30 Days to Better Preparedness. Day 24. Heat.

 While I could not write about the cold I can write about the heat.  I really hate heat too!  It is scary and dangerous.  We dread it.  There is only one thing  worse than heat and that is heat and wind.   Those are fire conditions that are completely catastrophic.  If we get a day like this it is scary.  We are on alert the whole time.

So to me heat is 111 and above.  We can get to about 118.   So that is 44 C to 48C which is an extreme day but it has happened. 

Since I lived on the farm we have one extreme day.  Dad came here that afternoon.  It was just so hot.  After he left I drove down the driveway to get the mail.  I was shocked and upset by what I saw.  The whole driveway is lined with trees.  Under the trees were dead Galah's, Corella's, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos, Rosellas, Lorikeets... every type of parrot.  I stopped and checked if they were alive.  Of at least 100 I found three that were living.  I brought them home and cooled them in the lounge room.   One survived and flew off that evening.  It was just dreadful.   

So thanks to the forecast we have warning really hot weather is coming.  This is my plan.

I begin to deeply water the whole garden and soak things.   I have the hose going slowly and let an area soak then move to another.  I deeply water all the pot plants.   

I check the freezers.  They must be FULL to the brim. Every space is filled with bottles of water.  I fill them with rain water.  1.  If the power goes out my full freezers will stay frozen solid for at least a couple of days.  2.  The frozen water gives you valuable very cold drinks.  3.  If the freezer begins to thaw you still have good cold drinks on hand for several days.  Valuable.

I start adding extra water containers for all the animals, filling containers, checking troughs.   I have hoses and sprinklers.   The chooks and ducks get a sprinkler turned on during the hottest time.   So do the birds.  Keeping shade and water running has saved my chickens so far when I know many people lose their chickens in heat like this.    I set my hoses and sprinklers up ready to go. 

When the kids were little I had a cut off point for school.   If it was going to be too extreme was called it quits.  There was no cooling in their school and a dumb person designed it so they sat with the sun blaring through glass directly on them and had a cement yard.   If it was going to be "ordinary" hot I would do ice drinks, frozen drinks wrapped in a towel... the towel then could be used to wipe heads  and hands and cool you down.  I still do the frozen drink with a towel wrapped around to this day.   Andys lunches were the same when he was working and travelling long distances. 

Keep a bunch of spare drinks cold and ready to go.  If there is space in the fridge fill this too.  Same thing applies, the full cold fridge will all stay cold longer than a half empty one.    Pack it full.   

I also cook in advance as I never cook when it is hot.  So we will live on cold meat, salads, sharing platters etc.   

Keep misting bottles full of water, in fridge if there is room.   These will cool a person, a car, a bedroom... 

We have battery operated fans.   They are my back up!  

I keep all ingredients to make electrolytes.   There are recipes online.  I make my own as most of them here contain artificial sweeteners which I do not consume.  Nor would ever give to children.  I keep honey, Himalayan Pink Salt, fruit juices etc at all times. 

Make lots of ice and have that ready.

Now plan.  I get heat exhaustion quite easily. Also glaring sun and heat are migraine triggers for me.   So I need to be careful to drink heaps,  wear my hat,  do my work early then late evening.  I usually go out and check everything once an hour.   Everything being all animals and the garden.

I have already soaked the garden deeply knowing heat is coming.  Put up shade umbrellas...   I keep old sheets and table cloths are emergency covers for plants and animal encloses and keep them damp as much as possible.    

If the power goes out we are ready.  We have back up generators and now we also have a whole house generator.  We only cool the rooms we are in.  I shut up the house and draw the blinds.  We keep the living area and bedroom cool.   That is enough to give us a retreat.  

We do not willingly leave the farm at this time.  If we did stuff would die its that simple.  

When it is this hot we drive up to the top of our hill a couple of times a day to check for smoke. Everyone is on high alert. 

Then we wait it out and keep everything going as best we can.  I think it was 2009 that there were 14 days over 44 in a row.   I feel limp thinking of it.  The last few summers have been shorter and only one or two really hot days.  But eeek summer is coming, it is Spring now!

How do you get ready for the heat? xxx