How hot is it? Hot enough to shave your cat?Photo: Jennifer PredigerWelcome to summer. We’re having a heat wave here in the Northeast that’s breaking records. Some sizzling places recorded temps of 103 degrees F yesterday! And more of the same is expected today. The Big Apple is broiling.
Four of the five boroughs of New York City have reported power outages, including Brooklyn where I live. All those air conditioners are taxing the grid. So, I’m working at home without AC today to do my part to save electricity.
With my windows wide open and my ceiling and floor fans blowing, my cat and I are staying cool. Sort of. But I’ve had to resort to some additional cooling techniques, such as:
- Filling a spray bottle with refrigerator-chilled water and spritzing myself every three minutes
- Putting ice cubes in the cat’s bowl
- Taking several short, cold showers
- Refraining from movement, apart from typing this
- Drinking copious amounts of chilled water, homemade seltzer, and Gatorade
- Wearing the equivalent of hot pants and a tank top. (OK. Not appropriate office attire — unless your office has no A/C! Then standard dress codes don’t apply.)
I’ve also seriously considered riding around in an air conditioned taxi for a couple of hours — and shaving my cat.
What are you doing to stay cool out there? Please share suggestions in the comments below. We could all use a little communal ingenuity to get us through until the heat breaks — which weather sources say will happen (hopefully) on Thursday.
