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ETpro's avatar

What will all you Fluther muckers be mucking around with this summer?

Asked by ETpro (34605points) June 20th, 2012

Welcome to the first day of summer. It’s the summer solstice, and the mercury hit 96º F here in Boston today. With a dew point of 69º F, that translates to a heat index of 101º F. My wife and I had to get out and about in it. I kind of like the weather. I like cold winters, springs filled with new budding leaves and flowers, steamy hot summers and frosty falls with all the colors in the trees. Do you love the weather, or rail against it? Do you get out and muck around in the summer heat? What are your mucking plans for the muggy days of summer, 2012?

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57 Answers

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

I love the heat. Everyone wears less. Although that isn’t always a good thing.

jonsblond's avatar

Not a big fan of the heat, but I do love hot summer nights in the pool. Give me a pool or AC for an escape and I can handle the heat.

ragingloli's avatar

I curse the summer and the fusion reactor that it emantes from for all eternity.
I want to wrap my hands around its wretched neck, stare deep into its fiery eye and while I slowly turn to ashes, whisper in its ear: “to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”

Berserker's avatar

I hate heat, and I hate Summer. I feel sick, tired and depressed when there’s too much constant heat. I hate it that it gets dark so late, and light so early, really smacks my morale down. Today marks the beginning of a humid heat wave which is to last until this weekend. It was a scorcher, still bloody is. And we’re merely in June, much more of this to go on, I’m sure.
The only good thing about Summer is being able to shed some clothes, and thunderstorms.
Meh, I want Autumn and Winter already. I feel better in those seasons, mentally and physically. This sucks.

creative1's avatar

I love the warmth of New England Summers and plan to spend the time hanging in the lake that I love on this year. It feels so much cooler when your sitting in the water.

marinelife's avatar

I love going for drives, which we have already done some of. We are traveling to Seattle for vacation in August.

JLeslie's avatar

I love hot weather, but up above 95 is just a little too much. I’m not complaining, just saying the love only goes so far.

Plucky's avatar

I stay out of the summer heat as much as possible. It gives me migraines and skin rashes. I love camping though; as long as there’s a lake to dip in. We have so much too do this summer… Well I do (I’m the outdoors chore person in the house). But unforeseen vet bills will put some of that on hold.
I need to stain and refinish some wood furniture, which I have most of what I need for that already. Start up my new edge trimmer and whack some weeds/edges! Help my sister put fences up on her acreage. Get our office room finished. Um… and lots of doctor appointments this summer. Learn how to barbecue veggies and stuff! We got a barbecue as a gift. Hopefully, get our gate fixed (it doesn’t close because it’s warped from the ground shifting on that side of the house). The list just goes on and on.

athenasgriffin's avatar

Anytime it gets over 80, the only places I feel like mucking about are air conditioned. Heavily. My magic make-the-car-start-from-inside buttons get more use in the summer than the winter.

Now give me some snow and I’ll go outside barefoot. And enjoy it.

Fly's avatar

I’m with @Symbeline on this one…
I don’t even want to talk about the profuse amount of sweat I produced on my walk to and from Capitol Hill yesterday.
To make it even more uncomfortable, I found my drenched self in a room full of completely dry people in pristine suits who actually make money and could afford to take taxis…

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@Fly 95 and humid today. We have heat coming from all over.

Fly's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe It actually reached 100 at one point today, and I don’t even want to know what the heat index was…the rest of this week is going to be hell.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@Fly One word: Swim. I’m going to LP in a bit. I’m looking forward to that.

jonsblond's avatar

We also had temps in the 90s today with humidity. It was terrible. My daughter has been ill and running a temp of 104F the past few nights so I had to take her to the doctor today in our car with no air conditioning. She’s only been running a fever and coughing, but out of nowhere on the 17 mile trip to the doctor she puked in the back seat. Luckily I had a beach towel handy, but she had so much vomit come out of her it leaked a bit onto the car seat. We had to endure the smell of that vomit the rest of the way to the doctor, then to the pharmacy and back on home for another 17 mile road trip. The heat did not help with the stench! ugh. heat stinks

JLeslie's avatar

@Fly If underarm sweat is a concern, the best antipersperant is Certain Dri. You put it on at night and it lasts 2–3 days. When I really need to be in the heat I add my every day antipersperant deoderant over it on the second day. But, FYI some people think antipersperant is bad for us, can cause cancer. However, I have a friend paranoid of using microwaves, eats extremely healthy, and he uses Certain Dri because he sweats so much under his arms. I use it just when I know I am going to be out in the hot and am dressed in more than jeans and a T.

