We are poised for a historic heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest this weekend, and it’s all anyone is really talking about around here right now, myself included.
Today will be warm, in the mid to upper eighties, but then we have a decent chance of hitting three 100+ days in a row. For an area where only a third of homes have any kind of air conditioning (including the inefficient window kind like we have), it’s going to be dangerously hot.
To prep for that, cooling centers are being set up, and reminders to check on elderly and vulnerable friends and neighbors are going out. This is the kind of temperature that people die in – again, for those who scoff at the “extreme heat” here, remember that most people don’t have air conditioned to hide in. And average temperatures this time of year are in the sixties and seventies.
Friday’s Frugal Five
1. Our unhoused population is some of the most vulnerable with this heat wave, as they don’t have a home to hide inside in the air conditioning. Beyond cooling centers, if they’re comfortable going, water is going to be extremely important this weekend and into next week.
Locally, I’ve sent money to a water drive to supply folks for this weekend. If you’re in the area, David from The Malcontent News is behind this effort and is collecting water and other supplies Saturday morning (and is also accepting funds via Venmo, which is what I did).
2. With warm weather already upon us earlier this week around eighty degrees, we’ve headed down to the beach a short drive from our house. Again I’m reminded that we live in a special area when we spend time hanging at the beach park so close to home.
I went swimming in a new to me swimsuit, which I find I love. It’s yellow and black, a color I would have never picked out even to try on myself. One of the really fun parts of not buying myself clothing but saying yes to hand me downs is that I find new favorite pieces – ones I would never have picked out for myself.
3. This heat also has the garden kicking into full gear, and the berries are starting to ripen at a faster pace. The kiddo has been enjoying making fresh fruit milkshakes from the berries he’s picked himself. We’ve been making them with oat milk ice cream and water, which is actually awesome. Even if you can do dairy, I’d highly recommend it.
We’re also picking kale, garlic scapes, onions, and leeks at least 3-4 times a week still, and now the sugar snap peas are also ripening. We picked even the small peas last night for dinner because there’s a good chance they won’t make it through this heat, but they sure are tasty. Not too long now until the first of the tomatoes…..
4. Our chicks have been an endless source of entertainment since we picked them up a couple weeks ago. We’ve given them their first treats now, starting with hard boiled egg. It took them a bit to figure out it was food, but they’re learning. Much faster they grasped that worms were food.
The kiddo and his neighbor bestie went to work digging up worms to feed to the chicks, and then shouted commentary like a football game when the chicks ran around stealing the worms from each other. Endless entertainment, I tell you. We’ve very quickly become chicken people.
5. Regina and I are putting on a live event this next week due to overwhelming interest in the Women’s Personal Finance community. We’ll be presenting an Intro to Investing Coffee Hour Chat – as with all things WPF, our goal is to be low key and approachable. Simply talking to friends to figure out this money stuff.
If you’re interested in attending, you can sign up via this link. The live event is for self identified women and non binary folx only, but anyone is welcome to request a copy of the replay. I put together the presentation for the event already, and I am so excited to share it with everyone. We’re passionate about all things women and money over at WPF, and teaching women how to start investing is right along those lines exactly.
Exercise Update
Friday was a couple of longer walks, ending the day around 16,000 steps. Saturday though, was a walk after breakfast, then a short one with the dogs, and then down to the breweries and back, which is a six mile round trip. I logged over 25,000 steps that day.
Monday and Thursday were beach and swimming time, and I also did over 100 squats on Thursday when I was hanging out at the park with the kiddo and his buddy. Otherwise, I’ve been trying to stretch more off and on throughout the day, because that’s been neglected far too much lately.
What’s the weather looking like in your area?
Your step count is Super impressive, as always!
Wow, after consulting the Fahrenheit to Celsius converter , I had to say – yep, 100F, is hot, too hot.
I hope it doesn’t last long / that the weather breaks into something cooler for you all soon.
Too too too hot. Now saying maybe 108-110F for Monday.
it’s getting hot here but early summer has been pretty terrific so far. and the masks went away at work and our gym will be back open next week. i’ll be saying goodbye to 20 pounds over the next couple of months.
Our neighborhood gym is closing 😩
I can see how those temperatures might be a problem for elderly people or those who aren’t conditioned to high temperatures. Here in the deep south I play tennis in 109 heat index on unshaded concrete courts in the early afternoons all the time. And I’m in my mid sixties. But like I say, we are used to it and we drink a lot of water and sports drinks when we play. And we do have air conditioning to go home to. We do our morning runs at 5:30am. Its still brutally hot but bearable. I’m playing singles again today after running this morning. I’ve got to say it takes some of the fun out of it when you are just drenched with sweat and feel that heat radiating off of the concrete through the soles of your tennis shoes.
The being conditioned to high temperatures is also a huge deal. These temperatures were 25-40° hotter than our typical.