Yes, it’s hot (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the garden is taking a beating. (happens every year around this time).
Yes, pop up thunderstorms with localized flash flooding are a thing. (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the kids are headed back to school so traffic can be an issue. (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the grass needs cutting way too often (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the AC running full tilt means the electric bills are high (happens every year around this time).
But also, the figs are ripening (as are the apples and pears), the pool is inviting, we have tickets for a play this weekend, and tickets for a concert on the lake in a few weeks (following a pot-luck pool party at our house).
I have lived in many places across the United States in my (over) seven decades. Each one had its pros and cons. I can honestly say though, I have never lived any place that I hated. From blistering heat here in the summer to bitter cold in International Falls in the winter (and many places in between) I’ve always managed to be content with where I am at the time.
@chienfou I wanted to say too that yesterday’s high temperature was 107°. Today is expected to be cooler with only 102° for the high. I feel blessed! I went to the gym yesterday and stayed outside for a while after. It was like a therapeutic sauna. Once I went back inside, the house seemed cool and comfortable at 79°
@accelerator@chienfou I’ve enjoyed “living” in any place where I happened to end up, if either for a short or extended time. The discovery of a new area is always an adventure. Some nice memories of being in France for work projects for a few weeks at a time. My wife traveled with me and would find us places to live instead of a hotel. Furnished weekly rentals. So I can say I “lived” for a bit in Nantes and Grenoble France. It was great getting fresh food at markets and street fairs.
@accelerator@pmarin
My 40 y/o son is “work from home”. Thankfully “home” can be any place with internet access. Last spring he spent 3-4 weeks in France working and attending some fusion dance events he participates in. He (surprisingly) asked my wife and I if we wanted to go with him next year. We’re looking forward to the trip, we’ll spend three plus weeks in France and reconnect with some of my family at the same time. He got in touch with a few while he was there last time, but this will give him the opportunity to reconnect with people he hadn’t seen in 20 plus years…
So I am taking off on my August road trip. I am going around the north shore of Lake Superior. Spent the first night camping on a 3.5 mile sand bar just out side Duluth MN. Lovely bonfire on the beach, Had to find an extra blanket last night, and todays high is 72. Gotta love Lake Superior. Today is lighthouses, beaches, and lighthouses.
@rancho I always enjoy excursions around and across Lake Michigan; mostly along the shores of northern Illinois and Wisconsin around Racine and Milwaukee. I’ve not yet experienced any of the other Great Lakes but I hope to before my thrill ride is over.
@rancho Sounds great! Are you in some kind of camping vehicle? I have fond memories of camping on beaches in Alaska in 4WD camper, years ago.
The Northern lake area is on my bucket list; have not spent any time there.
Would like to match it to a (Great) Northern Route East-West trip including North Dakota with the new Roosevelt presidential museum. North Dakota is one of the few states missing from my stick-on states map I had in my motorhome.
@pmarin I have a small 16 foot camper that I tow around. If you do the northern east west trip, I have a suggestion. I have driven US 2 across from MI to Glacier Park in the past. But this June, I detoured in MN about 60 miles north of Duluth and took Hwy 200 across MN, ND, and MT to Missoula. Much smaller than US 2. Very quiet and very scenic.
@mycya4me I like the beaches on the oceans as well. Spent 2 weeks on the Oregon and Washington coasts in June. But this trip will be much faster since I live in WIS. In my mind any beach is a great beach! cheers
@rancho Yes sometimes, I just go down to the Rivah (river) & enjoy that tiny beach… Saves a lot of time & gas. I have been the East coast beaches many times!
Got the compressor replaced today on our LG fridge. It’s making ice cubes already for cold drinks to deal with the typical TX summer heat. Plants still surviving though the tomatoes have quit producing for now. AC is still working so we are good
@carwinew
Yep. Same here (about the tomatoes). Typically they stop producing when night-time temps are over 75. A few of the plants bit the dust, but I have hopes that some will survive long enough to make more fruit in the fall. I may try to start a few suckers to generate new plants to replace the ones that died.
OTOH the peppers are doing great as are the cantaloupes.