@jonsblond You might have already tried this, but in case you didn’t, waiting for ibuprofen to take affect (can be around 50 minutes) sometimes is too long for high fevers when we are miserable, cold compresses, washcloth in cold water and rung out, wipe down forehead, arms and legs, frequently making the washcloth cold again by wringing it in cold water can physically take down a fever. A cool bath is even better, not freezing cold, that is too shocking to the system, but most children won’t get into a cool bath when feverish. Sweating out a fever is a total lie, and can be dangerous.

mazingerz88's avatar

Two hours ago I boarded a metro train car which air-conditioning was not working. It was hot as an oven in there. However, I was too lazy to leave my seat at the next stop, walk out to take the next air-conditioned car just like what some people did. I thought there would be an upside if I stayed and bear the heat.

When I got off my stop, I didn’t mind the outside heat so much. I actually felt comfy. Maybe not so for those who just left their air-conditioned train car.

wundayatta's avatar

Rode my bike to work and home. Dunno how hot it was, but they were saying it would be the mid nineties. After I got home, I did some house repair work, and then I went to the pool. Unfortunately, in order to truly enjoy the pool, you need heat and humidity like this. It’s supposed to get north of 100 tomorrow. Yeehaw!

Fly's avatar

@JLeslie Not so much underarm, actually. I’m a frequent deodorant/antiperspirant applier, and my underarms don’t actually sweat too much to begin with. It’s pretty much…everywhere else. My face and neck especially. It doesn’t help that I have a whole bunch of long, thick hair, and I can’t seem to pull it up into an impromptu ponytail or bun and still have it look professional.

JLeslie's avatar

@Fly I can empathesize. If I am going to sweat anywear it is above my lip. Warning: don’t cut your hair short for summer unless you go very very short. You can’t pull a chin length bob into a ponytail or some sort of updo.

stardust's avatar

We don’t have a summer. If only the rain would **** off for a short while :/

Rarebear's avatar

Astrophotography.

Fly's avatar

@JLeslie Don’t worry, I have no plans to cut my hair short any time soon. I’m admittedly way too attached. ;)

Adagio's avatar

Sadly, it is not summer everywhere in the world, not here anyway…if only…

ETpro's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe 1 Ha! Yes. As less is sometimes more, but not often enough to establish a rule to that effect.

@jonsblond 1 I wonder how many people hate whatever the weather is and set the thermostat to 62° F in the summer but 78° F in the winter.

@ragingloli You do understand that the Sun’s corona is about 17,999,540.6 ºF, right. So rehearse your curses, because you’re going to have to say all that in the space of a few fempto-seconds. That’s part and parcel of why I just decide to like what the weather sends. Complaining about human endeavors sometimes serves to bring about useful change. Complaining about natural phenomena is an utter waste of breath.

@Symbeline Sorry to hear that the heat leaves you feeling so wretched. You could always move to Greenland, but with Global Warming, who knows how long that solution will work?

@creative1 Amen! Sounds like a prefect New England recipe for summer.

@marinelife Seattle should be wonderful in August. Enjoy.

@JLeslie 1 I can grasp that. Growing up in South Eastern Virginia I recall days when the air temperature was 99 °F and the humidity exactly matched the moist air already in your lungs. You’d breathe in and it would feel for the world like nothing happened. It was disquieting until I became aware of the physical causes of the sensation.

Coloma's avatar

I had a great summer solstice!
It is now 11:02 pm on a magnificent summer night in my hills. I spent the evening at a local tourist hub with a good city friend showing them around and dining on a grape arbored outdoor patio and listening to some amazing local talent at our open mic night.
I also signed up for my first open mic night next Weds. same place, for a bucket list moment of trying my hand at some stand up comedy! :-D

I am so excited! Been scribbling notes and material on & off for the last hour since I have been home.
This summer will find me fulfilling my bucket list inspite of some stress with this fucked up economy.
You only live once, live it NOW!

linguaphile's avatar

I can handle the heat and even the humidity… IF and only if there’s a breeze. If I find myself in heat that just sits and sits… I freak out.

