Another Hot Spell #2

It's supposed to be slightly cooler on Sunday, so maybe it won't be as bad. Although the humidity will probably be higher. Stay hydrated and take lots of breaks, I guess.

No, I do not have A/C at home. And this is one of those weeks I sure wish I did! Maybe someday... I'm doing the old fashioned cool off the house all night long and then shut it all up before it gets too hot thing. It works OK as long as we don't cook or take long hot showers (hot showers? uh, no...) So far, it's only in the 70's in here. We're also cheating and heading north to Seattle (And my inlaws with A/C) for part of the weekend late this afternoon. ;)

I think I'll be fine, just miserably hot. :-) At least I'll have these days to think about in December, when I'm miserably cold. Heh heh.

Good weekend to head up north!!

^_^ YEP,Katie.My high temps are in low 60s with on/off rain.Been that way all week.Actually just about all summer,while I was down there in WA.

I'm without air conditioning as well. I do the open and cool down, close and hope it stays cool. It's 83 inside and 87 outside so I must have done something right, but we're only supposed to get down to 60 tonight, so the night time temp. isn't going to help much. We're supposed to get 95 degrees tomorrow, I'm not looking forward to it. At least I don't have kids, other than my own, tomorrow. I didn't have too much trouble tonight, but I'm not sure why.

Got up to 100 at my place again today, But the picnic went well. Nice breeze. You would have laughed to see us playing musical chairs, moving them to stay in the shade. Good food (potluck), good company, very relaxing day (after I cooked, loaded the van,etc.) ha, ha, ha

I am new to this site - and to the northwest. Wow - it is hot here in Portland! I have been watering my vegetables often but how often should I be watering the established shrubs in this heat? I have a huge rhodie and a big hydrangea and I don't know much about gardening. The house is in the process of being remodeled and I am trying to at least keep the wonderful garden alive until I move in!

Dang, what a way to be welcomed by mother nature this weekend! And welcome here. Glad to have you!

wow, that's a tough one. whatever you do, keep a very close eye for the first sign of wilting...which, you're probably already doing. But, I think to be safe, in areas that have good drainage and are very well established, I wouldn't go any longer than every third day. If you're not sure how well established or how the drainage is, every other day is safe. Then when it's a little cooler you can take some time to whatch them and see about how long they are used to going without water. I you think that they are two years or less old, water every day is very safe. then again, when just 80's , back off to see what they are actually used to getting. It's definitely better to be safe, especially if the heat wave is only for a few days, and to water generously than it is to hold back because of worrying about overwatering. It takes a long time to kill a plant due to overwatering, but only a day or two to kill plant by not watering. Hopefully that is what you were looking for and that others will throw in their opinions as well!

If it were me, and I had absolutely no idea how long plants had been in the ground, I think that watering every other day... even if they are used to going longer without, is a safe way to go until the heat wave passes and you have had a little more time watch and figure things out for yourself.

This message was edited Aug 16, 2008 11:11 AM

So where are you from and how long have you been here Portland1? I bet that you'll like it there. Oh... of the two that you named.... rhody's and hydrangeas, both of those plants like a good amount of water (i.e. not drought tolerant) compared to many other shrubs, but still good drainage. If they've already made it to a pretty good age, then drainage likely is not a problem anyhow. anything in a pot.... i'd water everyday.

Other folks haven't gotten back Not because they're ignoring you or us! It's quite likely because there's a lot of night owls :-p on this thread!





This message was edited Aug 16, 2008 11:53 AM

Trying to ignore the heat, I am reflecting back on your cat-training commentary. This video is several years old, and it is just the funniest! Those on dial up will have to wait longer, but it is worth every bit of time that it takes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WofFb_eOxxA

that's a super cute video! I wonder who trained who? the people trained the cat or the cat got the people to leave it alone while it was watching the water!!

thanks for sharing the video. I've been showing it to others, and they all are laughing.

Red - according to the story that came w/ the video (and stories are always suspect) - the cat's owner had been puzzled by the huge increase in the water bill. One day while cat owner was home ill, owner noted the toilet was being flushed and there was no other person in the house. Voila!!! And so the video taping happened. Of course, you can hear another voice in the background. So - I don't pretend to present that story as legit - but the video just makes me laugh. I have a tuxedo cat who looks very much like this one. He hasn't mastered toilet flushing, yet!

Happy to spread the smiles around! Thanks!!!

Portland1 - Welcome! It's a good group here, though we do tend to talk more at night.

Red - I was a night owl last night, but I actually got to leave the house so I wasn't on here. On the other hand, I was on the losing end of an argument with a blackberry bramble last night. I was at a friend’s house, pushed through the trees at the back of his house and slid 10 ft. down a hill side covered in brambles. I thought the trees went back farther. It was a job getting back up to. I ended up with a sprained ankle and scratches from hands to shoulder and some on my legs (I was wearing jeans!).

