On the other hand, we got rain in September. It's going to be a wild ride.

One reason I don't go out much in the Summer. I'm old enough and big enough that the heat annoys me. I used to live in RIdgecrest a few decades ago, I'll bet it got really hot up there. I saw 115 up there more than once.

But El Nino is coming, so it's going to be back and forth depending on where the weather comes from.

But I was glad to see the rain. There are a lot of trees dying up in the mountains, some of them might be saved.

and I chose to relocate from the Kansas City area, I decided that since I had choices, I would not to live in a place where I'd need air conditioning. I'd been very tempted to move to the DC area, where I'd lived many years earlier, but the a/c thing was a deal breaker.

I now live in Santa Fe. I don't have a/c. I do have a ceiling fan in my main room, and I judiciously open and close windows and doors. I have to point out that I open the door to my back yard some time in April, and it doesn't get closed (other than when the rain is blowing water in) until mid October.

In addition, the window in my bedroom is open most of that time.

Two days ago I finally had to close the window and the door overnight, because it's gotten cool enough.

Oh, and I've lived in more than one place where I absolutely had to have a/c, including Phoenix and Tucson. Never again.

I've lived in Florida, Wisconsin, , Maryland, southern and northern California. Then, some 40 years ago, work brought me to Pennsylvania. I grew up in northern Illinois, with a house and boat on the banks of a beautiful river. Have always loved the oceans and became a blue water scuba diver. So my long term plan for retirement was to live next to or near to a beach. However, my experience with the extreme heat and humidity of Florida, plus the changing weather patterns and predictions of impacts of global climate change - not just rising ocean levels, but extreme storms, damaging high tides, flooding, etc., made me change my plans. I have stayed put in PA. With my well-insulated house and ceiling fans, I only use my central air a few days each year, and that's when I need to close up the house because of high humidity.

The thing is, extreme weather causes power outages throughout the country and the seasons. If this happens in the winter, and I lose heating in my residence, I can pile on more layers of fleece, clothing, etc. I can close off parts of my house and have a fire in my fireplace. I have insulated the hell out of my house - especially the attic. If I lose power in the summer, I can retreat to my lower level family room, which stays cool even on the warmest days.

However for those who live in warmer climes, especially in the southern states, if you lose power in hot weather, you have no air conditioning, no ceiling or floor fans - nothing to cool you off. You are stuck. I have friends who retired year round to Florida - I follow their weather patterns - my god! with the heat/humidity index, they are well over 100 degrees for weeks at a time for about half the year. They live their lives in their air-conditioned homes, cars and shopping malls. Mainly they stay home and watch cable or get on the net all day long.

Living in the north has difficulties, I know - especially snowstorms, shoveling driveways, etc. However, the detailed, reliable weather forecast makes it simple to plan ahead. For retired people like me, it's easy to stock up ahead of blizzards & heavy snows, with my food, pet food, library books, driveway salt, flashlight batteries, candles, etc., and stay tucked up with a pot of homemade soup and a good book while the snow comes down.

Upon retirement 10 years ago, I decided to stay put in Pennsylvania, and I think it was a good decision. I especially love the change of seasons, and being able to work in my garden in spring, summer and fall. For those who still dream of retiring to a warmer clime, especially someplace like Florida, I strongly advise you to just rent a place there for a year and see how well you can tolerate the extreme heat before you sell your family home and permanently relocate.

I also gave some serious thought to some other parts of the country, including the northeast. But, as I like to say, Santa Fe kept calling my name.

I have never understood why people think that once they no longer have to shovel snow off their cars in the middle of winter, all of life's problems are solved. Don't get me wrong, I understand that appeal, having lived in more than one snowy climate as an adult. But there is a lot more to quality of life than shoveling snow off your car in the middle of winter.

Once, when we were living in Phoenix, having moved there from Minneapolis, my husband pointed out that while you can dress for the cold, the only way you can dress for the heat is to wear an air-conditioned car.

When the hi dez temps, normally 10-15 degrees hotter than L.A in summer, tend to equalize with L.A. and the city can even be hotter at times. Some places hit triple digits Friday while we were only 95 in Antelope Valley.

Pretty soon we'll be 10-15 degrees colder than L.A.

You can't explain that!

Topped out at an even hundred according to my phone.

It's about 12° out (53°F) gray, overcast, and windy here.

That's a loooong way to ship.

Hot like this until Tuesday at least.

Oh and the power went on and off briefly a couple of times last evening...

Currently, we're in Chapel Hill, NC and up until about two years ago, have loved it.
We have four seasons and only rarely suffer power outages--mostly due to ice or
wind storms taking down trees which knock down the overhead power lines--and
the power is usually back on in a few hours.

But the last couple of years our weather has changed. It's hotter and more humid
in the summer for more days and we've had periods of single digit winter weather--not normal--
and days of ice/snow compared to snow that would melt in a few hours as the norm.

Weather patterns are definitely changing--and not for the better.

Oy 100 .

I barely own any long sleeve tops, I mainly wear linen tank tops. I keep my long sleeves around for when I travel to other states. I'm so sick of our perpetual summer, but I'm stuck here.