My summer solstice was wet. Thunderstorms all day and just now subsided. Our place, thank goodness, doesn’t look like Duluth does right now. (Duluth’s in a state of emergency). What am I doing this summer? Moving—that’s taking up every waking moment.

…except when I’m on Fluther

bookish1's avatar

@ETpro : Have I ever mentioned that I love your diction? :)

I love the summer. I look forward to it all year. I grew up in the tropics, 5 miles from the beach. ok, I’m getting all verklempt.

I might be cold-blooded. I love basking in the sun. I even love the feeling of getting into a hot car! The humidity is great for my dry skin.

And I love the fruits and vegetables available where I live in the U.S. in the summer. Lots of small farms. Corn, tomatoes, zucchini, beans, strawberries, peaches, canteloupe, watermelon….

I am not sure how hot it will get in Paris this summer, but I’ll be here til the beginning of August. I’ll spend most of my days inside doing research, though. Then I have a few precious weeks to recover back home and drink at my favorite beautiful watering hole before I have to dress up and play Teacher again :-p

Coloma's avatar

@bookish1 Yes, but somehow I doubt you “play” teacher. I think you’re a natural. As I am a natural female George Carlin. lol
Damn, ya can’t fight your true life energy…just go with it. Besides, as long as you’re the black sheep, well, the world needs sheep of a different color, I may die poor, but I’ll die colorfully. lol

bookish1's avatar

@Coloma: Daww, thanks. I appreciate that :-) This’ll be my fourth semester at it so I definitely feel more confident! But dressing like a dapper bad-ass helps with that too :-p

And I wish I could see your stand-up routine! I read what you wrote in another thread about throwing in some “scenic masturbation point” quips haha!

Coloma's avatar

@bookish1 LOL…well, that’s one of my hangups, I dress to fit my true self, colorful bohemian poet type. Admittedly I am highly resistant to conservative clothing. I could pull it off, but I’m too damn stubborn. :-)

augustlan's avatar

I wish there were only two seasons, spring and fall. Extreme temps at both ends make me pretty miserable. If every day were between 60 and 80 degrees, sunny with a few wispy clouds, and it generally only rained at night, I’d be one happy camper.

creative1's avatar

@augustlan Sounds like you need to move to Hawaii where the temps range from 70’s to 80’s and it usually rains once a day for about an hour

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@linguaphile I saw the news from Minnesota. Nine inches of rain, nothing you can do when that hits. Even the seals ended up in the downtown section of town.

ragingloli's avatar

@ETpro
No, I do not. I do not use this wrong and immoral temperature scale.

tom_g's avatar

I have lived in Massachusetts nearly my whole life, and have hated the weather. But I hate how Massachusetts residents seem to be required to complain non-stop about the weather more than I hate the weather. I refuse to engage my neighbors in this game of competing complaints. We all choose to live here.

Note: We don’t have air conditioning in our house, and we get the complaints from our neighbors who have central air.

Also, I did spend a year in Isla Vista, CA, so I know what perfect weather feels like. Massachusetts does have an awful climate. But complaining about it should be a humiliating experience.

wundayatta's avatar

@tom_g And if you can’t complain about the weather, you complain about complaining about the weather? Hmmmm? :-P

tom_g's avatar

@wundayatta – C’mon man. I know you’re sharper than that. I actually deleted my disclaimer because I thought it would go without saying that Fluther isn’t real life. It is not stepping outside and meeting your neighbor. It’s a place for meta analysis.

Anyway, I did remove my disclaimer, so I suppose I left this one for the first joker.

Seriously though – have you been to Massachusetts during the summer or winter? If you can go 5 minutes without someone complaining to you about the heat or snow, I would be very surprised. I have had people get angry with me when I didn’t join in on the weather-hate.

wundayatta's avatar

@tom_g Son, I grew up in Massachusetts. I learned how to complain with the best of them! And oddly, having moved South, I have learned to enjoy the heat. For me, it has to do with giving into sweat and being able to wear cotton t-shirts. I never really minded being hot, I think. What I minded was making my uncomfortable shirts all wet and sticky.