Isn't that the truth, cats certainly train us, dogs sometimes do.

Ouch ouch Laura - those Himalayan blackberries are so unforgiving!!!!! Hope you are recovering from that battle - what an insult that would be after enduring such a beastly warm day!!!!

Thanks for the watering help redchic. I have been in Portland since the beginning of March but I have spent a lot of time working over the years. I came from San Francisco and I am so happy to be in Oregon. I am temporarily in an apartment until house is finished so I go over every day to tend the garden. It is a small garden but feels like paradise to me!

What is the story of ailanthus trees? My neighbor has 3 that are hanging over the fence into my yard and onto my roof. They are also into the utility wires. The neighbor does not want them touched even though I had an arborist come out and he said they are weeds and I need to have them trimmed back. I am trying to be a good neighbor!

wannadanc - Yeah if kind of sucks right now. I went back and took a rosemary bath, hopefully that will help.

Portland1-anything hanging over onto your property & house you SHOULD be legally able to trim.Your neighbor should be paying for it.Check with the city & see.

Hi Portland! A very late welcome to our corner of the US. There's quite a group down your way, and a lot of us are in the Seattle Metro area. Regardless - ask away - it's a great way to get info from a variety of viewpoints. Folks here are pretty friendly & very hands-on, so most likely someone will be able to share their thoughts on similar experiences.

Many of us are out tending to the various & necessary gardening chores, so most are typically on DG at night. Some of us live in our gardens, and have to be pulled inside when it gets dark. Wait until the winter comes - you'll notice that we tend to live on DG - empathizing & going through the annual "will the _____ make it" angst. Especially those of us that push the hardiness zones...more on that later.

Regardless of what is growing over your fence, most cities have laws that allow for a property owner to cut back branches of whatever grows over your side of the fence/property line. Check first with the local municipality to ensure this is ok, as well as with the energy company. It's a good idea to let your neighbour know your intention so there is no surprise. Did the Arborist write up a report for you, or might he do that? A city code enforcement officer would be the person to handle the complaint, and require compliance on the part of the neighbour. Your neighbour may not want anything planted touched, and I do understand this, however - is he/she willing to put it in writing that they will maintain & pay for damage to your roof & gutters?

I used to live in the city (SF), and loved the temperate climate - winter in particular. But there are so many things that can be grown here it makes it worthwhile. OOOOh, I bet I'll regret that statement come February. Are you Zone 9 there? Lucky you!

Currently 92° in the shade at my place, with a pleasant nw breeze.
Watering since 7 am - glad I am on a well.

Hi All, welcome Portland. It's 102 on my covered deck (again, arrgh). Starting moving things out of the way so the siding can begin Monday. Sometimes I wonder if I really want to collect bird houses! Lol. I've been watering mostly every other day and watering really well. The lawn is getting it everyday for a while and yes we're happy to be on a well too. The breeze is sporadic right now, I hate that, so I'm catching up on DG.

redchic...how goes the job?

zhinu...having tangles with blackberries myself, you have my sympathy. Ouch!! Did the rosemary bath help?

wannadanc...loved that video when it first came out and it stills make me laugh. My mom's cat can turn on the Roomba (so she can play with it), the CD player and answer the phone. I see it as a definite possibility one could learn to flush the toilet.

Sally - It seems to. I wasn't actually trying to get rid of it, just walked somewhere I shouldn't have.

thanks for asking Sally! Today was my first day in 14 straight that I was not assigned to fires in one way or the other and actually went to work at my other job. But, I was just looking at the lightning strike map http://www.weather.com/maps/activity/golf/uslightningstrikes_large.html and it seems to be heading our way. not sure how much rain is or isn't with it though. Some of those strikes are already in the southern part of the area that I work for. So, there's a good chance that I'll be back at it tomorrow and that we'll be seeing some of it in the next few hours. Never a dull moment around here.

Like Mom always says "If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes, it'll change." Stay safe.

zhinu....when we first moved here 10 yrs ago, I had to clear out some blackberry vines that had taken over my parents deck, they had grown up into the trees. I pulled out a couple that were 15 ft. long. It took several days to finish and I went out dressed for battle and still got scratched up. Everyone but me thought it was hilarious, I laughed later.

I look like I was attacked by a bagful of rabid kittens.

I was just dressed in a light shirt, Jeans and boots. At least it had been late enough in the day that I had changed out of shorts and sandals. But both arms and stomach are pretty scratched up and I have some scratches on my legs.

Though the scratches were more the insult; the foot is the injury. I've hurt myself worse, but it's been a few years.

My house temp peaked at 85 today, which was miserable. Especially because I had trouble stay hydrated.

