The Coffee House

[snowbear]

So the wildfires in Canada have polluted our northern states air with smoke. Now on the news plumes of Saharan dust projected to impact air quality in Florida....what's next Locust??

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The saharan dust is the origin of a lot of our snow, so that's nothing new. As far as the Canadian smoke, I believe the US has sent the stuff their way that causes acid rain, so maybe they're starting to get even.

 

[jeffashman]

So the wildfires in Canada have polluted our northern states air with smoke. Now on the news plumes of Saharan dust projected to impact air quality in Florida....what's next Locust??

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Hail and high water...

 

[smoke665]

Hail and high water...

We're currently in a drought in the midwest so maybe "pestilence" ?

 

[smoke665]

It's easy to forget how great of an invention air conditioning was......until the power goes out for a couple hours in the south, in July.

 

[SquarePeg]

It's easy to forget how great of an invention air conditioning was......until the power goes out for a couple hours in the south, in July.

I only use the ac if I’m melting. I don’t really care for it. If it’s humid out I’ll run it for an hour or two to cool off the house in the hottest part of the day then shut it off but otherwise, I’m good with my open window and my ceiling fan 90% of the time.

That being said it is holy hell humid this week and I even slept with the ac on in my bedroom which I never do but I’m sure the dog was grateful for!

 

[SquarePeg]

I’m hosting a backyard party later today for friends and family. It’s going to be very humid. The pool will be busy as will the bar. Not going to try to bbq for this many people. We have some catered food coming and making some side dishes myself. Got to get off my phone and get to it. Have a great day Hosers!

 

[bulldurham]

I’m hosting a backyard party later today for friends and family. It’s going to be very humid. The pool will be busy as will the bar. Not going to try to bbq for this many people. We have some catered food coming and making some side dishes myself. Got to get off my phone and get to it. Have a great day Hosers!

What's the address....it's a bit of a drive from Florida, but I do so love a party.

 

[SquarePeg]

What's the address....it's a bit of a drive from Florida, but I do so love a party.

My infamous chambord pina coladas are worth the commute.

 

[bulldurham]

My infamous chambord pina coladas are worth the commute.

I'll gas up the car...see you in a few...days

 

[terri]

I'll gas up the car...see you in a few...days

Swing by my house and I'll ride shotgun. I love a pool party! She'll save some Pina coladas for us, I'm sure.

 

[jeffashman]

Throw a brisket in a crock pot with a bottle of Claude's marinade (well, ok, pour the marinade over the brisket and throw the bottle away) and let it slow cook all day, chop it up right before guests arrive, take a couple of cans of great northern or white beans and put in a smaller crockpot with your favorite BBQ sauce (I prefer a vinegar based sauce for this) and let them stew, and get some bags of chips, and some slider buns, and the food is ready when the guests arrive. For some extras, you can put out some green and black olives, and mini sweet pickles. Minimal fuss and cleanup when all is done, especially if you use a crock pot bag for the brisket.

 

[limr]

Oh, Leo!! Or anyone else interested in rock 'n roll for that matter...

I watched some of the huge Glastonbury festival in the UK (a PITA to get online here). There are 4 main stages with many well-known performers - Pyramid, Other Stage, Park, and West Holts (and umpteen other stages with bands I've mostly never heard of).

There are always surprise performers. This year the Foo Fighters showed up as The Churn Ups (which was apparently not that much of a surprise by the time they took the stage).

But what I wanted Leo to know was that Rick Astley did a surprise hour or so of all songs by - The Smiths!! (He also did another scheduled set of his own music.) There's at least one song on BBC's YouTube channel.

And Johnny Marr played with The Pretenders (also a clip on YouTube I'll get back on and post later).

The crowd goes nuts for well, just about everything! but when they saw Chrissie Hynde practically drag Paul McCartney out on stage...
I don't think he performed with any of the bands but was seen backstage a number of times. He headlined last year and had Bruce Springsteen as his surprise guest. (MTV Live showed parts of the festival during the pandemic which is where I first saw it, but I don't think they do anymore.)

And Elton John, was his show fantastic to watch live!! with a beautiful sunset in the background. I read there were 100,000+ people to see him perform, and instead of the usual blankets, lawn chairs, etc. it was SRO. He had a couple of guests that to me were unknown, as well as the lead singer of The Killers (who seemed to just be having so much fun singing with him).

The BBC televised it live and they have clips of performances on their YouTube channel.

I saw the video of Rick Astley doing "Highway to Hell" - singing from the drum kit. I didn't know he was a drummer!

Some of the Canada smoke drifted here and it looked like fog. Staying in until it clears up. We got our 2nd shingles shot Monday. Felt fine all day and then that night it hit hard. I was freezing with 4 blankets and uncontrollable trembling. After Motrin and a few hours later it subsided, but it was frightening. I was thinking that this is the way I'll go??? Husband had only body aches the next day. My uncle suffered with bouts of shingles for years and I wouldn't want that. His was very painful.