My high school summer job was working on a dairy farm. I was responsible for unloading hay into hay lofts on the hottest days of the summer. Not just wet and sticky, but covered with chaff, too! Ah, the relief of the swimming hole under the Pine Street Bridge! That water was utterly freezing!

ZEPHYRA's avatar

Lying on a couch without energy even to bat an eyelid, dragging myself reptilian style to wherever it is I have to go and hoping the gas chamber effect of the heat will soon fade. Not a summer sprite!

sliceswiththings's avatar

This is my first non-summer, being in the UK. Everyone at home (Massachusetts as well) is complaining about the heat wave, but I’m jealous! It’s in the fifties here. I just had to wash two sweaters due to overuse. Brrrr! I’ll miss getting super hot and jumping in the ocean.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@sliceswiththings It’s not quite noon in Upstate NY, and it’s 91 degrees F or about 33 degrees C. It feels nice.

JLeslie's avatar

@augustlan You could move to FL anywhere north of Melbourne either coast. The link shows you the average temperatures. Right now it is 85F in Melbourne, 12:50 pm ET. Or, of course San Diego is even cooler year round, and dryer.

Coloma's avatar

We had a 100+ weekend last, but now, dropping into the high 70’s and low 80’s the next few days. My number 1 coping strategy for the heat is my cold hot tub. If I can fight my way past the dozen or so frogs that live under the flaps of the cover and, of course, my goose who paces back & forth looking forlorn until I say the magic words..” Do you want to go in the big, big tubby”

* Squaaaank!* lol

I also wash my hair in the icey cold hose, nothing like taking your body temp. down to near hypothermia for maximum refreshment.

linguaphile's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe I read about that too… poor seals. One of the most affected areas was the zoo and they lost almost all their farm/petting zoo animals. Wish we could siphon all that water and squirt it on Colorado and New Mexico, where they really need water right now.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@linguaphile That was terrible. What a screwed up weather system.

ETpro's avatar

@Coloma Damn I wish I could be there for next week’s Open Mic Night. Don’t forget your Fluther friends when you’re opening in Vegas and doing guest spots on the late night comedy shows.

@linguaphile I’m sure glad you didn’t get washed out like Duluth and Fond du Lac did. The TV coverage of that is heartbreaking. Best with your move. Where are you heading?

@bookish1 Why thank you. Nobody had ever told me I’ve got a nice diction before. :-)

@Coloma is quite right. Go with what’s natural to you. And loving all the fruits and vegetables of summer is certainly part of that. Paris can get fairly warm in July and August, but doesn’t get much rain. You should enjoy your time there.

augustlan Maybe it’s part conscious decision with me. I am like ””:@bookish1 Why thank you. Nobody had ever told me I’ve got a nice diction before. :-)

@Coloma is quite right. Go with what’s natural to you. And loving all the fruits and vegetables of summer is certainly part of that. Paris can get fairly warm in July and August, but doesn’t get much rain. You should enjoy your time there.

augustlan“bookish1”:bookish1 Why thank you. Nobody had ever told me I’ve got a nice diction before. :-)

@Coloma is quite right. Go with what’s natural to you. And loving all the fruits and vegetables of summer is certainly part of that. Paris can get fairly warm in July and August, but doesn’t get much rain. You should enjoy your time there.

@augustlan in loving the summer heat. When I lived in Saint Paul, MN, I enjoyed a brisk minus 50 °F with a wind chill of minus 100 °F. I admit it’s part decision. Since the weather won’t change in answer to my bitching, I might as well learn to like it. But I sure do love mild weather and sun in the spring and fall.

@creative1 Who doesn’t need to move to Hawaii?

@Adirondackwannabe The Minnesota flooding is sad to see, isn’t it?

@ragingloli If you want it in Celsius, it’s 10 million °C.

@tom_g I concur. Taking your theory a step further, I can almost always just decide to like what nature dishes up so long as it isn’t destructive—as in a tornado. But I recall going to the Ice Sculpture contest in Saint Paul, MN when it was windy and 30 °F below zero ( -34.44 °C). Even with insulated moon boots and arctic gloves, my hands and feet, and my nose got so cold I had to give up on what was a truly beautiful event to see.

@wundayatta Your a tough man to win with.

@ZEPHYRA It is what it is… :-)

@sliceswiththings Yeah, I spent some time in the UK. It isn’t known for intense heat.

