I love the summertime and, perhaps I oughta get my head examined (I'm sure there's a few things wrong with it), but I have always loved the heat.

I always preferred the hot weather in Vietnam, the hot weather in SW Florida and, any warm weather over the cold.

I recall it being awful cold up north in PA in January, 2011 (IIRC the year) when my Mother-In-Law passed away. You could put on a warm coat and even long undies and survive, but, then, when you went in a home or business, you started sweating because of the heat. Then when you went back outside....

It never hits 100 here in my part of TampaBay as we are quite near the water, but if I get too hot, there's the pool to cool off in.

So, maybe I'm crazy, but this is my favorite time of the year.

Bob

It's a hot summer for sure but in my lifetime in Texas so far, it's still not as bad as 1980. Especially for consecutive days over 100. Actual temps, none of this index shit. Damn, I thought we had more old men on this forum.

This summer, the world also has to contend with the climate change dipshits trying to tell everyone how this is 'unusual'. I believe their horse dung makes people feel even hotter than some asshole walking around constantly saying 'how about this heat?.'

As far as I'm concerned, summers here are hot. Don't suddenly start believing those lying sacks of excrement in the 'news' because it's uncomfortable in summertime.

People have always retreated into their homes in this part of summer (if they can). Listening to some idiot with a rooftop bar in Houston of all places bitch about how business is down is pretty laughable. What an idiot.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:
..in my lifetime in Texas so far, it's still not as bad as 1980. Especially for consecutive days over 100...

I'd been in Houston a year and yep, 1980 is the gold standard for heat in my life. Record cold winters in the Midwest had sent me looking for better way. Houston was a different perspective, that's for sure. $4/round golf at Houston's muni courses helped me come to terms with it.

The heat island effect is real, and another thing that people don’t realize is that all those air conditioned buildings are pumping heat out into the atmosphere, making it even hotter.

When I retired from USAF in 1980 and was looking or a place to "light" and work, I was offered employment in Houston for about $10K more than anywhere else. Having visited Houston before, I decided it was worth $10K/year not to live there. (I ended up in Dallas--still hot but not as bad.)

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:
It's a hot summer for sure but in my lifetime in Texas so far, it's still not as bad as 1980. Especially for consecutive days over 100. Actual temps, none of this index shit. Damn, I thought we had more old men on this forum.

With damn near 50 years here, it’s got nothing to do with being a straight up man, nor an old man. Like Para said, over time, you get tired of it. I have my own opinions. People are always on about this “I’m from Tixxis” like it’s some big deal. It’s not the only Republican state. The summers are brutally hot, and humid. I got busy in the spring hunting down and buying land, out of state, somewhere I’ll worship the land and area I live in. So my landscaping here in the DFW area on the homestead got done in the summer. One day I literally drank 1 full gallon of Gatorade in an hour, flat. I went back to pulling weeds and I was not pissing any of that water out. I was starting to heat stroke, so I went back inside. I’ve had this happen on the lake too. Pounding electrolyte water, cooling off, etc, and my body just couldn’t keep up with the dehydration no matter how much water I pounded because yes, the heat is that extreme. Then last summer on one of my bikes, I was out riding, and the Alpinestars logos on my leathers literally came off. They were silk screened on (how the suits are made) and it was like the paint just came off. It got on my gloves, brake/clutch levers, starter button, that shit got everywhere, suit ruined, heat did it. I wondered why it felt like someone had a heat gun pointed in the middle of my back, as I was frying. Normally, 100 degree heat doesn’t bother me one iota on the bikes, as I’m in a perfed suit and if air is flowing, I’m good. I chalked the ride, got home, and asked that bitch, Siri, what the temp was, she said, and I will never forget, 106. Fuck me.

Before buying land out of state, in a mountain range, I really sat in my house and thought about hey what makes the Dallas area so special? There are no mountains, it’s flat as fuck around here, no elevation. The lakes are all man made mud bottom, filthy water. Where I bought land, the lake there is clean, real clean, and you could drink the water and not get sick. Rocky bottom too instead of mud filth. The few roads we have to ride here (or drive) out in the country are now being developed with subdivisions, stores, commercial bullshit. This is way out in the country and suburban sprawl is going all the way out there. What else? My county, keeps jacking the property tax every year. I used to protest it myself, and when that stopped working, I hired a company to do it for me. They got their asses handed to them this year, as I did I, so it’s 2-3 years and my annual property tax on a house that is 1990 sq ft on the books (2000 in reality), will be 10k per year. Ten fucking grand? So the cost of living thing, is gone. Way gone. Marc McGwire roided 500 ft home run, gone. Traffic is insane with millions who have flooded into the area like colonizers. Many of them or majority of them, Californians, with their illustrious entitlement, fully intact, and millions of H1B Visas.

