It's so hot...

That's OK Mrs B - everything is hot at the mo' by the sounds of it!
Was thinking some damp sand (as with Bigyetiman's hens digging holes) would be good then remembered that we have got sand between the side of the coop and the fence but its in an area which I fenced off securely after the fox visit. So I've taken a calculated risk today of hosing it down and giving them access until I get home this afternoon.
 
Well, I am pretty sure we are going to be OK, although a storm has just started with strong winds and lightening which won't help the fire effort which is still ongoing. A firefighter died today, there are 150 people in hospital, and now there are 14 water carrying planes including one/some from Italy. However, a couple of hours ago the fire was 70% under control so keep your fingers firmly crossed. The President has said he will stay in the region, with 'the people' until this nightmare is over. It turns out the entire country was posting highest ever temps for the day, on Saturday, and it was a lightening strike.
 
At least not some vandal, or a discarded cigarette, then. What sort of temperatures did it reach on Saturday?
So glad you sound OK at the moment, please keep us posted.
 
Rather bizarrely it seems to have been 82 in PG on Sat, when the average is 73. This surprises me, as our temp was 107 on Sat compared to an average of 85 :shock:

But let's spare a thought for Phoenix, Arizona, where I understand it is 48 ( sorry for mixing measurement scales). :shock: can you imagine it, the hottest I have ever been is 44, in Australia.
 
So glad I'm not on a beach! Enjoyed these pics from the Guardian today, (though I had an impulse to put a hat on the toddler in the second one.)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2017/jun/20/britains-hottest-day-of-the-year-in-pictures
 
Marigold said:
So glad I'm not on a beach! Enjoyed these pics from the Guardian today, (though I had an impulse to put a hat on the toddler in the second one.)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2017/jun/20/britains-hottest-day-of-the-year-in-pictures
Click to expand...

Anyone fancy lobster for tea? :shock:

MrsBiscuit said:
Rather bizarrely it seems to have been 82 in PG on Sat, when the average is 73. This surprises me, as our temp was 107 on Sat compared to an average of 85 :shock:

But let's spare a thought for Phoenix, Arizona, where I understand it is 48 ( sorry for mixing measurement scales). :shock: can you imagine it, the hottest I have ever been is 44, in Australia.
Click to expand...

That can't be right can it?, I'm almost sure it was hotter than 82 last time I was there in July 13. Hottest for me was Aqaba in Jordan, not sure how hot it was but remember buying an ice cream and half of it having run down the cone before I could eat it. Have ended up with 5 fluff balls in the end.
 
Looking back over the days, it seems that PG is considerably cooler than where we live, but the weather stations are dotted about (ours is 10 miles away in a nondescript small village) and it may be the PG one is somewhere higher and cooler than the town itself, especially as it's not far from small mountains. Also, don't forget they are record breaking June temps, not absolute temps. We normally have 5-10 days of 40 and above, but only in July and Aug.

I can't begin to imagine Jordan in the summer, I would be defeated by the heat I am sure. Instead I am imagining Marigold's air con, as I practise thinking cool thoughts, and I must admit to buying some ice cream for medicinal reasons this morning!
 
dinosaw said:
Marigold said:
So glad I'm not on a beach! Enjoyed these pics from the Guardian today, (though I had an impulse to put a hat on the toddler in the second one.)
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/gallery/2017/jun/20/britains-hottest-day-of-the-year-in-pictures
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

Wat is it with the Brits, that they actually seem to WANT to lie out in the 30+ sun and bake their enormous tummies?
If wrongdoers were sentenced to hours of that, there would be a public outcry!
 
Maybe they think the fat will melt, or that a suntanned "blob" is better than a pasty white "blob" - except they usually end up red! Barry Island beach used to be much more crowded when I was a child, so we didn't often go there. Did you see the big white numbers painted on the wall at the back? Absolutely essential if you went swimming - you never came out where you went in, if you see what I mean, and it was the only way to find mum and the towels!
 
It always seems to be the people with the least amount of clothing on are the ones that should be covered, there seems to be acres of flesh ranging from pasty to lobster like round here at the moment. not to mention acres of tattoos and thats just the women
 
:D It's still long trousers here, under a dress....not me, I hasten to add, the older ladies, in black. I sometimes think twice about wearing shorts in the local shop, it's a different world. I read it's the hottest June since 1976 in the UK, but tomorrow the weather will break, which I guess will be a blessing for some. And the chooks :D
 
I have found it far too hot and that is (only) 24C Even the birds are in the shade during the afternoon
 
Much much cooler today, though not in the house, that will take days to cool down properly as I keep the windows closed to avoid too much pollen getting in at this time of year.

Being in Portugal always felt a little bit like stepping back in time to me, I don't mean that in a bad way, it's actually a little bit like that where I live now too. I wonder if it is because so many young people move abroad to work, we have a lot more old people than the average here.
 