@JLeslie Florida has some great weather, but some extreme weather as well. Hurricanes and tornadoes are not my cup of tea.

@Coloma A real extremophile.

@linguaphile Maybe someday we will invest in the infrastructure to do just that.

bookish1's avatar

I’ve got to agree with @wundayatta, it’s all about giving in to the sweat. And drinking plenty of lemonade with salt in it.

JLeslie's avatar

@ETpro Never had a tornado warning once where I lived when I lived in FL. There was one I remember in Miami, but it is extremely rare. Hurricanes you have days of warning, you can leave town if it freaks you out. Not that I am trying to convince you to go to FL, just always seems like people have an idea of FL that isn’t quite accurate.

Adirondackwannabe's avatar

@JLeslie I had a tornado go right by my house. I’ll never forget that sound. Plus we get the remains of hurricanes.That’s upstate NY.

JLeslie's avatar

@Adirondackwannabe What does that have to do with a tornado in FL? I live outside of Memphis now, and almost every year I am down in my tornado shelter with sirens blaring at least once. This is the first year I haven’t been, it’s been a rather quiet spring. When a “windstorm” hits here it is devastating. Houses aren’t built for it like FL, and there is barely warning.

bookish1's avatar

@JLeslie: FWIW, I lived through a hurricane in Florida in 2005 that completely fucked up my area. It wasn’t even a very strong hurricane, but it spawned a shit storm of tornadoes that knocked over every 40 foot ficus tree and powerline.

JLeslie's avatar

@bookish1 Oh, for sure tornadoes develop in hurricanes, and hurricanes can cause damage. I had $30k damage from Wilma, it was just the screen over the pool, and when it came down I realized how poorly it was nailed down. But, there is days of warning and much much fewer hurricanes than tornadoes in tornado parts of the country.

A week without power is nothing (I know sometimes it is a month for some) compared to the devastation and deaths that happen from tornadoes in the middle of the country, except for Katrina in NOLA, and that was the flooding. I think Andrew, which was a devastating hurricane had somewhere around 50 deaths. Tornadoes whip through every year and kill many more. Most hurricanes in FL have less than 10 deaths I bet and that is covering huge affected areas, and some of the deaths are stupidity like candles catching fire and generators causing monoxide poisoning.

ETpro's avatar

@bookish1 That sounds like an agenda I could get behind.

@JLeslie Florida definitely isn’t as tornado prone as Tornado Alley in the Mid-West and South-West. But it does get its share of severe weather. And with global warming, flooding and sink holes will become increasingly prevalent. But the bottom line is I really love the distinct change of seasons that New England gets.

@Adirondackwannabe It can happen just about anywhere. All you can do is reduce your risk by living outside the tornado zone, and by having a survival plan in place.

@JLeslie @bookish1 is quite right. A tropical depression or huricane can spawn a whole array of tornadoes.

@JLeslie A week without power would be something to me.

JLeslie's avatar

@ETpro I said hurricanes spur tornadoes. But, hurricanes are fairly rare, except for those two years during the time of Katrina, that was unusual for how many made landfall. A week without power happened to me once in 14 years of living in FL. One other time I lost power for a day and a half. That’s it. I know people who have lost power during a black out up north, others who have lost during blizzards and almost froze to death. But, statistically it’s true that there are fewer natural disasters to deal with in the northeast. I think I read once that Hawaii has the least amount of natural disasters in the US. Not sure if that is correct? They do have those volcanoes.

bookish1's avatar

@ETpro: I was almost 3 weeks without power after Frances in 2005. And then another hurricane came through a couple weeks later and we lost it again >_> We had to go to the Red Cross every day to get water, and ice to keep my insulin cool! And some people have even graver medical needs, eep.

JLeslie's avatar

@bookish1 3 weeks sucks. I think Frances might have been the one that really damaged my dad’s condo? Did it hit in the Melbourne area?

ETpro's avatar

@bookish1 We were without power for about a week When Hurricane Isabel hit Virginia Beach in 2003. We had just sold the house, and it was a Herculean task clearing all the downed limbs and fixing things back up in time for the closing. It was also sweltering hot. Livable, but definitely not fun.

This hurricane season is off to a roaring start. Four named storms already. That’s the most ever this early in the season.

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