I went back and forth between the “just okay so Far, but exciting stuff ahead” and “Just okay so far, but scary stuff ahead options”…
The Fiancee Closed on our first house yesterday. we officially went $100k in Debt.
so… 6 of 1, half dozen of the other…
@earlyre wow congratulations, I think. Going into a kind-of debt for a house is always scary. But it’s not really a debt in that the property is also an asset. In most cases, it will go up in value over time, without you even needing to do anything but live there. Well, that and pay property taxes and insurance and utilities. Oh well….
@earlyre Did you have a huge down payment or do you live in an awesome affordable area? Home prices around my area are averaging ~$300K for a modest 3 bedroom 2 bath. Reality check is more like $350-400K for a “turn-key” home.
@accelerator 3 BR house, sale price was $212k. My Dad gave us Money for Down payment and Closing Costs, we put $112k down, and the Closing Costs pushed it to nearly $120k out of Dad’s Pocket. We will be Forever Grateful to him.
so yes, we put about 52% down.
Looking at the County records for this house, It Sold for $63k in 2016, to, it turns out a former friends parents,his Dad passed while they lived there, and his Mom moved out in…fall of '23, sold it to what turned out to be a flipper, for $105k, they did some work, sold it to the folks we’re buying from in April of '24, for $193k.
@accelerator@earlyre My parents gave me $35K towards down-payment on a house in Santa Cruz. That was a lot at the time. It was about 40 years ago. That allowed me to get a no-qualifying loan so didn’t need all inspection work completed. (Some termite issues and stuff). Over the years did many repairs and upgrades. It is a rental now. Can’t believe when I get real estate mailers and looks like price would be seven-digits now. So that’s a case when renting is actually a better option for many because purchase prices are just absurd.
added: sounds like you are in a fairly “affordable”, area, if you can call anything that.
@accelerator@pmarin Our monthly note, including the escrow for homeowners insurance and taxes is a bit under $800.
You can’t even rent a 1 BR apt around here for that…
@accelerator@earlyre@pmarin
Congrats on making the leap to homeownership. That is the single biggest wealth builder available to most folks.
Part of the problem is that people are not willing to move into areas where they will have to put effort/sweat equity into their house in order to be able to afford it at a reasonable price. If you look in the right neighborhood you can find houses for less than 100k. It may not be in your first choice of areas you want to be living in but it is there, serviceable, and affordable.
@accelerator@pmarin I currently am living with my parents, and she with hers…
Coming up on 30 years since we moved into this house ( nov. '96) at the time my parents paid $123k for it… They’ve easily put another $100k into it over the years, it’s now worth just north of $300k, and they’ll probably be downsizing in the next couple years. ( Both 80, dad is a Diabetic Heart patient with Parkinson’s… upkeep on the 1.25 acres is def too much for him anymore)
anyone have tips for ridding a house of dog smell? it’s not bad, I’ve smelled much stronger… I plan on putting my ozone machine on the cold air return right away and let it run for a cycle ( has a timer, up to 90 min i believe) obviously we’d not be in the house while it’s running…
I can smell their dog, She can’t. its not overpowering, I’ve Def. smelled stronger. they have a Mastiff…
both of our parents have residential carpet cleaners, and only one room is carpeted, so I don’t see the need to hire that out to a service.
@earlyre That’s incredible! Your father is blessed and so too are you!
That’s quite a story of the pedigree of your new home. May you live there in peace and love.
@earlyre you could get a commercial service to clean, but as you say it might not be necessary. Do the cleaning, or maybe even rip up the old carpet. You probably didn’t want it anyway. Get a good quality air cleaner and run it continuously. Some even have UV sterilizers which may or may not do anything useful. But can’t hurt…
EDIT what’s under the old carpet? I found a house I bought had hardwood flooring under old carpeting. Could be restored.
@mycya4me
Is this different than your typical August?
