June 28, 2013

Not an ice day

Today would have been an ice day except that I can't do that anymore. Last week I did walk all the way to the Fred Meyer's pharmacy and back, but that meant carrying a bag with my left hand, leaving my right hand free for my cane.

I can't push my shopping cart, with both hands, even if it's empty, at least not that kind of distance. It would be even worse if it was carrying 80 or 100 pounds of ice. Not in the cards.

So I've got all my windows open, and a fan blowing in at my deck door. My computer table is in what the designers here thought would be a dining room, and there's an overhead fan, which is running.

And so, like an idiot, I'm cooking a hot lunch in my oven.

Oddly enough, Accuweather (on my phone) doesn't agree with the US Weather Bureau about how hot it's going to be. Accuweather says we'll hit 100 next Monday (moan). All their predictions are 5-10 degrees warmer than US Weather Bureau.

Which is weird; I thought they got their predictions from the US Weather Bureau.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Daily Life at 01:45 PM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 195 words, total size 1 kb.

1 What was your technique again about cooling your apartment, if you don't mind telling?

Posted by: Jaked at June 28, 2013 03:21 PM (qSJoi)

2

A plastic tub on the counter in my kitchen, with two or three blocks of ice in it, and a fan above there blowing air over the top of the ice. Every once in a while I would dump out meltwater and/or add another block of ice.

As to air conditioners, see the FAQ.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 28, 2013 03:30 PM (+rSRq)

3

Even the national weather service has a few different mathematical models for forecasting.  Back home where my folks live, one of the local TV stations would give a schizophrenic weather forecast; "here's what model 1 says, here's what model 2 says, and here's what model 3 says... so plan for a bright, sunny, calm day with significant blowing snow, I guess..."


Posted by: Mikeski at June 28, 2013 06:25 PM (Zlc1W)

4

Safeway does sell ice blocks, and I'm about due for another delivery on Monday. Given that it's supposed to be blazingly hot that day no matter who is doing the forecasting, I think I'll get some ice included.

It's not a real good solution, though, because they have a $50 minimum on orders, and a day's worth of ice is about $15. So it isn't really practical for me to do that multiple days in a row.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 28, 2013 06:43 PM (+rSRq)

5  Looks like the whole west is getting nailed. There's a prediction of a high of 117 in Vegas. (yikes!)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 28, 2013 06:50 PM (+rSRq)

6 Yeah, it's all nice and warm... and warmer... and hot the next few days.

Posted by: sqa at June 28, 2013 07:02 PM (ehYGU)

7 It broke 100 here in Dallas.  Of course, it's only a little early for that kind of weather.

Posted by: RickC at June 28, 2013 07:20 PM (WQ6Vb)

8 117 is nothing for Vegas. They are very low, about 2200 ft. They hit 112 every day even without any hit waves. I drove through once and took a picture of my car's dash showing that much. The next moment it was 113

But the real heat happens in Phoenix. The bottom of the valley is only at 1100 ft, and they also create a monstrous heat island effect. They should be nibbing at 130 in the heat wave.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at June 28, 2013 07:24 PM (RqRa5)

9 Having lived through 115F weather in Sydney (once) I wouldn't want to live in Las Vegas or Phoenix.  They'd be drier than Sydney, but dry or not, that's too darn hot.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at June 29, 2013 06:08 AM (PiXy!)

10 I was wrong about Phoenix, apparently. Only 118 today.

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at June 29, 2013 07:28 AM (RqRa5)

11 It barely skritched 70 today here at Pond Central... but that was accompanied by 90% humidity.  I dealt with it until about a half-hour ago, when I realized my sinuses hurt like hell, my mood sucked and my keyboard was gummy.

I don't like humidity, is what I'm saying.

Posted by: Wonderduck at June 29, 2013 02:06 PM (rY5SD)

12 We don't usually have that problem here. When it gets hot, it's also dry. But I remember hot muggy days in Boston, and yeah they were really miserable.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 29, 2013 02:17 PM (+rSRq)

13 This past monday, it was sunny and 85, and the humidity was around the same number.  It was so intolerable that once I got back to The Pond, I called to make an appointment to get the DuckMobile's a/c fixed.

$175 well spent.

Posted by: Wonderduck at June 29, 2013 02:59 PM (rY5SD)

14

Well, Accuweather keeps saying that we're going to boil on Monday and Tuesday, so I just made arrangements. I'm getting deliveries from Safeway on both Monday and Tuesday, and both are supposed to include 10 blocks of ice each. I divided the rest of my grocery order between them to make sure they're both above the minimum order.

My luck, it'll turn out they're out of ice both times.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 29, 2013 07:20 PM (+rSRq)

15 Ah, for the days of the Iceman, with his horse-drawn wagon and those massive tongs....

I wonder if handing out ice chips to the kids led to the invention of the ice cream truck.

I thought it was this thread, but I guess it was somewhere else where someone pointed to a video of making a cooler from a styrofoam cooler, a small fan, and a piece of PVC pipe.  Cost $20-30.  Of course, in the back of AOPA Pilot, there's an aviation version called "Arctic Air" that is basically the same thing, but will set you back over $4k.

I suppose there's no room for a small, 5 cu-ft chest freezer to make your own ice blocks (and store food in).  The laws of thermodynamics would demand moving it out onto the deck or something to avoid being more trouble than it's worth.

Posted by: Mauser at June 29, 2013 08:53 PM (cZPoz)

16 There's no where here to put such a thing.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at June 29, 2013 08:56 PM (+rSRq)

17
My luck, it'll turn out they're out of ice both times.

Geez, Steven, why do you jinx yourself? Have faith in the ice fairies!

Posted by: Jaked at June 29, 2013 09:11 PM (qSJoi)

18 I think I just figured out a career for Mizore...

Posted by: ubu at July 02, 2013 07:53 AM (GfCSm)

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