Water, water, water. I think I drank a gallon today. Did outside work early, but still got hot. Inside is better, but I can't run the a/c too high, DH gets the chills. It's a medication thing.

Watch those scratches, for some reason blackberry scratches can get infected easily. I used a lot of antibiotic cream. Sprains hurt!

Boy oh boy, have we got thunder and lightning. Hope it doesn't start fires. The thunder is rumbling so long I can't tell where it's at. Not close, long time before the lightning hits. Incredible how long the thunder lasts, not really loud just long.

I swear something was hit in eugene. I was in town late since I hadn't had anytime off work to do anything for two weeks. about 11pm I saw lightning and then thunder, went inside. then a minute or two later heard this HUGE bang. Any few scraggling customers looked at each other and talking about "what was that" I said lighting...... I think. then the rumble. that was the loudest one. About half an hour later i headed out to my car and towards home, most all of my trip through eugene.....from one end of town to the other... smelled like someones campfire. I would hate to think that something was hit, but that was the loudest lightning strike i've ever heard. It's really dull and sporatic hear by my place, most of it seems to be cloud to cloud. But, so far it's one of the dryest lightning spells I've seen. usually it at least sprinkles some, but not this time. I'm 95 % sure I'll be called to work tomorrow by afternoon, and a 50/50 chance that I'll be called by 7 am. I'm not looking forward to that.

What did we get to temp wise today Sally? I didn't see the news. Hopefully 102 was where it stopped at your place.


zhinu, I fully understand those brambles and dressing for battle!! Hopefully you're better soon and get caught up on the water.

79 deg outside at 2:15 am. that's soooo wrong.

Zhinu, finally I'm reading the threads a little more thoroughly at the moment. And the image of a bagful of rabid kittens is a very strange one to have stuck in my head before I go to sleep! No thanks for that image! However, it definitely gives me a better idea of what you look like right now!

This message was edited Aug 17, 2008 3:12 AM

The rain just hit here, for all of two min. It's started pretty heavy though. It was weird, 85 degrees, sunny and raining. Pacific Northwest history can sure be weird. I hope we get enough rain that I don't have to water.

Red - sorry about that... I seem to be doing better. My ankle still hurts, but I've been pushing anti-inflammatory and they seem to be helping. It's not as bad today. The rosemary bath seemed to help the black berry scratches as well. None of them are, not sure how to put it, when they get red and swollen, not quite infected but &!$$*@ off. I was worried about that, especially since I didn't have anything to put on them when it happened. The house I was at is in the process of being sold. My friend just wanted to stay in Oly for the night so we hung out there, but due to that there wasn't anything in the house. They're actually pretty well on their way to being healed. I've defiantly fallen in love with rosemary as a medicine.

I guess the thunder and lightning was pretty intense here too, but I had taken sleeping pills and slept through it. It woke a friend of mine up and kept her awake though and DH says it creeped into his dreams. I hope the lightning didn’t cause any serious damage. I can’t imagine lightning hitting a heavily populated area.

who knows if anything was hit. Everyone at my work place in eugene says it sounded like something was hit, so we'll hear about it on the news tonight if it was.... it was too late to make the paper I'm sure. But, I was right about one thing. Did get the call, before noon, have to be at work by three pm. Don't know how many of the turkeys (fires) there are yet.

Glad to hear that you're doing better zhinu. I didn't know that rosemary baths would help such things. I'll have to try that. is this a packet that you put in the tub, or do you throw some sprigs of it in? I'm probably sounding a little stupid, but I've never done such things. If it helps for those sort of scratches, I'll take it up. That's for sure. I testify to neosporin on those sort of things. but, that's hard to do if you have a lot of them.

Red - Rosemary is anti-septic and anti-bacterial. It's also used to treat depression and anxiety. I just threw a big sprig in the bath tub, but if I were to do it again, I think I'd make a big pot of "tea" strain it and pour that into the bath tub. It took a long time to seep in the tub and I had to clean the tub afterwards. I'm going to be looking into making a rosemary cream or oil that I could put on scratches or cuts, but I think a towel soaked in the tea would also work. My DSD, 7, likes the tea a lot, she keeps asking me to make it and I'm running out of rosemary.

If you weren't awake at 7:14 or so, you would have been a couple of seconds later. Thunder was back with a vengance. First couple weren't too bad, but the third one about knocked me off the couch. Lightning looked like it hit the other side of Piscah, but some friends were hiking over there and everything was o.k. They almost decided not to go up. It rainded pretty good for about 2 min. then quit. My cats went flying for under the bed and it took me a long time to coax them out. Then they walked around like they were shell-shocked for an hour or so.