That’s pretty much our MO here in Central Alabama in the summer. Had a ‘pop up thunderstorm’ that dropped half an inch rain in about 15 minutes yesterday. Just enough to drive me out of the yard and make it super miserable to go back out when it quit
@ironcheftoni Well blame the Aug GOAT. I saw videos of downtown in some cities that they had a 1 foot or more & people were still trying to drive through it! PTL we got a lot of rain, BUT no streets flooded!
The Flooding was certainly very bad, but on the bright side, we got downgraded to only Stage 2 water restrictions today… YAY. And Yes, TOO Damned Hot! Tomatoes are done for the year too.
Every time the phone rings it is something else wrong. The weather is not great. Overcast but not a lot of rain. Well actually, there was a ton of rain but it was all in a few hours. Cat passed away. Adult kid with some personal issues. We should have taken the cat to be put down last week. The last few days of his life were awful. By the time we went to the vet he would have died that day anyway. (he went to the vet often, that wasn’t why he was so sick) This has not been a good summer. Oh well. Hope next year is better.
@dontwantaname The following is perspective from a person named Jason Lamar. He says, “I find everything that happens to me is good.” He goes on to compare his philosophy of “no sense crying over spilled milk.” No matter how mad or upset you get, it won’t make the milk not spilled. So if you see everything that happens to you as good then you won’t have the added unpleasantness of being mad or sad on top of what has already happened. Be good to yourself
@accelerator@dontwantaname That’s a good sentiment. But I also had a similar event with my old cat. Vet told me he probably had a kidney issue a few years before (common with cats it seems). I’d like to say we got a few years and at least 10,000 miles on that cat, and mostly had a great time.
It was really just the last few days… I don’t want to recall the details. But it was obvious when the time was now. I was going to go to a vet but it was Sunday so I figured have to wait till the morning. Thankfully, I think, nature reclaimed him that night. I’m still getting tears writing this and it’s been a few years.
P.S. he is buried in an Amazon box in the backyard. He loved to play in Amazon boxes, so seemed appropriate. And readily available.
@accelerator@dontwantaname@pmarin It’s hard when our pets get old. I’ve had two die at home on their own- one was only 3.5, the other nearly 18. It’s hard either way.
@capnjb
Pro tip: need to trim the bad spot on that tomato & eat the rest of it as soon as possible before the whole thing goes bad as well as the rest of the basket…
@chienfou That’s already been addressed These were ‘seconds’ and were super cheap. There will be a blender full of gazpacho chilling in the fridge within the hour
@capnjb
You da man!
My project for today is running the smoker. I have red jalapenos turning in chipotles and some olive oil getting smoked currently.
Having neighbors over for a pasta dinner tonight so I need to make pasta this afternoon with some flour that I brought back from Italy on our last trip. Fresh tomatoes and recently made tomato sauce will join some onions and mushrooms to cover that with. Appetizers will include smoked cream cheese with homemade pepper jelly, and maybe some cantaloupe that’s been soaking in Port for a few days…
@chienfou Kiddo is taking one of our two stand mixers (thanks Meh!!) to college with her. I might send her off with our pasta roller or pasta extruder attachments. We used to make pasta frequently. Bucatini was her favorite. Thankfully the kitchen aid attachments work with the Cuisinart mixer and vice-versa. Memorial Hall (her dorm) was the most recent one to go through large renovations and has a brand new kitchen. Which is good because she loves to cook and bake. No idea where she’s gets that from.
Fawk this heat.
Entirely too hot
@TheGreatNico
This, plus winds shifting to blow smoke in from distant fires.
August… umm, well…
Yes, it’s hot (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the garden is taking a beating. (happens every year around this time).
Yes, pop up thunderstorms with localized flash flooding are a thing. (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the kids are headed back to school so traffic can be an issue. (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the grass needs cutting way too often (happens every year around this time).
Yes, the AC running full tilt means the electric bills are high (happens every year around this time).
But also, the figs are ripening (as are the apples and pears), the pool is inviting, we have tickets for a play this weekend, and tickets for a concert on the lake in a few weeks (following a pot-luck pool party at our house).
I have lived in many places across the United States in my (over) seven decades. Each one had its pros and cons. I can honestly say though, I have never lived any place that I hated. From blistering heat here in the summer to bitter cold in International Falls in the winter (and many places in between) I’ve always managed to be content with where I am at the time.
