth....:cool:
Click to expand...


I've never seen any substantial medical evidence to back that rumor, so give your non-intellectual sweltering self a pat on the back. :) We were warned against it in the athletic training courses I took in college. While the following may not be from the perfect medical source, it sums up what I was taught in school and have heard from most medical professionals:

"Some doctors suggest that room temperature or body temperature water is better than cold water, because the body has to expend energy to heat cold water to body temperature, resulting in some water loss. On the other hand, some doctors say that after physical exertion, you should drink cold water since it will help cool the body more effectively than room temperature water.What is clear is most people who drink cold water are likely to consume more of it, since it tends to taste better and is more satisfying. Even if drinking cold water results in marginal water loss, the extra water you will probably drink will help make up for this."


As this suggests, the jury seems to be out on room or body temp vs. cold water, but the only arguments I've seen for actual warm/hot drinks is that they are more relaxing and that they make you sweat more. Personally, if I'm already overheated, a hot drink is not going to help me relax. As for the latter, if you can feel the sweat on your skin, you're sweating plenty already. Once you start to feel wet from sweat, (you need to wipe it away to keep from dripping, etc) it means you're sweating faster than it can evaporate (which is how sweating helps your body cool itself), so any more sweat is superfluous and wasteful.Then you just have to drink more water! It's true that warm and hot beverages can aid in digestion of fatty foods, but that has nothing to do with the temperature outside. Sorry, I don't mean to be a know-it-all, it's just one of the things they pounded into our heads in school. I'll step down off my soapbox now. :)




As for you question, I'm 7 1/2 months pregnant. When I asked my doctor how pregnant women survive during the summer here with the heat. He said "Stay out of it." I was pretty active throughout my first pregnancy, back in WA state, even hiking and such but it's just too hot here! I get my exercise walking around at work, and that's about it. I'm staying indoors, cooking in large batches every couple days so I can turn the stove on as infrequently as possible, and eating far too much ice cream! Like Timothy, I'm allowing my wallet to sob and recently turned up the AC. I ended up having to get IV fluids at the hospital last week, despite my 80+ ounces of water (mostly room temp;)) a day, because we were trying to tough it out to save on electricity. Now we'll just deal with the higher bill. It's not worth the risk!
 
Last edited:
It's most important to keep your head (and the brain therein) cool. Pour the cold water on your head and drink the room temp water.
 
Sprout said:
I've never seen any substantial medical evidence to back that rumor...
Click to expand...

Take two people and stand them next to each other in sweltering heat.

Give one some hot tea to drink and have that person drink it up quickly. It will make that person even hotter than they were, initially, and make them sweat profusely. When they have finished their self-torture, they will then be covered in sweat and both stopping that foolishness and the wind cooling them will make them THINK they are cooler than they were to start with.:rolleyes:

It's kind of like poking yourself in the eye....it feels so good when you quit!:ROFLMAO:
 
I like to float around the pool, reading my Kindle. Unfortunately, it's been too hot for that this past week. So it's inside with the A/C.
 
Last edited:
today i sat down to a double order of my favorite sushi rolls: spicy tuna, calif. roll w/avocado and cucumber, and spicy eel--accompanied by the usual wafer thin ginger slices and wasabi. i'm having this rare sushi treat along with a plate piled high with chilled watermelon wedges cut thickly, and a tall glass of scarcely sweetened ice tea with floating slices of lemon on top. i have turned off the a/c for two hours, but not my trusty little old faithful fan, which is helping to keep me cool while i savor my summer luncheon....okay, here's my deal: i figure my sushi extravagance has been bought and paid for with the electricity i have saved by not running the air conditioner for 2-3 hours...so that's my rationale, and i don't need to hear from any of you math geniuses about how i actually only saved 93c in electric either.... :)
 
Dawgluver said:
I like to float around the pool, reading my Kindle. Unfortunately, it's been too hot for that this past week. So it's inside with the A/C.
Click to expand...

You are a brave individual. Either that or you have a spare kindle laying around in case you drop that one in the pool. ;)
 
Sprout said:
You are a brave individual. Either that or you have a spare kindle laying around in case you drop that one in the pool. ;)
Click to expand...

