It was just over a week ago that we found ourselves in a major heatwave, with the kind of temperatures I’ve never experienced in my life, not ever. I think we spiked at 42 Celsius, which, if I do my conversion right, is 107 Fahrenheit. And worse, as you went down the coast, I believe in Oregon, it was spiking at 117 and even hotter in some places. So at which point does it become too hot to even survive?
The kind of heat that blanketed the Pacific Northwest meant we had to wake up before dawn. Every window in the house was open already in an attempt to cool off the house overnight, but unfortunately, even the overnight temperatures, although not in the hundreds, were still too hot. It became a cycle of getting out of bed just as the sun was peeking over the horizon to drag every curtain closed and lower the blinds as soon as the sun hit that side of the house. Even at six or seven a.m., that rising sun was so frickin’ hot that I could feel the heat coming in. Now, I don’t have air conditioning, but I do have one of those ceiling fans above my bed, which did provide some relief while I tried to sleep. But that’s another thing: Sleeping is very difficult in this kind of heat. Did we have another fan in the house? Sure, the one my son picked up the week before the heatwave. Evidently, he had figured out something I hadn’t!
Nevertheless, by day three of the heatwave, I had climbed in my SUV and driven into town. While driving, I had my air conditioning blasting in the extreme heat, and the way the engine sounded, as if it was working too hard, I wondered whether it was actually too hot for my vehicle and it could possibly overheat. Anyway, I made it into town and went to every single store that would carry a fan, four different ones, yet in every store, the shelves in the sections where fans and portable air conditioners are were empty.
After the second store, I stopped asking the salespeople if they had fans in the back or hidden somewhere else in the store, as the two times I asked, both sales guys stared at me as if I’d lost my mind. One responded, “No, and you won’t find one anywhere in town, and we have no idea when a new shipment will arrive.” Okay, in hindsight, maybe my son should have mentioned there was a heatwave coming so I could get some fans. I’ll remind him of that down the road at some point, like maybe his birthday.
When I finally made it home, I ordered two online, which still haven’t arrived, likely because of the backorders caused by everyone in this part of the world ordering one. Surviving in that kind of extreme heat takes an incredible amount of work, from keeping the ice cube trays full, with an additional bucket of ice in the freezer, to drinking tons of ice water to stay cool, to keeping the curtains closed and the windows shut when the sun hits.
No one was allowed to use the stove to cook anything, because it heats the house up, but by day three, I had figured out that I actually wanted something other than lettuce and cereal. I wanted something that was actually cooked, like chicken, so I realized I would cook it outside on the barbecue at dawn. On day three, I was outside cooking on a barbecue at seven a.m., having to jump in the shade because the sun was already beating down. Even then, it was too hot to be standing there cooking, but I did it, and in the fridge it went. At least we had some cold chicken, as turning on the barbecue any later in the day was also out.
Then came trying to write my book. I’m not kidding when I say there wasn’t much happening in that kind of extreme heat. The brain just doesn’t work. Our black cat spent all night outside every night because that was the only time that was cool enough for him. As soon as the sun came up, it was time for him to come in, but there were a number of days when my autistic son had to go out in the late morning and get him from where he was lying on the grass under my covered swing in the shade. He wasn’t even moving because it was too hot for him. The poor guy tried to find a cool place in the house, which resulted in him lying on the kitchen floor. I put ice cubes in his water dish and even tried spraying him with a spray bottle.
But as hot as it was outside, with keeping curtains and blinds closed and opening everything up every night, the house was at least bearable, and with my son gone to work, his fan was put to good use in front of my desk, blowing over a bucket of ice in an attempt to cool myself. Because we don’t have a pool, I pulled out my son’s inflatable boat and blew it up and filled it with water. I’m not kidding when I say you really look for ways to cool down!
Despite the high number of lives lost because of the extreme heat, there was no emergency help anywhere for those who needed it. I remember well the major windstorm we went through three years ago that knocked out our power for more than five days before Christmas. The roads had to be cleared for people to get through, as every power line was down, and people were left without power, heat, and water. When we went through that disaster, our neighbor was the only one to step in and help, saying local and provincial leaders weren’t going to be there in that kind of emergency. And they weren’t.
He was right, so when the heatwave hit, I really had no expectation that something would be set up by the powers that be. There were no shelters during that winter storm over three years ago where people could go to stay warm, and there were no wellness checks. You had your neighbors or yourself. In this heatwave again, we learned that lesson about being prepared and not relying on help to be there for us. When you have these heatwaves, or storms, or other emergencies, either communities and neighbors come together to help each other out or they don’t.
As quickly as the heatwave landed upon us, it left. The fans still haven’t arrived, but as someone once said to me, having them and not needing them is a better spot to be in than needing them and not having them.
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Broken Promises
What do you do when a woman shows up on your doorstep, suddenly wanting her daughter back?
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