In short…
@chienfou
Well said! Enjoy life while you still have it !
@jkawaguchi
Thanks
@chienfou Each day, each moment, is a gift. I appreciate the moment I’m in. Right now, reading this wonderful forum is about as good as it gets.
@chienfou I wanted to say too that yesterday’s high temperature was 107°. Today is expected to be cooler with only 102° for the high. I feel blessed! I went to the gym yesterday and stayed outside for a while after. It was like a therapeutic sauna. Once I went back inside, the house seemed cool and comfortable at 79°
@accelerator @chienfou I’ve enjoyed “living” in any place where I happened to end up, if either for a short or extended time. The discovery of a new area is always an adventure. Some nice memories of being in France for work projects for a few weeks at a time. My wife traveled with me and would find us places to live instead of a hotel. Furnished weekly rentals. So I can say I “lived” for a bit in Nantes and Grenoble France. It was great getting fresh food at markets and street fairs.
@accelerator @pmarin
My 40 y/o son is “work from home”. Thankfully “home” can be any place with internet access. Last spring he spent 3-4 weeks in France working and attending some fusion dance events he participates in. He (surprisingly) asked my wife and I if we wanted to go with him next year. We’re looking forward to the trip, we’ll spend three plus weeks in France and reconnect with some of my family at the same time. He got in touch with a few while he was there last time, but this will give him the opportunity to reconnect with people he hadn’t seen in 20 plus years…
So I am taking off on my August road trip. I am going around the north shore of Lake Superior. Spent the first night camping on a 3.5 mile sand bar just out side Duluth MN. Lovely bonfire on the beach, Had to find an extra blanket last night, and todays high is 72. Gotta love Lake Superior. Today is lighthouses, beaches, and lighthouses.
@rancho
Yes!
That’s awesome. Enjoy. Some of my favorite camping trips with the kids were in that area
POPSOCKETS! COURT DOCKETS! FOLK ROCK HITS! AWESOME!
@rancho I always enjoy excursions around and across Lake Michigan; mostly along the shores of northern Illinois and Wisconsin around Racine and Milwaukee. I’ve not yet experienced any of the other Great Lakes but I hope to before my thrill ride is over.
@rancho Sounds great! Are you in some kind of camping vehicle? I have fond memories of camping on beaches in Alaska in 4WD camper, years ago.
The Northern lake area is on my bucket list; have not spent any time there.
Would like to match it to a (Great) Northern Route East-West trip including North Dakota with the new Roosevelt presidential museum. North Dakota is one of the few states missing from my stick-on states map I had in my motorhome.
@rancho That sounds great, But I prefer to go to the beaches on the oceans!
@pmarin I have a small 16 foot camper that I tow around. If you do the northern east west trip, I have a suggestion. I have driven US 2 across from MI to Glacier Park in the past. But this June, I detoured in MN about 60 miles north of Duluth and took Hwy 200 across MN, ND, and MT to Missoula. Much smaller than US 2. Very quiet and very scenic.
@mycya4me I like the beaches on the oceans as well. Spent 2 weeks on the Oregon and Washington coasts in June. But this trip will be much faster since I live in WIS. In my mind any beach is a great beach! cheers
@rancho Yes sometimes, I just go down to the Rivah (river) & enjoy that tiny beach… Saves a lot of time & gas. I have been the East coast beaches many times!
Got the compressor replaced today on our LG fridge. It’s making ice cubes already for cold drinks to deal with the typical TX summer heat. Plants still surviving though the tomatoes have quit producing for now. AC is still working so we are good
@carwinew
Yep. Same here (about the tomatoes). Typically they stop producing when night-time temps are over 75. A few of the plants bit the dust, but I have hopes that some will survive long enough to make more fruit in the fall. I may try to start a few suckers to generate new plants to replace the ones that died.
OTOH the peppers are doing great as are the cantaloupes.
