View from before sunrise during a morning walk. I love the pastel pink and blue skies.
The summer heat is here. Today it’s supposed to be 108 degrees. We’re at an elevation of 3,000 feet — rather than near sea level at our old home in Palm Springs. That makes it seven to 10 degrees cooler here.
But after our freezing cold wet winter, my body hasn’t adjusted to hot temperatures — even though the days are under 110 degrees. When I lived the Coachella Valley for 38 years, I would say it’s not hot until it’s over 110. Now, in Arizona, after two and half years, my tolerance is 100 degrees.
Our solution? Waking up early. Alarm is set for 4:30 a.m. We’re out the door by 5 a.m with a temperature of 78 degrees. Sunrise is almost half an hour later. Our goal is a one-hour walk through our neighborhood for three miles. We’ve upped our mileage and time from a 40-minute two-mile walk. We don’t see many people out, except for an occasional neighbor walking their dog.
I am getting somewhat adjusted to the new schedule. I’m very tired in the afternoon and I want to nap. But I’m not a napper. Also, I’m afraid if I do nap, I won’t be able to fall asleep at my new bedtime!
A benefit of the new schedule is I’m finding lots of time to read. I’m done with my reading and writing blogs and rewriting my manuscript hours earlier in the day. Plenty of time to settle on the sofa with a book. I’m also getting pesky chores done that I’ve managed to put off for months — or should I say years?
Here’s a photo of sunrise around 5:25 a.m.
What are your summer temperatures like?
What do you consider a perfect temperature or too hot?
What adjustments do you make to your summer schedule, if any?
That is early to get up to walk! I started to write ‘work’. I admire your tenacity. It is in the 90’s here. I made plans to go to water aerobics this morning and it started thundering which means lightening is not far behind, so an adjustment is made. Now the husband is happy because he has the car this morning and can go to Ace (working on shelves in the garage) and the barber early before it gets crowded. So I am doing some paperwork and filing which needed to be done. I will do indoor stuff today.
I’m liking my early morning walks, but find I fade by afternoon. We were supposed to have thunder and lightning today too at 6 am but it got pushed back to afternoon. It’s no time to go to the pool. You’re smart to stay home. What we need is a big monsoon with thunder and lightning!
I am glad I made the right decision! I was feeling kind of guilty because my body was feeling like it needed rest today after doing some work with exercises yesterday. I really need to organize my stuff, and get some things together. I admire you for getting up so early. It is good to go together that early.
We took Sunday off from our YMCa swim reservation. We realized our bodies needed rest. I felt guilty but after getting up so early all week, I was tired!
Sometimes you have to listen to what your body tells you.
👍🏼
The sunsets are really beautiful here, aren’t they? The bad new is that layer of pretty blue is pollution trapped in the basin of the valley due to lack of wind flow. The good news, I guess, is that means our “high pollution advisory days” produce the most vivid sunrises and sunsets! 😆
Having been here so long, I’m accustomed to the heat and can tolerate up to ~118 without issue. It’s the humidity that gets me! We hiked in Idaho on a day with 87 with 40% and it was miserable… so much worse than July in AZ. 😂
This morning it was humid and I felt it. You’re right about the pollution. I’m sure it’s all the vehicles. Fortunately we’re above it, but we see it in the valley. The sunsets are spectacular!
Nyc gets humid, which crushes me more than the heat. Hot for me is anything above 88, or ridiculous humidity. I try to get out of the city for a few weekends or take a vacation, which is not in the cards for the summer…I also use more mass transit instead of walking.
Humidity is tough. We had clouds and a predicted thunderstorm and I was struggling on my walk today. We usually get away more in the summers too, but this year it won’t be until mid August.
I would do the same thing EA, if the temps climbed that high on a regular basis. As it is my internal alarm still wakes me up at 5 AM and if the day is expected to be warm or hot I usually try to get out about 7 or so. You know what it’s like here and how much the weather varies so I mostly just try to look ahead to what is predicted for the week and plan accordingly, but sometimes that is unpredictable as well 😉
We were getting out for our walk around 7 a.m. so this is a big change for me. I do know what the weather is like up there. Unpredictable is a good word for it. When I moved to Palm Springs in the 1980s, every morning I’d watch the weather on TV to see how I should get dressed. My husband laughed and said, “It’s sunny and hot.”
LOL!