Don't know for sure how hot it got today, we took advantage of the cooler weather and worked getting ready for the siding tomorrow and the shed coming later. Had to level the ground, the area is under the pines and verrrry hard. I had a terrible time breaking it up, we need to put rock down so I had to clear some of it out. Didn't finish til 6:30 then and went out to eat. No cooking for me tonight!!

Just looked at the lightning strike map redchic uses. Looks like we could get it again tonight. It's so muggy outside right now, feels like rain. Of course, we've got siding coming tomorrow! Maybe this job will take longer than we planned.

Sally, I agree...we were up in the forest all day and it was getting cold and a few drops of rain here and there...we should get it tomorrow of course, they are supposed to replace our roof starting at 7 am...but I don't know which is worse, it was in the 90's when they did our neighbors roof on Friday.

Just had a 'severe weather warning' come on the TV for Lane County where we live. Thunderstorms are coming. Last night we didn't get the warning until after it passed us and was headed north. ha, ha, ha

Good luck with the roof. We had to take down all the pictures on the outside walls, I guess you need a hard hat for the roof work. LOL

Just had the first lightning, far away though.

The lightning has reached here, I was outside and saw at least half a dozen flashes.

lightning. yep, that pretty much somes it up. it's been going on for a couple of hours now. strikes are all over the place. some with rain, some without. It's gonna be an interesting week or two!

We have had cloud to cloud lightning here since dark tonight. No thunder just quiet cloud to cloud heat lightning.

But I saw this and thought about posting it here for better notice. Stay dry.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
425 PM PDT SUN AUG 17 2008

WAZ001-503>519-181800-
SAN JUAN COUNTY-WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY-SOUTHWEST INTERIOR-
EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-WESTERN SKAGIT COUNTY-EVERETT AND VICINITY-
SEATTLE/BREMERTON AREA-TACOMA AREA-ADMIRALTY INLET AREA-
HOOD CANAL AREA-LOWER CHEHALIS VALLEY AREA-OLYMPICS-
EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-WESTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-
NORTH COAST-CENTRAL COAST-WEST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES AND PASSES-
WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES-
425 PM PDT SUN AUG 17 2008

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER PORTIONS OF WESTERN
WASHINGTON TONIGHT..
...AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG AND WET STORM SYSTEM WILL AFFECT WESTERN
WASHINGTON LATE TUESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY..

THE AIR MASS WAS BECOMING INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE OVER THE AREA AND
IS EXPECTED TO BECOME EVEN MORE SO TONIGHT. THE THUNDERSTORMS THAT
DEVELOP TONIGHT WILL POSE A RISK OF DIME SIZE HAIL OR LARGER WITH
BRIEF GUSTY WINDS. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE RISK OF STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS COULD CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE DAY MONDAY.

A STRONG AND WET STORM SYSTEM MORE TYPICAL OF AUTUMN WILL BEGIN
AFFECTING WESTERN WASHINGTON LATE TUESDAY...AND CONTINUE THROUGH
WEDNESDAY. THIS SYSTEM PROMISES TO BRING SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL TO THE
AREA FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES
ARE POSSIBLE ON THE SOUTHWEST FACING SLOPES OF THE OLYMPICS AND
CASCADES. ELSEWHERE...A QUARTER TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH IS
POSSIBLE...WITH SOME SOME SITES ON THE COAST RECEIVING NEAR AN INCH.

AFTER THE COLD FRONT PASSES BY EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...COLD AIR
WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION LOWERING THE SNOW LEVEL OVER THE
MOUNTAINS TO NEAR 6500 FEET WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY. IF YOUR
PLANNING ON A TRIP INTO THE MOUNTAINS BE PREPARED FOR FALL-LIKE
CONDITIONS WHICH COULD POSE HYPOTHERMIA ISSUES IF YOU ARE NOT
PREPARED FOR IT.

STAY TUNED TO THE LATEST UPDATES FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
ON THESE EVENTS.

$$

CERNIGLIA
WEATHER.GOV

I was on the ferry holding area on the pier side in Edmonds at 8:30pm waiting for the boat to come home. Had a little drizzle of rain, nothing more, and nothing all the way home and nothing now. When is this supposed to happen?
Would like to know, maybe I wont have to go to work in AM. Ha Ha I'm dreaming.
Tills

I thought that it had quit! I was wrong. Stuff just started up again. I love watching it though! Had exceptionally upclose views of the strikes this evening. It was so interesting. it made our radios go fuzzy for a second or two.

So tilly.... in the hour and half drive in from one of the fires to home. The rain was only "here and there" some places had a few tenths of an inch, where I was at it sprinkled for a minute or two, and others had none! it may still pour tonight, I still think scattered though.

thanks for putting the weather statement here Analog. I love reading those!! Strange huh. as a kid I would have thought myself such a wierdo for finding those interesting!