I went back and forth between the “just okay so Far, but exciting stuff ahead” and “Just okay so far, but scary stuff ahead options”…
The Fiancee Closed on our first house yesterday. we officially went $100k in Debt.
so… 6 of 1, half dozen of the other…
@earlyre wow congratulations, I think. Going into a kind-of debt for a house is always scary. But it’s not really a debt in that the property is also an asset. In most cases, it will go up in value over time, without you even needing to do anything but live there. Well, that and pay property taxes and insurance and utilities. Oh well….
@earlyre Did you have a huge down payment or do you live in an awesome affordable area? Home prices around my area are averaging ~$300K for a modest 3 bedroom 2 bath. Reality check is more like $350-400K for a “turn-key” home.
OWLS! TOWELS! JOWLS! AWESOME!
@accelerator 3 BR house, sale price was $212k. My Dad gave us Money for Down payment and Closing Costs, we put $112k down, and the Closing Costs pushed it to nearly $120k out of Dad’s Pocket. We will be Forever Grateful to him.
so yes, we put about 52% down.
Looking at the County records for this house, It Sold for $63k in 2016, to, it turns out a former friends parents,his Dad passed while they lived there, and his Mom moved out in…fall of '23, sold it to what turned out to be a flipper, for $105k, they did some work, sold it to the folks we’re buying from in April of '24, for $193k.
@accelerator @earlyre My parents gave me $35K towards down-payment on a house in Santa Cruz. That was a lot at the time. It was about 40 years ago. That allowed me to get a no-qualifying loan so didn’t need all inspection work completed. (Some termite issues and stuff). Over the years did many repairs and upgrades. It is a rental now. Can’t believe when I get real estate mailers and looks like price would be seven-digits now. So that’s a case when renting is actually a better option for many because purchase prices are just absurd.
added: sounds like you are in a fairly “affordable”, area, if you can call anything that.
@accelerator @pmarin Our monthly note, including the escrow for homeowners insurance and taxes is a bit under $800.
You can’t even rent a 1 BR apt around here for that…
@accelerator @earlyre @pmarin
Congrats on making the leap to homeownership. That is the single biggest wealth builder available to most folks.
Part of the problem is that people are not willing to move into areas where they will have to put effort/sweat equity into their house in order to be able to afford it at a reasonable price. If you look in the right neighborhood you can find houses for less than 100k. It may not be in your first choice of areas you want to be living in but it is there, serviceable, and affordable.
@accelerator @pmarin I currently am living with my parents, and she with hers…
Coming up on 30 years since we moved into this house ( nov. '96) at the time my parents paid $123k for it… They’ve easily put another $100k into it over the years, it’s now worth just north of $300k, and they’ll probably be downsizing in the next couple years. ( Both 80, dad is a Diabetic Heart patient with Parkinson’s… upkeep on the 1.25 acres is def too much for him anymore)
anyone have tips for ridding a house of dog smell? it’s not bad, I’ve smelled much stronger… I plan on putting my ozone machine on the cold air return right away and let it run for a cycle ( has a timer, up to 90 min i believe) obviously we’d not be in the house while it’s running…
I can smell their dog, She can’t. its not overpowering, I’ve Def. smelled stronger. they have a Mastiff…
both of our parents have residential carpet cleaners, and only one room is carpeted, so I don’t see the need to hire that out to a service.
@earlyre That’s incredible! Your father is blessed and so too are you!
That’s quite a story of the pedigree of your new home. May you live there in peace and love.
@earlyre you could get a commercial service to clean, but as you say it might not be necessary. Do the cleaning, or maybe even rip up the old carpet. You probably didn’t want it anyway. Get a good quality air cleaner and run it continuously. Some even have UV sterilizers which may or may not do anything useful. But can’t hurt…
EDIT what’s under the old carpet? I found a house I bought had hardwood flooring under old carpeting. Could be restored.
When it is NOT Hot & Humid, there are Thunderstorms & dumping massive amount of Rain, causing a lot of Flooding!
@mycya4me
Is this different than your typical August?