😂
Love your early morning routine. If I sleep past 5:30 or 6, the whole day feels ‘off’. And although you’re exercising out of necessity in the morning, I find I prefer mornings for movement anyhow. Waiting until later in the day means it might be too hot (but not your kind of hot! lol!) or I’ll easily defer because something else (cleaning grout?) commands my attention. Humidity is a nuisance…I’m so not a tropical girl….and today? Pretty ‘tropical’ around here. 85 degrees and sticky. 😜
I also like to move in the morning. I’m like you. If I don’t get exercise early on, it’s very easy to avoid it in the afternoon. I don’t know how people go to the gym in the evenings! 85 and sticky? No thank you!
LOL! Yep – agree with all of that! 🤣
😁
Well, remember Mark Twain’s comment, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco?” We don’t usually get our best weather until September and October. At least in my part of the state we haven’t had such record temperatures, yet.
That’s what my son told me. He said “Remember June gloom in Laguna Beach? That’s the way our summers are.” He told us to visit in the fall, not this summer.
Good for you in getting up and walking early in the morning to beat the heat! The 90’s is hot enough for me! That’s how it usually is here in the summer 80’s and 90’s. There are days that it can get high 90’s , but that usually doesn’t last too long.
It is much easier for me to get up early in the summer when the sun is shining and I like to sit out on my glider before it gets hot.
You have such lovely morning views there.
We’re in the thick of summer here. It’s hot and humid. Although I do not like this part of summer, it’s been sunny, which makes me happy.
We have hot and humid today. There was supposed to be a thunder storm but it’s just hot and miserable.
Ugh.
Wow, love the discipline. I wouldn’t mind getting up early, especially getting the walk out of the way and seeing the sun come up . . . my only pause would be to make sure that I didn’t come across that little “kitty cat” you shared a picture of a few days ago. But, I’m assuming he/she is just as scared of humans. Ha, ha. No, it’s great that you’re getting the walk in before the hot. I’m trying to do that here to beat the humidity, but I’ve been hit or miss. Need to get better.
It is good to get the walk done early. I’m enjoying it but probably won’t stick with the early hour when it’s cooler out. I’m actually disappointed I haven’t seen any wildlife before dawn except bunnies!
You’ve bounced from the deep freeze into the oven in a single bound! That doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun, but good for you for adjusting and making the best of it. I LOVE the early mornings and treat myself to a nap when the mood strikes. I love me my naps—and the walks too, whenever that fanciful mood grabs me. Enjoy!
Thank you! I am enjoying the early mornings. It’s growing on me. It’s beautiful and peaceful.
The birds start their dawn chorus here about 4:30, but I still get up at 6:00 unless it’s a bird-banding day. I try to get out earlier for the dog walk. We haven’t hit 100 yet, but it’s plenty hot in the 90s.
90s is plenty hot! 6 am is my normal wake-up time. Who knows? Maybe my internal clock will change to 4:30 am?
It’s so hot here , too.🥵 I try to get up early to do my walking. But sometimes it ends up being pretty hot by the time I get out there. Today it was only 83 when I went out. It’s 97 now with 114 heat index . I stay indoors most of the summer, at least in July and August .
That’s hot! I feel like summers in extreme heat are similar to those who live inside during the winter months due to freezing cold temps. I’m inside except for early morning walks and our vacation at the beach where I spend as much time outside as possible!
Wow, that’s hot. I love your beautiful sunrise pictures! I get up early too – but I love my 10-15 minute nap midday. Good for you for making it work! I bet the pool feels great in that heat!
I wish I could nap like you do. My husband does most days. I have a couple times since I switched my wake up time from 6 a.m. to 4:30! They cool the pool at the YMCA which is great! It’s a small pool and wouldn’t be healthy to swim in if they didn’t. Our backyard pool gets the morning sun but is in the shade the rest of the day and is still cool!
Right now it’s 35c or 97F. This is not as hot as it usually is but very very humid. Our temperatures can go up to 47 C
We are having humidity too. It makes it feel so much hotter.
Yes, suffocating in fact.
We just got back from a humid walk but it was a cool 80 degrees 😂
At least at was tolerable!
It wasn’t bad. There are certain streets where there’s a breeze which feels so good!
Oh that I can understand.
👍🏼
😅
It is hot here at 6,700′ low 90s. Topping 100 30 mins south but with the negative heat index I imagine it could be worse. The real issue is the intensity of the sun, damn it is hot. I imagine like use, if you step into the shade it feels 10 degrees cooler.
That would feel hot. When I’d visit my daughter at the University of Utah, or we’d go to Park City it did feel hot at elevation!