Lol! I have a waterproof case! Works like a charm. A freezer ziplock works in a pinch too.
 
My electric bill last month was the lowest it has been at the farm--$60. Shock! So, I'm running the A/C at night. I keep a spray bottle handy that I fill will cold water--I mist myself all day long...no wonder I feel sticky! I am about to turn on the flash freezer and stuff my pillows in it...it's empty, the pillows will be nice and COLD by the time I go to bed...and I might do the same with the sheets and down duvet and I'll crank the A/C in the bedroom and close the door. But then, I like to sleep in a cold bedroom (with the A/C on I need my summer-weight down duvet). In the winter, the window is open the DH says it is like sleeping in a fridge...(the advantage of heating with wood). I don't know how he knows that...I'll have to ask him if he slept in the fridge when he was a child...I'll be gone most of August, so the electric bill shouldn't break the budget for the time I've been cranking the A/C. The temp is supposed to "drop" to a balmy 27C on Sunday--can't wait!
 
Last edited:
Yeah, but cool-to-cold give instant relief. We have only two window air conditioners, and we run one during the day, the other during the night. Neither quite do the job. Stepping outside and back in at least make you realize what work they ARE doing!

I make lots of extra ice cubes. My doggie loves them. I put a couple in her bowl and she is happy, both lapping up the water, then splashing with her paws to get them out, then playing "soccer" with them.

Every morning I get up and make a container of ice, plus add one tray to an extra bag. Don't have an extra freezer, just top of the freezer.

I am normally a really hot shower-taker, and showers are now luke-warm to-cool.

I do laundry, specifically drying, very early in the morning. Ditto any household jobs that require sweat.

Luckily, I am an early riser, so I think of things to cook right around sunrise that I can refrigerate and eat cold later.

Most of my female friends wouldn't dream of leaving the house without makeup and hot-curled and/or blow dried hair. I'm not much on either even in good weather, but what would be the point now?

Before I go to bed, I make sure we have at least a gallon of water in the fridge, and all 6 ice cube trays filled.

Lots of popsicles, preferably low sugar and/or low fat popsicles in the freezer.

Forget gardening. I just go out and water early. If the weeds want the garden, they can have it, I'm not going to fight them! Not in this heat!

It was different when I lived in Florida and had a fully central A/C house and a swimming pool. Then I'd fight it. Here I just say, OK, I give in. Of course it will only last a few weeks here, there it was months on end, but relieve was easier.
 
Come on over for a visit people, I'm still wearing jeans and the occasional hoodie. Its only about 73F right now.
 
Well--a friend was going to come out to the farm for "girls' night" on Sunday. I called today and she happened to mention her mom is in BC. Mom has an in-ground pool. We've moved girls' night to tomorrow night--she has to do pool chores...I plan on spending as much time as I can in the pool before I have to drive back to the farm Saturday morning. I was tempted to ask if I could "house sit" for her mom until I leave on Thursday...
 
one way to beat the heat is to find ways to get the chills. and you don't have to get the flu or run a high grade fever to do it, either. one very pleasant and effective way to do it is to tune in to sytycd on wednesday nights for two hours. you'll be looking for a throw cover in no time. okay, so that was my very lame way to (hopefully) turn somebody on to this really phenom dance show that has had my undivided attention two nights a week for the last four summers.--and goose bumps layered over exquisite thrills are guaranteed....:)
 
I have a pool, and generally, I swim til I am cool, do garden chores til I heat up, back to the pool, repeat as needed.

This week, the pool is too hot to be refreshing, so I am hanging out indoors. I let myself get heat exhaustion about 2 weeks ago, and the doc said stay out of the heat, period!! Once you suffer from heat exhaustion, you are more susceptible for a while, and I have done it twice already this summer. Dumb.

If you are sweating like a horse, and then get a little dizzy, get your silly butt out of the heat--don't let it progress to nausea and headache and spots in front of your eyes!! (And by the time you get to that point, your brain is not working correctly, so you are in real danger--you don't understand how hot you are.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom