Tag Archives: hot weather

Washing Weather

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Although I have a clothes dryer and do use it from time to time, I tend to pick and choose the days that I do the washing so that I can dry it on the clothesline outdoors as much as possible. This is generally more of an isue in winter when there can be rainy days as well as cold and overcast days which preclude much in the way of drying.

However, a few days ago I was confronted with entirely the opposite dilemma. The temperature in the sun outside was in excess of 45C and the prospect of standing outside to hang out washing was not a pleasant one.

So, I simply hung the clothes in the laundry were the sun was already blazing in through the window and glass door. I used the pull-out rack and a couple of airers and the entire load of washing was dry within a few hours.

One of the benefits of line-drying is not only the sunshine but breeze and fresh air but I has happy to forgo those on this particular occasion.

Warm Weather Winners

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Midsummer in Australia is too hot for growing most produce but there are a few things in our garden which are thriving despite, or perhaps because of the heat.

Chilli bush. This is in a large pot on the front patio with a northern aspect. During the winter it was reduced to barely 2 dead-looking sticks thanks to a few heavy frosts. However, some warm weather and water and we have the start of another amazing crop of tiny, hot chillies. I use these fresh, frozen, dried and ground into chilli powder or made into my version of Tabasco sauce.

The small daisies are some escapees from a nearby garden.

Olive tree. Also in a large pot on the front patio. This tree is about 2 years old. Last season there were a small number of fruit which we completely overlooked. This year could be a worthwhile harvest so I will be researching how to brine and preserve them.

A close-up of the actual fruit.

Tomatoes. These are not loving the extreme heat hence we have them covered to protect them from the worst of the sun, however, there is a good crop on this single plant of the Roma variety and they are beginning to show signs of ripening. I am looking forward to a good haul and hope to freeze or bottle some for use during the winter.

A makeshift shelter.

Gradually ripening.

An Endless Summer

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Here in Australia we have had a long, hot summer.  There is no other way of describing it.

I found found some statistics from the Bureau of Meteorolgy.  There is no information for April but we all know that the warmer than average trend continued.
December
Second-warmest December mean minimum temperatures on record
Warmest December mean temperatures on record for Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia
Two heatwaves break December records in southeast Australia
Severe bushfire in southern Victoria
December was another very warm month for Australia, the sixth-warmest on record for nationally-averaged mean temperatures. The national mean minimum temperature was the second-warmest on record with an anomaly of +1.24°C, while maximum temperature was the warmest on record for parts of southeast Australia including Victoria (+3.80°C).
January

National mean temperature above average

Maximum and minimum temperatures both above average
January mean temperatures were warmer than average for Australia as a whole (an anomaly of +0.52°C), with all States and the Northern Territory recording warmer than average mean temperatures.
Tasmania recorded its second-warmest January on record.
The Australian mean daily maximum temperature was 0.21
°C above average and the Australian mean daily minimum temperatures was 0.83°C above average
February

Australia’s ninth-warmest February on record

Heat wave in northwestern Queensland results in some daily maximum records broken.

February was a warm month for Australia and the ninth-warmest February on record. The national mean temperature was 0.92°C above the historical average, with the monthly mean maximum temperature 1.43°C above average and the monthly mean minimum temperature 0.41°C above average.

Mean temperatures and mean maxima were above average in all States.
Queensland recorded its fifth-warmest February on record for mean temperatures and equal sixth-warmest for both maximum and minimum temperatures. Tasmania was sixth-warmest for minimum temperatures.
A heat wave in north-western Queensland in the last week of February resulted in a number of records for daily maximum temperatures being broken in this region
March
Mean March temperature for Australia warmest on record.
National mean March minimum temperature warmest on record.
National mean maximum temperature seventh-warmest March on record.
A new record for the warmest March day on record for Australia on the 2nd.

This month was the warmest March on record with a mean temperature anomaly 1.70°C

above the average, exceeding the previous record set in 1986 (+1.67°C). The national mean March minimum temperature anomaly was also the warmest on record at +1.97°C.
The hottest March day recorded in Australia was recorded on the 2nd.  On this day, more than one-third of Australia recorded maximum temperatures in the warmest percentile.
During the month warmer than average maximum and minimum temperatures affected much of the country. New South Wales and Victoria experienced record high mean March temperature anomalies (+2.49 °C and +2.42 °C respectively).
Nationally, the mean March maximum temperature was the seventh-warmest on record (+1.42 °C).
How did you cope with the heat?  Did you enjoy the ‘endless summer’.  Are you looking forward to ever increasing temperatures over the coming years?
Think it won’t happen?  Check out this graphic.
2016-05-09 01
Climate change is real and it is here right now.  It is time to stop and consider what the future is going to look like.  What is life going to be like for our children and grandchildren?  We are well on our way to leaving them a legacy of an uninhabitable planet.
Check out this page for more information.
What do you think?  How do you feel?
I am interested in your opinion whether you are here in Australia or overseas.

Too Hot to Declutter?

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It is easy to make excuses as to why you should not do things.  After not achieving much last weekend, we were keen to make some inroads this weekend.  It was hot yesterday and we managed to fritter most of the day away until late in the afternoon when we did a few jobs in the garden.  I will show you that in another post.  Today was actually predicted to be hotter with a forecast maximum of 36C so we adjourned to the coolest part of the house.  We call this area a cellar although it is not in the true sense of the word.  It is the space underneath the internal staircase, is partially below ground level and 2 walls are concrete block.  All all these things work together to keep the space reasonably cool.

The Duke removed everything from this space so I don’t actually have a before photo.  We dismantled the low shelving which we had placed there when we first moved here.  It was 3 planks of wood and several concrete blocks.  It was the concrete blocks that were the catalyst for this flurry of activity.  We will need them for building more of the low retaining walls under the verandah.  You can see the first one we built here.  The others will not be as high, no will they have the screening on top of the bocks.  More about that another day.

Once everything was out of the cellar we swept it thoroughly and then decided what would actually go back in.  We replaced the dismantled shelving with the shelf unit we built from old explosives boxes.  Next, we repositioned the wine rack from one wall to the other.  This entailed removing all of the bottles so it was a good opportunity to reassess what we have and replace the bottles in a logical order.

Cellar
Finally, there are a few things stacked under the very low part of the stairs.  Card table, boogie board, folding chairs etc.  We did get rid of/move a few things that had been on the old shelving.  We still have plenty of space on the shelf unit to store other things that we find in the workshop that would be better located here.

In the meantime, we are very happy that the cellar is clean and tidy.  It was great to be able to finish this job on a day when it was really too hot to tackle much else.

Do you struggle with getting things done if it is too hot or too cold?  Is it a form of procrastination to blame the weather?

Dinner – Keeping it Cool

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As I mentioned in my previous post we sweltered through some very hot weather yesterday.  I find find that producing an appetising, nutritious meal with the minimum of effort can be a bit of a challenge.

Since it was so hot yesterday, I had the added difficulty of not wanting to traipse to the shops to buy our weekly fruit and vegetables.  So, I decided that I would make do with what I had.

The end result was a 3 course meal.

Dinner
Chilled tomato and parsley soup
Rice paper rolls with dipping sauce
Pineapple and mint crush

Dessert
None of these came from recipes in the true sense of the word but were creations out of my head with the ingredients I had available.  However, I will add them to the recipe file soon.