At the risk of being totally boring, let’s talk about the weather again. Saturday it was 96 degrees outside and 80 degrees inside our house. Friday was almost as bad. We open the doors and windows at night but when the night time low temperature is 60 degrees, the house doesn’t cool down enough to cope with the high temps the next day. Our mini split air conditioning/heating units finally arrived late Friday afternoon. But unfortunately they arrived with missing parts.
So, we do what needs to be done outside early in the morning. I walk Emmi before 7am and after the sun has set. Mowing and weed whacking take place early in the morning. The Cowboy works in his shop in the morning and spends the rest of the day inside under the ceiling fan. It’s so dry that even with irrigating our hay did not grow enough to make it worth cutting.
We watch and listen for rattlesnakes, the Cowboy found one across the creek from our house when walking Emmi while I was gone. A rattlesnake bit Nola, a St. Bernard belonging to our friends Joe and Tammy who own our former ranch. Nola spent the night at the vet clinic but seems to be doing OK–this heat isn’t helping her be comfortable.
There is no change coming in this weather pattern–hot, hot and more hot. And no rain. It’s a weird, upsetting summer in Montana. For the first time in a long, long time we did nothing today on July 4th. I considered having a party but just couldn’t summon the energy in this heat. I did cook a July 4th type lunch for us–hamburgers, potato salad, corn on the cob and green salads–it was delicious!
Friday we made a flying trip to Billings to purchase a generator–seems generators are in short supply like so many other things. Harbor Freight had received a shipment of 10 Predator generators and when I called on Wednesday evening they still had all ten units. On Friday morning when we got to the store there were four generators remaining. When I stepped up to the counter and told the clerk what I wanted, another man behind me said, “make that two.” There were then only two of the ten generators left–short supply! We were on the road at 7am and home just after noon–a flying trip!
And if the heat wasn’t enough to aggravate us we now have what we call “sticky flies.” They are slow moving, small flies that buzz in and out of your ears, your eyes and they bite leaving large, swollen red spots. Outside trying to play with Emmi the dang things will drive you crazy–I become very gleeful when I manage to slap and kill one of the pesky things! The flies usually only visit us for about two weeks–thank goodness!!
Restoration Cowboy Style 
I feel for you. We had this weather llast week, also no air conditioner. We don’t normally need one but this heat was very unusual might have to invest in a heat pump if that’s possible since we only have baseboard heaters wh
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We rarely need air conditioning in Montana Vera but the last couple years have been brutal–this one especially so!
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Kill a few flies for me! Hot here, but some rain! We got a holiday off tomorrow from babysitting, just have to find out if it’s a paid Holiday!! 4 days to go!
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We are getting rain right now–it’s pouring!! And the temperature dropped! I don’t envy you the babysitting!
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Thank goodness for Peonies!
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Yep, brightened my day when they all “popped!”
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I’ve just seen this portable A/C advertised. NOMA SACC A/C 8,000 BTU. A little pricey (but that’s Canada!) at $499.99. Just in case your mini splits with missing parts don’t work out.
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The company who sold us the mini splits has been on the ball–they are shipping out the new parts today. We tried one of those portable air conditioners once and found it quite noisy but thanks for thinking of us Barb!
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I guess we’re the only ones not surprised with hot temps. We just watch to see how far above 100 we will be each day. Thank goodness for no humidity, A/C, and the pool. I feel badly for areas that normally don’t have this heat (like you). The flies would do me in. Hope they don’t hang around long. Fingers crossed you see some drop in the temps.
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In past summers we rarely saw 90 degrees much less 100 degrees in June! The temps did drop on Sunday and Monday was glorious with a high of only 65 degrees. Today we are right back up near 90–ugh! Air conditioner missing parts have been shipped.
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Looks like your maiden voyage was great fun even with a few hiccups. Such a beautiful little lake! I hope your rain continues now and that heat is long gone. Heat makes me so cranky these days, I think biting flies would send me over the edge!
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We had so much fun camping and have more trips planned. The heat returned after our glorious rain and cooler temps. We were right back up at 90 degrees today. The biting flies are sending me over the edge–you should see my legs!
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I remember doing a craft show at the Sweet Pea Festival in Montana…was that Bozeman? I can’t remember, but what I do remember is 105 degree days and no cooling at night. I was sleeping in the back of my pickup in a shell camper. That was in the mid 90’s, so Montana heat is something I do remember sometimes. Ick. The biting flies and the black face hornets are also something I don’t miss our natural gas to power the property when the power cuts off. More and more Pacific Power is talking about fire danger weather cutoffs. They say only a few hours at at time, but we know from Nickie and Jimmy in California that their cutoffs due to fire danger weather can last for days. With a well run by electricity and no water for days at a time, we need a backup. At least you don’t have to fill the thing with gasoline all the time. Spendy, but I would bet in the next ten years or so we will be glad to have done it.
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Well, a big part of that comment got deleted. Somewhere after not missing bugs in Montana and northern Idaho and talking about our choice to install a whole house generator connecting to natural gas. Guess I can’t edit a posted comment.
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I’m glad you clarified–I was having trouble deciphering that comment Sue! Several of our friends here in Montana have whole house generators–mainly for winter power outages. When you have a well, electricity is a necessity in my book!
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