I have been trying to figure out when to get my shingles vaccine. My mother had it and my bf's mother just did as well, and I *really really really* don't want to get shingles. Might have to wait until Fall, though.

There are about 4 days a year here where the attic is bearable. The rest it’s either the arctic or the fires of hell.

I'm planning on putting in an attic fan to help deal with having to go into the attic. I don't mind when it's cold, but I hate having to be in the attic even for a few minutes to retrieve something in the summer. It is *miserable."

Hey hosers! Real summer weather has started here and I hates it forever. I don't have central air yet, so the air conditioner in the bedroom runs all the time now and I have fans to help distribute the cool air for the back part of the house. In the front, I have two window units (the windows are very narrow so I couldn't fit anything other than the smallest units, so I need two of them to effectively cool the living room/dining room/kitchen area.) For most of the time, just one does the trick, but I get afternoon sun in the front of the house and starting around 4pm or so on most days, I need to kick on the second air conditioning.

Sharon, you would hate it at my house I need it practically arctic to be able to sleep and if I have to do a bunch of cleaning, then I have to crank the a/c, otherwise I am a hot, sweaty mess within the first 5 minutes. To be fair, I would probably hate it at your house, too

 

[jeffashman]

I saw the video of Rick Astley doing "Highway to Hell" - singing from the drum kit. I didn't know he was a drummer!



I have been trying to figure out when to get my shingles vaccine. My mother had it and my bf's mother just did as well, and I *really really really* don't want to get shingles. Might have to wait until Fall, though.



I'm planning on putting in an attic fan to help deal with having to go into the attic. I don't mind when it's cold, but I hate having to be in the attic even for a few minutes to retrieve something in the summer. It is *miserable."

Hey hosers! Real summer weather has started here and I hates it forever. I don't have central air yet, so the air conditioner in the bedroom runs all the time now and I have fans to help distribute the cool air for the back part of the house. In the front, I have two window units (the windows are very narrow so I couldn't fit anything other than the smallest units, so I need two of them to effectively cool the living room/dining room/kitchen area.) For most of the time, just one does the trick, but I get afternoon sun in the front of the house and starting around 4pm or so on most days, I need to kick on the second air conditioning.

Sharon, you would hate it at my house I need it practically arctic to be able to sleep and if I have to do a bunch of cleaning, then I have to crank the a/c, otherwise I am a hot, sweaty mess within the first 5 minutes. To be fair, I would probably hate it at your house, too

We had a similar challenge in a previous house, and I found that the portable AC units are fantastic, and easy to move around, especially if everything is on one floor. You park it near the window and it vents out the window through an exhaust hose. It doesn't take long to cool a large room down to something reasonable, and they are pretty energy efficient.

 

[limr]

We had a similar challenge in a previous house, and I found that the portable AC units are fantastic, and easy to move around, especially if everything is on one floor. You park it near the window and it vents out the window through an exhaust hose. It doesn't take long to cool a large room down to something reasonable, and they are pretty energy efficient.

I have one of those in the bedroom. I actually find it a little bit of a pain in the ass to move around. You need a good seal around the window so that the cool air actually stays in and the warm air stays out. I wouldn't want to have to reseal windows constantly like that, so the floor unit stays in the bedroom (which has sliding windows so there really isn't a good option for a traditional window unit in that room.) And it's more efficient to keep it running in one room to keep it relatively cool during the day (I turn the temp a little higher up during the day when I'm not using the bedroom but turn it down at night to sleep) than it would be to take it out of the room during the day, let the room warm up, then try to cool it back down at night.

The other thing is that because the compressor is in the room and it generates heat, the BTU of the unit isn't the 'true' BTU. I think mine is 8,000, but by the time it compensates for the heat generated by the compressor, it's really more like 5,000 BTU. So my two window units add up to 11,000 BTU to cool off the largest expanse of the house and to deal with direct sun in the afternoon and evening. Moving the 8,000 BTU floor unit into the living room actually provides only enough cooling as the smaller of the window units. It may be fine for early summer when we still have cool spells and the night time is still cool, but it really isn't enough to keep up with when it gets really hot and humid, and nights don't really cool off too much.

I've tried all the various configurations and done tons of calculations. This is the most efficient way to keep things cooled off until I can get central air (hopefully early next year.) This is my 3rd summer doing dance between a/c units and strategically-placed fans, and I'm very tired of it.

 

[bulldurham]

I have spray foam in the rafters of my attic...it's not cool by a long shot in the summer, but it is far more tolerable than Batt insulation and doesn't itch.