NW'ers: How are you all faring...

[LindaL]

Here in the Beaverton/ Tigard area, we have had record high lows...75 deg at 5 AM (are you serious?

) and record highs...yesterday it was 106 at my house....UGH!

Today they said it's supposed to be 108!! O M G!! I like warm sunny weather and asked for it for months...(remember back in December when we had a record snowstorm?? LOL)...but OK, this is a little overboard in the opposite direction now.....PFFT!!

Our house has 2 room ACs and 2 fans going, but still....hard for them to keep up (except at night...

). My dogs aren't liking it much either and I am always worried about my Boxer getting overheated. We keep a bucket of water (not just a bowl) for them and in the evening, we let the boxer play in the sprinkler (which is quite comical actually...lol) to cool off.

How are all of you and your furkids handling this heat??

 

[miniwhinny]

No problem in Central Oregon. High 90's but we have dry heat with no humidity so all's well. Had to laugh last night - cross country training has started for the high school so a bunch of us crazy parents went out to Smith Rock and ran with the team !!!!!!!!! Must be mad hahaha. Got a track meet in Eugene tomorrow and I'm NOT looking forward to it. Last week we had one at Hayward Field and it was so humid we were dripping wet within minutes of getting there.

 

[Shari]

It was a 101* in the shade yesterday at 3pm. I can't handle this kind of heat. Also have never seen it so hot in the NW since we moved from NH awhile ago.

This morning...like you, I was up at 5am and it was 75*. Got the animals fed and taken care of, while DH & DS watered all the fruit trees and so on. Was finished by 7am and was sweating up a storm. Had to come in and put a Ice pack on the back of my neck for a good hour.

Can't do anything with the animals in this heat, so will keep an eye on them from the windows and won't go out until I have to feed and put the ringworm med on Stjarna this evening.

Supposed to get to 107* today.

This is the NW for goodness sakes...........

Horses are hating it, barn cat, chickens and ducks are not happy either and Donkey loves it... .

I want our normal weather back!!!!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

For the first time in my life, I'm actually GRATEFUL to be working seven out of eight days this week!

The AC in my office building is far preferable to the constant sweating of being at home. I actually haven't been home to see any of my animals in the middle of the day since this heat wave started, but they seem fine when I come home in the evening. The new puppy lives in the one air-conditioned room or the cool basement with my mom and the horses hang out in the barn. Kody's coat is long enough to insulate him but of a fine summer texture from being clipped earlier this year, and Spyder shed out amazingly well for once (he's 32.5 now, believe it or not) so even he's doing okay although he's not polishing off his feed as well with this heat. I've been giving Kody cool mashes in the evening to encourage water consumption and Spy of course gets tons of liquid with his "senior soup" at each meal.

The cats spend all their time lolling around in the flowerbeds, looking hedonistic and quite philosophical about the whole thing.

We broke the all-time "warmest night-time low" record last night, supposed to break the all-time high record today, and more of the same tomorrow before it finally COOLS DOWN to the low 90's this weekend.

And it's been muggy too...I might as well live back East! At least then I'd be used to it and my house would have AC....

Leia

 

[Equuisize]

This is Cheyenne's (Sterling) fault

I asked her nicely to send some

of their warm temps this way for our son's outdoor wedding, here at the farm

on July 12th. It rained all morning & thundered. We begged and borrowed every

tent we could and everyone B.Y.O.U (brought their own umbrella). We'd had

gorgeous weather up to that week end. Had a 45 minute rain delay on for

the ceremony and then it cleared but wasn't exactly warm.

Now we've got the warm temps I asked for in spades.

This is sure not normal fare for the moderate Pacific Northwest.

We're 30 miles from the ocean and usually have a lovely breeze.

Breeze is pretty much absent and it was 101 here yesterday and today

is going to be hotter. We do have A/C in the house so can't complain

to much but I do worry about the 'kids'. We keep pouring their troughs

out and replacing it with cold water. Tried a sprinkler and they

wanted nothing to do with that, period. They do have huge fir trees for shade.

It did drop to 66 last night, in the barn, cooler than I thought it'd get.

We left the horses outside, all night, for the first time....we've a smaller

enclosed pasture with field fencing behind the rail fencing. I felt pretty

confident they'd be OK. Couldn't stand the idea of putting them in the barn

in this heat. They were very confused. This morning were quite clingy

as if they wanted to know if they'd done something wrong to be left

outside to sleep with the bears all night .... Poor babies.

Zoe and the baby have had a fan going on them, in their under cover

area. Isn't cooling but at least it keeps the air moving and the flies at bay.

I want to body clip the baby as she feels so humid under her baby fuzz but

wondered if maybe she was better off with it to protect her skin.

Next winter when I'm grumbling about slogging thru the mud I'm going

to remember this stretch of hot hot weather.

 

[Southern Belle Farm]

We have AC so we're getting by, been keeping the dogs in except to go to the bathroom. Making sure the horses have shade and water. But a warning to any bunny owners: we lost our 2 yesterday, the 2 1/2 summers we've had them they've always been fine with the fan, and they are in shade. I feel so horrible, we buried them today and let our 3 year old watch so maybe she'd understand they're gone. She helps me feed carrots to them every morning. If there's any good out of it, they went together, they've always been together since they were orphaned as babies. R.I.P Salt and Pepper

 

[gimp]

I am lucky to have an inground pool. Each day I get in several times and at least once a day bring the dogs in as well. I am going to set the sprinkler in the pasture this afternoon so the horse can bask in the cool water. I also have several kiddy wading pools around the place. I add water each day to cool them off a bit. I'm ready for some rain!!

