T13 #4 - Surviving the Heat

Can you believe the weather report for Wednesday in Columbia, SC?

WIS STORM ALERT WEATHER
Hi 102 F Lo 77 F
Steamy and Stormy

Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms will develop through late evening, in response to this intense heat and humidity, combined with a weak boundary of drier air to the north, and soupy air to the south. Wind blowing out of these storms will then develop new storms somewhat randomly through the evening. Highs today surpassed 100º in many locations, with heat index ("feels like") levels past 105º, making for dangerous heat. The good news? Today's (Thursday) forecast is Hi 100°F Lo 72°F. There will start to be a cool down on Friday with the Hi 90°F and the Lo 69°F.

1. What is a floofy kitty to do when it is so hot that our air-condition is running overtime and it still isn't cooling. Tuesday, it was over 100 degrees outside and Mom had the thermostat set for 78 degrees, as always. When she check the thermostat, it was showing 87 degrees in the house! Oh no! This means we now need additional help with coolness. The AC guy will be here either today or tomorrow to replace the air condition motor (hopefully, that's all) and check the Freon! Mom is worried about me because she will be on the West Coast all next week and she doesn't want the air to go down with just me at home.

This is the theromostat set at 72 degrees and the thermometer is showing 79 degrees at 10:00 pm Wednesday night after the MAJOR storm went through. The thermometer was almost at the 90 degree mark yesterday. Mom's friend, the AC guy, said he would have it fixed before she leaves for her meeting/vacation to California this weekend!

2. One of my favorite spots to cool off is in front of the air condition vent in the "great room". When I sit in front of this vent, I am usually close to Couch Potato Mom watching TV and I can keep an eye on the front door while cooling off.

Blow, cold air, blow!"

3. Another cool spot for a floofy kitty is on the kitchen glass table. However, I had a problem this week because Mom has started decorating the house for South Carolina Football season and these "chicken" plates (What Mom, well they are chickens!!!) are taking up all of my room to lie down. I guess I must find another spot to cool off.

"What are these bird plates doing on MY table? I don't care if football season is ONLY 22 more days away!"

4. Many of my fur friends mentioned tile floors. I am very lucky because we have two bathrooms that both have tiled floors. What makes them more special is the the air condition vent is below the bathroom cabinet and blows direction on my as I lie down on the cool tiles until my fur is cold to the touch!

This is Mom's bathroom. I have a floofy while piece of carpet in from of the air condition vent. Mom can usually find me in this room on the floor or on the toilet seat.

5. The guest bathroom (the one decorated with the chickens!) is also great. I will lie down in the doorway of the bathroom and the vent blows across the cool tile and through the doorway to cool my floof. Mom was pushing me out of the way last night to cool off. She said something about "it's bad enough I have my own personal summers, but this heat is going to push me into becoming a hurricane." I don't think I understand.

Mom, this is my spot!

6. My favorite spot in mom's bedroom under another vent. This spot is set up just for me. To my left is my custom made litter box (I will share more about that later), my scratching post, and my Gamecock water bowl. You wouldn't believe how cool the water stays in the location.

7. Closed doors! It's so hot that mom won't even open the doors to let the afternoon sunlight in. We kitties must have our sun beams. The house was so dark, I went and found a closet to hid in. If I can't have the light, then lead me to the dark!!!

Just a little bit of sunshine, Please !!!

8. Mom says she already has too many of her own "personal summers" and she doesn't need this additional heat! I don't know what she means. Why doesn't she lie down on the floor underneath the vents like me to cool off? I've got an idea, Mom - how about cleaning off the table and let's both lie down on the glass table! In the meantime, I am going to spread out on the wooden end table and just let my paws and tails hang off to catch the cool air!

9. We could go for a ride in my Mom's COOL car! Wait a minute, that means going out into the heat to get into a hot car and then spending too much gas to get it to run. Maybe that is a bad idea! Mom is shaking her head yes and said that car needs to sit in the driveway more often to save some money.

10. We have been getting several suggestions from our friends about sleeping in the bathroom sink. I used to do that when I was a younger kitty, but it's a little easier to just lie on the floor now.

11. Accepting the fact that it will be hot and humid in South Carolina in August is a necessary fact of life. The beans drink beer, mint juleps, ice cream, and water to cool off. They even eat something called "watermelon". As long as mom keeps my water cool, I am fine.

12. As a former math teacher, mom has been mumbling something about, we could keep a record of how hot it got each day and record it on a grid. We can then keep this data for about a week and calculate the average temperature and show this on a line graph. An then, we can see if there is a linear function connected to this "trend." I quickly remind my mom that she is no longer a math professor, so we don't need to to this.


Students in mom's former classroom working on data collection. I had to whap mom to remind her that doing this again would definitely make her hot! She knows what I mean.

12. Finally, no matter how hot it gets, I still expect Mom to give me my treats! We still go through the same routine, but sometimes I get a little more because Mom isn't paying attention and she leaves the top off of the treat jar and I neak in a few more! Anything for a few more treats! Somebody keep an eye out for mom. The treat jar is open!

Note from Mom - sorry we haven't been around to all of the bloggers as usual. I have already had 3 doctor appointments this week and another one tomorrow, several meetings at work that I must attend, meeting with the computer "geek" guy for my laptop, meeting with the air condition guy, and packing for a trip to San Diego next week. We will try harder! Thank you so much for all of the visits, the well wishes (I am on round 3 of the antibiotics) and the concern. You are a very special group of cat lovers!