Similar problem here re the demographics, dinosaw. No employment opportunities, no secondary school and crofts being increasingly merged into large farms which prevents youngsters getting a foot on the agricultural ladder. A once thriving community is now reduced to 64 people with only two couples of breeding age.
I see no way of catalysing a regeneration. Youngsters go south for Furthur Education and never return. Most of the crofters here have grown up children living south but with one exception none of them want to return and take over their parents holdings and retirement is looming for them. Recently a wealthy immigrant has bought up five houses and one quarter of the land here. Perhaps the 21st century return of the Lairds!
This population decline is mirrored, with half a dozen exceptions, over all of the 90 inhabited islands of Scotland. Derelict houses are everywhere, reflecting the long history of emigration. Indeed my own house was a derelict shell when I bought it.
For me life here is good, offering a holistic lifestyle and a deep happiness and sense of belonging hitherto absent from my life. But the absence of young folk,with all the hopes, dreams and vibrancy intrinsic in their psyches will always be a source of sorrow.
 
Last day of the 'canicule' or 'heatwave' which I expected to literally translate as 'vague de chaleur' or 'wave of heat', but I was wrong. Going out with a real bang though with the temperature 38C and very high humidity. It's only possible to do light work in the morning for short periods, which get shorter towards 11.00am, after which time the Government advise people to stay indoors- no chance! We have fans on in the chicken enclosure and spray about 500 litres of water each day. So far no casualties, but it's so hot at night we have all the pop-holes open and three coops with the side access doors open at night. We have solar lights around the enclosure with three lines of fencing so hopefully no foxes will get in, although they have paid us a visit recently they made no attempt at entry.

In the process of moving out at the moment, which is proving impossible because the trailer heats up to 50C plus and the furniture just won't take those temperatures. Sleep is difficult here because the bedroom is a totally impractical mezzanine arrangement (so many Brits build them into old house renovations then realise and try to sell) which means the heat is lost downstairs in Winter, you are woken by rain at night and in Summer the temperature reaches over 31C. Can't open the Velux window because of the flies and the lack of a fly screen (which can't be fitted). The place we have bought remains traditional and practical- took 4 years to find it!
 
Hen-Gen, I watched the recent BBC documentary they had on a couple moving to Fair Isle and it mirrored exactly what you just said. It's interesting because the Isles are almost always up there near the top on the quality of life surveys they do every year, you would have thought more people would be attracted to live there and perhaps set up various crafting and tourism businesses or even give crofting a go than currently do. Having said that, I think that the one thing that would put many people off would be living in such a small community where everyone knows everyone elses business, we have got used to being very impersonal as a society I think. Anything I tell my neighbours has spread down the little row of houses where we live within a day as many of them have lived there and known each other all of their lives. Being not too far from a large town though, we don't have to rely on them and if we happened to upset them then it wouldn't be so much of a big deal, not sure if I would take to island life or not, don't think my wife would.

Our loft room sounds like your bedroom Chris, like a sauna, at least five degrees hotter than it is outside and full of flies if you open the window. I tried to never go out between 11 and 5 when we lived in Izmir during the Summer, if I did then it was sickening, we had two months where it just didn't drop below 35C in the daytime and was often higher, it was generally 29C by 9am. That was three years ago now!, can't believe how fast time has gone. Good luck with your move and see if you can't post up some photos of your new place when you get settle, I quite like seeing these traditional houses and I know you had an interesting one when you lived over here, so I'm sure this one will be too.
 
I'll try and post something Dinosaw. Been rather poor at posts since we came over here- basically had too much to do. When we eventually sold in the UK it became a frantic rush to move out then move money and then this house came up when our search was widened by just 10 miles. We were lucky to get it as there was at least one other made the same offer. It's what is billed as a 'Traditional long house' and that just sums it up. A long building with a large room at either end and a corridor along the South face between them with smaller rooms off it. Very simple stone construction of 1768, small (130m2) and hopefully cheap to run on our very limited resources. Of course the three most important factors came in to play- location, location, location. Set in 2 ½ acres (1 Ha) of moderately sloping land -very important for drainage in the thunderstorms and wet of Winter. We completely scrapped the idea of a view of the Pyrenees because that leaves you horribly exposed to the West winds, so you have to walk up the track to the West for a minute. Nearest neighbour is 300m from the chicken enclosure, so no noise issues and no road noise either as we are the only house at the end of a lane.

Big problem moving the chickens, aside from the temperatures. We were delayed moving by the seller who was delayed herself by a vacating tenant. The ground is like concrete at the moment and will be until late September, so we can't build a chicken enclosure where we planned. Will have to make a temporary arrangement nearer the house with electric netting and electric wires. No idea if there are foxes around as our neighbouring land has Black Gasconne pigs and Gasconnaise cattle roaming around on it- in England we only had a fox strike in daytime when we moved the sheep so hopefully there won't be an issue.
 
That's about the same size or even slightly bigger than what we have Chris, when there is only two of you it's all you need really. If it's a long house then that's the chickens night time accomodation sorted, they will be expecting to move in with you!! :D
 
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