 

[hobbyhorse23]

This is Cheyenne's (Sterling) fault

I asked her nicely to send some of their warm temps this way for our son's outdoor wedding, here at the farm on July 12th.

Now, Nancy, is it her fault for sending it or yours for asking for it?!

Personally I feel some fault also lies with all those who complained so bitterly about the snow this winter and kept saying "We can't wait for warmer weather! Bring on the heat!" Tsk. Be careful what you ask for!

Leia

 

[jayne]

My husband and I were just commenting, "If we wanted hot and humid weather, we would have stayed in Wisconsin!" It's 2:30pm and we just hit 100 degrees. We went and bought box fans for the horses, but the donkeys are laying out in their sandy wallow soaking up the rays! This heat is taking a toll on our chickens, and in spite of having them free range and able to hide in lots of shady spots, we just lost the second one. They just close their eyes and go to sleep and don't wake up. It's sad to lose old hens who have done their jobs and earned a nice retirement, but it does open up spaces in the coop for new young layers. Bittersweet I guess.

We have relatives from the Chicago area coming in on Sunday. They are used to 24/7 air conditioning all summer. Our version of air conditioning is to open up the east and west windows and hope the wind blows through. Uh oh! Hopefully it will cool some at least SOME by then! Sheesh!

My outdoor grill has a side burner, so we're cooking outside during all this. That is, when we feel like eating, which isn't that often. I made a cold cucumber salad and cut up some cantaloupe and that's all we've had today. Not like we couldn't stand to skip a few meals though!

Hang in there guys! Although I am going to just about dance naked outside when it ever rains good again! Oh yeah, I bought extra hay because there is no way my pastures are going to feed everybody until October like they usually do.

Jayne

 

[Shari]

I need to badly work in the garden but I tell you... itsn't going to be until after the sun goes down... will have DH hold the flash light so I can at least pick some veggies.

Glad everyone is doing what you can to keep yourselves and your animals cool.

Our chickens have been panting hard, I feel for them but not much I can do other than make sure they have cool water to drink. We just gave the ducks their first pool... hopefully they will figure out how to get in it.

 

[MountainMeadows]

Ugh - miserable here in Duvall - temp just hit 104 and it will probably climb to 106 -- thankfully we have a lot of big cedar trees for the horses to get under and out of the direct sun. I tried the sprinkler thing and they didn't like that so the best we can do is keep the water troughs full of clean, cool water and put more salt blocks out for them to "snack on". I am leaving all mine out since it is much cooler outside than in the barn where the temps just climb and climb since it is a metal building.

We have been dunking the dogs in the bathtub to cool them off - only have AC in the bedroom, but that is where the dogs and Guy and I are hanging out these days!

Here at work we set up a couple of our wireless temp transmitters and got 108F under one of the bushes and 147F

in one of our cars with the windows closed -- now you know why it is so important not to leave pets or children in a car on a hot day

I will be glad when our cool 70-ish weather returns

Stac

 

[susanne]

Stacy,

You'll have to check out my post on the main page, as it involves both doggie dunks and sprinklers on horses, as well as their reactions.

Leia, I defend my right to whine about weather extremes! I laughed with our farrier at the irony of complaining about the heat, remembering being snowed in for a week this past winter, but then agreed that we were well within our rights to complain about both!

 

[Mark & Sharon Bullington]

Gee - normally I would complain with you guys - but here at the Congress in Indiana it's relatively nice - high's in the 80's. It IS humid though. Glad our 5th wheel at home has A/C for the dogs and our house sitter.

Mark

 

[mininik]

It's definitely hot here, but we live in a boat and can always play in the river. The dogs can even come to work with me, if needed. A friend and I took off to the nude beach yesterday and I think we'll go again tomorrow.

 

[miniwhinny]

OMG Redmond Airport is reporting PDX at 111 @ 5.02pm !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hang in there guys.

 

[~Lisa~]

A friend and I took off to the nude beach yesterday and I think we'll go again tomorrow.

ahhhh to be young again

If I was still able without sending people running in fear... I would

 

[LindaL]

It's definitely hot here, but we live in a boat and can always play in the river. The dogs can even come to work with me, if needed. A friend and I took off to the nude beach yesterday and I think we'll go again tomorrow.

Did you go to Sauvie's Island?? My best friend went over the July 4th weekend and said she got brave and took off her top......LOL! (Ok, we are a lot older than you and have had kids, so.....lol)

I'm hanging in there...just hope it cools off a bit by tomorrow...will be downtown paddling!

 

[mininik]

Yep, Sauvie Island... the nude beach is the best no matter WHAT you look like...

 

[Miniv]

A friend and I took off to the nude beach yesterday and I think we'll go again tomorrow.

ahhhh to be young again

If I was still able without sending people running in fear... I would

That would be my number one concern.........Second would be the SUNBURN to regions that have not seen the sun in DECADES!!!!

Tonight in Central Oregon we are cooling off to the high 80's with THUNDERHEADS in the horizon. It actually made it to 100 degrees here..........

This heat stinks. But frankly, I'd rather be 100 degrees here than on the western side of the mountains.....Thank you very much!

And no, we moved to an older farm house with NO AC. Just fans........

 

[Kellie in OR]

It got up to 103 yesterday, 105 today, and at nearly 9pm it is still over 90. Yuck! I have been wetting down the dogs and set up a mister system and fan in the horses run in stall. Though they do hang out in pasture most all day, luckily there are lots of shade trees. We have no AC in our old A frame and sleeping has been the pits!

FYI~ those with rabbits.....freeze gallon jugs of water and put them in the cage w/them. They will lay right next to them to keep cool. Sorry about your loss. I know it feels horrable, I lost a few canaries in the heat a couple years ago :~(