That’s pretty much our MO here in Central Alabama in the summer. Had a ‘pop up thunderstorm’ that dropped half an inch rain in about 15 minutes yesterday. Just enough to drive me out of the yard and make it super miserable to go back out when it quit
@mycya4me you got rain? Jealous! My poor yard has cracks in the ground that small children could fall into.
@ironcheftoni Well blame the Aug GOAT. I saw videos of downtown in some cities that they had a 1 foot or more & people were still trying to drive through it! PTL we got a lot of rain, BUT no streets flooded!
It’s fecking August, there’s no excuse for it and not one damn thing good about it.
The Flooding was certainly very bad, but on the bright side, we got downgraded to only Stage 2 water restrictions today… YAY. And Yes, TOO Damned Hot! Tomatoes are done for the year too.
@Mandamm
I have mixed luck getting a few of my tomato plants to survive until the fall every year. See comment above
Heat Advisory
Air Quality Alert
‘Nuff said
Every time the phone rings it is something else wrong. The weather is not great. Overcast but not a lot of rain. Well actually, there was a ton of rain but it was all in a few hours. Cat passed away. Adult kid with some personal issues. We should have taken the cat to be put down last week. The last few days of his life were awful. By the time we went to the vet he would have died that day anyway. (he went to the vet often, that wasn’t why he was so sick) This has not been a good summer. Oh well. Hope next year is better.
@dontwantaname The following is perspective from a person named Jason Lamar. He says, “I find everything that happens to me is good.” He goes on to compare his philosophy of “no sense crying over spilled milk.” No matter how mad or upset you get, it won’t make the milk not spilled. So if you see everything that happens to you as good then you won’t have the added unpleasantness of being mad or sad on top of what has already happened. Be good to yourself
@accelerator @dontwantaname That’s a good sentiment. But I also had a similar event with my old cat. Vet told me he probably had a kidney issue a few years before (common with cats it seems). I’d like to say we got a few years and at least 10,000 miles on that cat, and mostly had a great time.
It was really just the last few days… I don’t want to recall the details. But it was obvious when the time was now. I was going to go to a vet but it was Sunday so I figured have to wait till the morning. Thankfully, I think, nature reclaimed him that night. I’m still getting tears writing this and it’s been a few years.
P.S. he is buried in an Amazon box in the backyard. He loved to play in Amazon boxes, so seemed appropriate. And readily available.
@accelerator @dontwantaname @pmarin It’s hard when our pets get old. I’ve had two die at home on their own- one was only 3.5, the other nearly 18. It’s hard either way.
Well, I’ve decided I’m not wearing pants today if that answers any questions. Or raises more…
@capnjb
Okay, I’ll start.
Ummm … Side benefit of being an empty nester??
@chienfou Well, the girls were out for the day at the farmer’s market.
The empty nester thing starts in just a few days. Eesh.
@capnjb
Pro tip: need to trim the bad spot on that tomato & eat the rest of it as soon as possible before the whole thing goes bad as well as the rest of the basket…
@chienfou That’s already been addressed
These were ‘seconds’ and were super cheap. There will be a blender full of gazpacho chilling in the fridge within the hour 
@capnjb
You da man!
My project for today is running the smoker. I have red jalapenos turning in chipotles and some olive oil getting smoked currently.
Having neighbors over for a pasta dinner tonight so I need to make pasta this afternoon with some flour that I brought back from Italy on our last trip. Fresh tomatoes and recently made tomato sauce will join some onions and mushrooms to cover that with. Appetizers will include smoked cream cheese with homemade pepper jelly, and maybe some cantaloupe that’s been soaking in Port for a few days…
@chienfou Sounds wonderful!
@chienfou Kiddo is taking one of our two stand mixers (thanks Meh!!) to college with her. I might send her off with our pasta roller or pasta extruder attachments. We used to make pasta frequently. Bucatini was her favorite. Thankfully the kitchen aid attachments work with the Cuisinart mixer and vice-versa. Memorial Hall (her dorm) was the most recent one to go through large renovations and has a brand new kitchen. Which is good because she loves to cook and bake. No idea where she’s gets that from.
@capnjb
That fruit didn’t fall far from the tree, did it!?!
@chienfou I blame Isaac Newton