A bit toasty...

Summer is definitely in full swing at TFL.  This is day 11 of over 100° highs.  It has been a while since this has happened.  The last couple of summers were particularly mild - temperature wise.  Checking my recorded weather data, the summer of 2011 the most brutal since I moved here. From late May through early September, there were 117 days with highs above 100 - with one stretch of 55 consecutive days of triple digit peaks.  It was the hottest summer on record for Texas.

According to meteorologists, it looks like at least the rest of June is going to have daytime highs above 100°.  The scorching conditions are linked to a heat dome, or a ridge of high pressure, centered over northern Mexico.  So far, my Pepino swamp cooler (with a newly installed pad) has been keeping up with the daytime heat and cooling the hut down nicely overnight. 107,110,74,0,C

a hot week in the desert...

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it's just HOT...

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a little toasty...

Got the AC tricked out just in time and even it could barely keep up.  It was HOT today.  Received an order to cover the next 90 loaves of my solar oven wheat bread.  (FYI - there are approximately 107 tablespoons in five pounds of honey).  96,104,71,0,B 

toasty...

Just had the hottest day so far this year.  Good news is we had a nice overnight low and along with really low humidity, Pepino was able to keep up extraordinarily well.  Just cranked on the AC at 7:30 PM for a little extra end of the day cool down.  On days like this it is good to have an indoor project like working out details for future videos.  105,107,68,0,B

too hot...

Kind of ironic that I just uploaded the final installment of the Pepino how to and we have a week of weather that it just can't handle.  (A poignant reminder to those who might try to build one that Pepino has its' limits.)  Although it is quite effective keeping the hut cool for sleeping once the sun and the temperature goes down - when we get a string of 100+ degree days in a row, I have to run my AC for a couple of hours in the late afternoon to stay comfortable.  This is the time of year that we weed out 50% of the new arrivals that think they can live out here.  99,103,73,0,B

Summer is here!

Got up to 88.9° inside today.  It's gonna be a hot week and luxury sunglasses won't help.  Time to break out the AC.  91,104,75,0,B

colder tomorrow

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TOOHOT

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pepino II

Went to bed last night planning on getting up early and doing the threshold pour.  When I woke up - I was no longer in the mood for heavy morning labor.  Transplanted 7 little palo verdes from their peat cups into larger pots.  Decided it was time to extract what was once a tiny volunteer growing with my pomegranate since it was growing like mad.  Not sure what it was but it sure grew fast.  Made 2 water runs today to add 250 gallons to my house tank.  Got pretty hot but the swamp cooler kept up well with a 30 degree difference in air temperatures.  Looks like the 10 day forecast is really gonna put it to the test.  98108,72,0,B

HOT!

hmmm....and I thought yesterday was hot. Spent only 2 hours this morning removing the remains of my first firepit. Temps started soaring and the sun got to skin-scorch levels by 10:30 AM. GrubShack lunch then back inside for the day. Loaded some new software into the computer so I can shoot and edit some video for my rockstar neighbor, Brent Lovelady. Inside temperature got up to 87 degrees with Pepino doing its best. 121 degrees (in the sun) at 3:29 today. 103,112,63,0,C

first HOT day of the season...

Plugged away at the new swamp cooler on today's shift.... had one of those really blistering dead calm days out here. (good incentive to get it done) Made the cut outs and mounted the fans. Don't be fooled by the fact that I am using an Igloo Cooler for the housing - no ice will be involved - it's just an insulated / water proof housing for the gizmo. Another hot one in store so I hope to wire it up for a test run tomorrow. It got pretty stuffy inside without it today. 84,107,46,0,C

Too Hot For Man Or Beast

122 in the sun...8% humidity...110 in the shade. 85 inside...45% humidity. Good day to stay out of the sun and plan the truss attack. Did lots of thinkin' and ordered some parts. Thanks for all the suggestions - we shall see what I decide to do. Made sure Benita was cozy in the heat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9i2QuuCStE

Got a small storm heading south toward me...a sprinkle would be nice.