Then there is the got damn heat, where you just want to retreat to HVAC. Even the pool, is not enjoyable, due to the heat, until 10pm, when the sun has been down for at least an hour. In the day time? Warm water, not enjoyable, and you’d be better off with a cold shower. So throw in millions of added people, who want a home, an apartment, so in comes more concrete, more HVAC systems, more cars idling on the roads, more traffic, much much more traffic, to go anywhere, and this is NOT 1980 Texas. This is 2023 Texas, and it sucks. I pray every single day to God, to get out of here. I have a Donny Whizkid Orthopedic Surgeon who is so damn good I’ll come back to the area if anything is going on with joints, tendons, etc as I will tear something else in the future. Other than that, the heat and humidity in combination with everything else that has happened since 1980, fuck this heat and humidity. I bought land where it’s much much less cheaper to live, and I have acreage, temps are always 10 degrees cooler than here, less humidity, clean lake and good roads in my backyard/hood, and my property tax, annually, will be $1200. ‘I don’t want to be here anymore’ and I’m working on getting out as soon as it is feasible. All these people who have moved here, can have it. I’ve owned my home for 17 years now and I’ve relandscaped it for floods, then drought, then for the brutal heat, and yet again for when it freezes for a week. Oh the joy. For those of us who are active, want to be out doing physical things, outside, the heat is a brutal killer and with all the influx of folks, the taxes, the cost of living, etc, it’s the straw that broke my back. I’d easily take 1980’s Tixxis, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2023 is a whole different animal.

quote:

Before buying land out of state, in a mountain range, I really sat in my house and thought about hey what makes the Dallas area so special? There are no mountains, it’s flat as fuck around here, no elevation. The lakes are all man made mud bottom, filthy water.

You just described one of the primary reasons I left DFW in 2001 and came to The Natural State (Arkansas), nestled in the Ozark Mountains with plenty of lakes, ponds, and rivers.

Hmmm, note to self? Scratch DFW as possible final home; add Arkansas to list?

I think the problem with Houston’s heat is exactly the same problem as the winter cold in the North. It’s the persistence that eventually drives people nuts. I don’t mind oppressive heat, and I’ve spent plenty of time in it. But I’ve never had to live with it non stop for more than about 6 weeks at a time. Similarly, I don’t really mind cold and snow, even when it’s bitterly, subzero cold, or the snow is mountains deep, I just get very bored with it after about 2 months. I hate winter because I live in its clutches for 6 months of the year. I don’t mind heat, but if I had 3-4 months of constant, oppressive heat like the folks in Houston experience, then I might be more like Para and grow to hate summer.

I think especially as we get older, we come to really appreciate moderation. Extremes, whether hot or cold, are a definite bummer.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Hmmm, note to self? Scratch DFW as possible final home; add Arkansas to list?

We enjoyed our time in Hot Springs, wouldn't mind seeing more of the state.

quote:

Originally posted by Lt CHEG:
I think the problem with Houston’s heat is exactly the same problem as the winter cold in the North. It’s the persistence that eventually drives people nuts.

^^ THIS ^^

I grew up in the Upper Midwest so was very familiar with winter. Always said winter was what you made of it (i.e. snowmobiling, skiing, etc) for 3 months but had to endure some shoulder season at beginning and end. Then, I moved to Alaska and it was 9 months a year plus days got short as 5.5 hours (unless the fog blocked the sun that day). That 5th year in Alaska was a mistake and winter absolutely got to me. I could live every summer for the rest of my life in Alaska, but zero interest in spending a single day of winter there.

I'll likely retire in a little less than 5 years, and I'm 99.99% certain it won't be in Houston. I want to move further north in Texas or Arkansas to get away from the Gulf Coast humidity.

I have an organic vegetable and herb garden and it's something I'd like to continue in retirement. I'm in USDA Zone 8 and love the length of gardening season so I'd like to stay in Zone 8 or very southern Zone 7.

I absolutely hate and dread the summer every year. I believe in Austin we had over 90 days above 100 in 2011 and this year I think we are getting close to 40 days so far. Freaking brutal.

Sucks as I don’t ride my motorcycle when it is over 90 because I always wear full gear and it is brutal when you are in traffic. My motorcycle is just sitting in the garage on a trickle charger.

My first ~25 years were in California's Central Valley. It has a "hot-summer Mediterranean" climate (look it up). Summers there are quite hot, often triple digits, without any rain or even cloud cover to mitigate it.

quote:

Other side

Para, “other side” could be in La. My wife, from Port Arthur used to go to Vinton along with my BIL to patronize Big Oak. Texans between 18-21 could go there and legally drink. Texas minimum age was 21. Those clubs must have made a fortune.

Nothing like the smell of chemical plants in PA on a hot humid day. Did I mention the mosquitos?

It wouldn’t be that the “media” wants to drum up fear through their propaganda, would it?

It was hot here in Chicago for a few days, but not like we’ve never seen 100+ temps. But overall, July hasn’t been bad at all.
The “media” is droning on and on about “hottest summer on record”… such bullshit.
Summer of ‘95 was a long, hot one. ‘96 wasn’t much better.

