Wave

Did I survive the small heat wave last week?  I did.

PHEW!

It certainly was not on par with the heat dome of last year (thank heavens), it was more of a "regular" Summer hot.  

I had planned to go with Jason out to a beach or a lake every day to get away from my apartment and hopefully cool down.  I'd planned to run my air conditioner unit all day and the noise of it and the fans get to me so I figured I'd run it all day and come back to a cool place.

It wasn't as "cool" a place as I might have hoped or expected but it cooled and that made a huge difference.

Jason's place, where we'd stop to unload and maybe have dinner would be in the thirties when we got back to it in the evening (between 6 and 7?) and so we'd have to sit outside and then I'd go home (between 8 and 9?) to a place that was 24 and so while it wasn't cold it was cool and cooler and it made a massive difference for me.

I think I ended up at the beach four of the seven days of the week last week.  I'd purchased a beach umbrella and wouldn't have been able to handle the beach without it, I need some shade for sure.  Even with that, it was hot there.  Especially after travelling in a car with air conditioning.  And yes, heat causes anxiety and panic attacks for me.  So getting to the beach there would be a bit of a frenzied rush to get the umbrella up and things under shade and then Jason, who had already put his swim trunks on would head straight into the water while I did the "changing in public" dance of not exposing anything while changing, and then I'd head down to the water.  (With hat and sunglasses and water shoes and a "rash guard" shirt acting as a UV block).

And then I would slowly slowly walk into the water.  Feet are fine... calves... need a little time.  Mid thighs, even more time.  And then I'd get to sort of bum area and just kind of wait.  And often wait and wait and wait.  Because COLD water man!  But most times, eventually, I'd manage to wet my top half down and then eventually get in to the water and that was lovely.

I'd downloaded a tide app and after the sudden (seemingly sudden) tide coming in early in the week I made sure to kind of watch once it hit a certain part.

We also noticed the water temp changing over the week.  As in some days it was "warm" and the last day we went (Saturday?) it was not.  As the tide rolled in, the "beach" parts could get bathwater warm, (I wished I had a thermometer honestly) but that would sometimes last for a while and sometimes just for a few minutes.  So I noticed the water not being the same all week, it was really fascinating.

So yeah, on some days I'd spend most of my day in my cool-er but noisy (the A/C is noisy, and I also run four fans to push the cooler air around) and dark place (blinds closed and covered by stuff to try to keep the sun out) or I'd head to the water once I was able and come back to a cool-er place.  I don't turn things on right away in the morning (I would were it another heat dome) and I don't keep them on all night.  At some point in the evening (10?  11?) near bedtime, I shut things down bit by bit and open up the windows for some real air (and maybe cool air?) and the temp inside always jumps a degree at least, but the quiet is necessary for me.  Plus I'd be physically cool (rather than having over heated like every other summer) so more able to handle a little "warmth".

I doubled my usually sleep "helping" stuff and got some sleep later in the week (which makes a huge difference) but most nights I'd be trying to sleep in my bedroom that was around 24 C and waking up to a bedroom that had only cooled a degree or maybe two at most.  Not the end of the world, but I much prefer me a cool place to sleep.

So yeah, I am really happy with how well I survived this heat wave.  It wasn't ideal.  It was difficult.  There are parts about it I did not like, but I was "ok" which is amazing.  Looks like I might get through this Summer after all!

(Knock on wood NO JINXING!)