The Heat Is On!

The Upper Peninsula is in the midst of its first real warm spell of the spring/summer season. We've notched two record highs for the previous two days and the night time lows have barely dipped below 70 degrees. This is a warm, sticky airmass we're not used to up here, but it's something we deal with on occasion. It's probably a bit more rough right now because we're not totally used to the heat yet, since we've just gotten over the winter season. As for myself, I don't find myself completely miserable yet. Being at work does take its toll as it's in the low 90's inside the plant - so you really have to pace yourself if you're doing a strenuous job. And then once I'm at home, all I have to do is turn the central air conditioning on. It was one of many pros when I decided to buy this home last year.

I remember when I lived in one particular apartment complex about five years back in the city of Marquette. The rent ended up being pretty reasonable for the city - and I could understand why! The apartment was actually a duplex, comprised of an old home built in the early 1900's. I lived in the upstairs of the house, which ended up being a one bedroom apartment for myself. The way the house was split up, the tenants downstairs also occupied space upstairs. But I had no access to their space as all the doorways between the complexes were sealed off. As I mentioned, it was an older home. The plumbing wasn't all that modern (modern enough in that I didn't have to use an outhouse!), the kitchen was pretty dated, and the floors creaked quite loudly. Also, the house didn't appear to be well insulated because in the summer time during a heat wave, it got downright hot in the upstairs. The temperature was easily in the middle 90's up there, if not hotter. During one heatwave in particular, I just could not handle living in such miserable conditions, so I went out and bought an air conditioner. It was a small window unit - but it didn't seem to be doing much good. I installed it in one of the small porch windows and tried directing the air into the rest of the apartment with a fan. Well, it still didn't help much. Thankfully my parents ended up stopping over and my dad helped me install the unit in my bedroom window. Wow, did it make a difference! I was pretty happy after that, at least I could sleep comfortably the next night. It was one of many reasons why I only spent 11 months in that one particular apartment.

It appears the heat will last for at least another day here in the U.P. before gradually subsiding after that. One thing we really could use is some rain and it still does not appear like we'll be seeing a whole lot of moisture from the incoming cold front. What we really could use it a good two to three days of soaking rains. We really have not picked up any decent rainfall since the snow melted in March. I'm concerned we'll get a dandy of a wildfire somewhere in the U.P. yet this spring. The grasses are starting to dry up already - so that's a clear sign we're in need of some rain. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Mother nature has a way of turning things around eventually. Let's just hope we won't be needing an ark by the time fall comes around!