Not “Texas” hot, because that’s like a damn furnace there.
Phoenix and Palm Springs area (29 Palms) aren’t much better.


Wait a few months, Jan / Feb… you’ll start to hear “coldest ever”…
Again, such bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by maxdog:

quote:

Other side

Para, “other side” could be in La. My wife, from Port Arthur used to go to Vinton along with my BIL to patronize Big Oak. Texans between 18-21 could go there and legally drink. Texas minimum age was 21. Those clubs must have made a fortune.

Nothing like the smell of chemical plants in PA on a hot humid day. Did I mention the mosquitos?

Growing up north of Beaumont 96-04, I can attest to that.
Weeks of at or near 100% humidity & mosquitos like pigeons.

This summer is another animal. Went out to work on the Midget a bit this afternoon & was soaked about about 30 min.

Now in the Yoop it is 72. Partly cloudy with a little breeze. Dew point is 55. Tomorrow is slated to be sunny and 69. Summer here is very short, and fall is about 3 weeks long. An earlier post mentioned that it was not the conditions that grind on you, it's the persistence of those conditions that wear you down. Here it will be winter until the first weeks of May. April and March will make you think that winter will never end. So far, I am still happy to live here but there may come a point when winter gets the best of me.

quote:

This summer is another animal. Went out to work on the Midget a bit this afternoon & was soaked about about 30 min.

^^^^^^^^^^
To dry T shirts quickly put them on hangers in your car which is probably in sun.
They will dry in no time.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Hmmm, note to self? Scratch DFW as possible final home; add Arkansas to list?

Not necessarily. Honestly you need to do your own work, and research. Don’t talk about what you’re doing on the internet either. I can tell you Hot Springs is just as expensive as Dallas now. Far too many Texans went up there and infiltrated it. There is traffic, too many people in a given area, and the locals are none too pleased. I know a guy there, and the intel I got is much like all the people moving here. Same thing happened in Broken Bow. People from TX went up there, many buying 2nd homes for VRBO, air bnb, etc, driving the real estate and land up to pricey. So make a list of what you need and want. Then try to find places where it’s not hollered about all over the internet. You will definitely want to look in rural areas where you have a decent sized town/city/municipality within say 30 to 60 minute drive for say Home Depot to buy stuff to fix your toilet, or buy paint, or whatever. My list was I wanted land for a decent price and for that to happen I had to look in places other people weren’t. I started at this in 2016/2017 then we got in the pandemic and everything, all my plans, got properly fucked. I know one guy who had planned on moving to the very outskirts of Nashville and he is still so sore over it (Cali people invaded Nashville and drove the prices up astronomically) he won’t even speak about it.

So you make a list. I started looking at aerials, county data for property tax. I started looking at storm patterns, very beneficial if looking in the south to see the most common paths for storms coming in off the gulf, to see how they act when they go North. Take a year or years, definitely took me years. I started out with a wide net than hammered it down over time. Then at some point you have to schedule time off, pack your shit, and drive there. Stay a week or two and live there, not vacation. Go to the grocery store. Drive into town, see how long it takes. Check out things you need in the area. If you DIY this instead of relying on the internet to do it for you, you’ll find your perfect spot, and probably for a good deal too. Follow the herd, well maybe you beat some of them. But within 5 years of you uprooting, they come in and ruin everything that you liked about it and now what are you gonna do? Redo all this over again? Better to take your sweet time, and dime it out yourself. There are some real nice areas in North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc, but I’m not going to pinpoint them for anyone. Self discovery is the name of the game. Look what happened here as a reference point. Cackling hens from California started running their mouths. People starting up Fakebook groups on how to move here, etc. Austin was numero uno to go down. It was a might painful to watch the city, which is our capital and really a big college town, change, what felt like overnight. I won’t even drive through Austin anymore it’s that bad. I drive completely around it and use the toll road to avoid downtown like the plague. Dallas, Houston, San Antonio were next. And another good point, want all the conveniences in your backyard? Then be prepared for the cost, taxes, traffic, etc. That’s the trick to me. If you don’t have to have all the bullshit stores close, the restaurants, the fucking urban jungle, then you can find a real sweet spot. A place you can hunt and fish close, have at least a few acres to have some space, some privacy, and generally get left alone. But you have to do this all yourself and any cackling you do about it, well you’re only hurting yourself and the locals. Do you really want to piss your new to you natives off? Nah you don’t. There are still some good areas of TX with forests, etc, it’s just not the common internet cackling you hear about so us natives keep it off the radio so to speak. Those areas don’t want no influx of liberals coming in there and fucking there home up. Best of luck to you and hope someone finds this intel valuable in their search.

Ahh, the heat wave of 1980. I was 10yo and I still have some memories. Frankly this summer at 53yo sucks just as bad.