Does it get any better?

U were drinking a lot of beer to be sweating white. I didn't drink much, and never sweated white. BUT I sure sweated.

No you never get used to it, you just learn to work with it. I get all my outside chores done in the morning between 5:30 and 10:30. As the sun gets farther up in the sky the more I move around with the shade. I also stay out during that time, no in and out. If I have too many chores to count and extra outside things to do then I leave something that is less physical for later in the evening, like 7pm. During the worst part of the day we are inside or in the pool. I have had heat exhaustion and it is no fun so I avoid it like the plague now. During the nice temps of spring and fall I am a work outside fool. That is when all major work around here gets done, otherwise if it isn't absolutely critical it ways until then. Summer is simply about maintaining the status quo. Blessings, Kat

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Come visit Homesteading and Homekeeping at Whisperwind Farm

Im in va and work outside all day monday-friday then saturday-sunday goofing around doing homestead stuff. I do notice the first couple weeks of 90+ is tough then i settle in. Yes you will be covered in sweat, yes you will need to drink alot of water but it isnt impossible to work outside. Once it hits the 100* with 115* heat index it slows me down but dosnt stop. Sweat soaked shirt is nothing, how about shirt, pants, socks, etc lol

I lived in NW Oregon before the family had to move to VA, DH had to find a fair wage job.

Anyway, I have been here two summers now. I can't do much outside either.
Have a hard time breathing when it gets really hot and humid. Some days I have been wondering if I am getting asthma, it is so bad. But hearing you are having problems too...

Drink tons of Ice water, all day long.

I get the animals fed in the morning and evening, and that is it. OK well... except when I have to mow... then I strap an sports Ice pack on my back... and when that melts I come back in.
Won't be able to do any mowing without it.

Tried to do a small kitchen garden this year, didn't do as good as I hoped.
Easy growing things in the NW... not so much here. Between the heat, bugs like I have seen no where else and fungus....

Have no problems in Autumn or winter.

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Shari

It may not be the same for everyone, but I relocated from MT (and a lifetime in more or less dry climates) to KY 14 years ago, when I was in my early 60s but still doing a full day's work outside every day.

I had the same issues you are having and kept pushing the first few years, thinking my body thermostat would adjust.

Now, fourteen years later, during the summer I work from first daylight until somewhere between 9 AM and 10 AM when the heat/humidity drive me back in the house into air conditioning. I've had to pretty much drop everything outside during the summer months except for what I can get done in those morning hours because I react the same now as I did from the first. Dripping sweat, followed by getting light-headed and faintly queasy and then eventually on to stomach cramps and blinding headache. If I take it to the stomach cramp/headache stage, it takes me a couple of days to actually recover and get back to normal.

It's obvious that I am not going to adjust so I have to deal with limited ability to work outside during the summer. Frustrating, since that is the time that I should be the busiest, but the reality is that I can't physically manage it without being sick.

You never get used to it.
Ever.
And the older you get, the harder it will become.
Seriously.
Enjoy it while you are 36, because in 10 years you will look back fondly on how you handled the humidity when you were younger.

I would suggest a move. Even if it is just up into the mountains of VA.

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You're gonna think I'm out of my ever loving mind but I think I can solve this for you if you don't want to move north.

I grew up in the south. WAAAAAY south - AR/MS/LA/TX/GA south. I was hot my entire life. Never liked the humidity. Would stay inside during the summer. Even here in NC I've hated this area because there is little break from the heat/humidity like you get in the west part of the state. (Wasn't yesterday awesome? It's supposed to be like this all week here!)

But then in the past couple of years as I approach the 14th anniversary of my 29th birthday I've not been able to handle the winter cold. I couldn't make it if I had to live somewhere really cold. Besides the joint pain-who wouldn't want a 10 month growing season???

This past year I started doing hot yoga and I swear on my daddy's grave that it not only makes me physically stronger, has almost cured my asthma and keeps me mentally calm, it makes me okay with being hot and sweating. I've never sweated so much in all my life as I have over the past year of yoga, I've spent more time outside this summer, gotten more accomplished and been just darn *okay* with being hot. I'm comfortable sweating, I even enjoy it. And I have learned to calm my senses and bbreeeeath through things that make me uncomfortable.

And trust me, I'm no pot smoking hippie. Never have been. I did spend the past 12 years or so 20-40 pounds overweight, but I got control of all that this past winter/spring and this summer has been the most comfortable I have been in my skin and in this heat in my whole life. I totally doubted yoga as much more than a bunch of stinking long haired weirdos sitting around chanting and getting high - other than goats it's the best thing I've ever done for me.

Worth a shot!

We also have to get work done early in the morning except for mowing the grass. We use a riding mower so a sun hat and some cool water helps. I don't think you can adjust to this climate if you live most of your life in an air conditioned home. I know it was easier to handle before we got AC many years ago. I can't handle working outside in the heat due to emphysema so I have learned to work in the cooler part of the day.

Thanks for the responses!

A move back north is out. The wife has made it clear that leaving Virginia would create a strain that would best be avoided--plus, we just cant afford to make that kind of move right now, or in the near future.

I would love to move up into the mountains. Nelson County is an hour's drive away, and a world of difference for the Orange/Spotsy line where we currently reside. We actually own a 3-acre chunk of Madison county, which is closer to the mountains, but it's not exactly ours--we own it, but its' a family legacy, so we can't do much with it but build on it, and we can't afford to build just yet.

Thus, we are here, and in a fairly good spot (can't sell out anyway), so we'll just be growing where we're planted, I guess.

I'm glad it's not just me, but I was hoping for a magic answer (the hot yoga is an interesting option, but not necessarily a feasible one, where we are). So it goes.

I'll just learn to live with it. And complain. A lot, I'm sure ...

Eating "lighter" foods also helps in hot, humid weather. Don't down a sausage & egg biscuit or gravy/biscuit, and then go out to work. Instead try to eat an apple, or some cantaloupe, watermelon, or some fruit that's mostly water anyway. We are in TN and have a friend in his late 40's, who owns a commercial lawn mowing business. I asked him how he can stand to be out in the heat/humidity ALL day, and he said all he ever eats when he is working is fruit. It'll help you lose weight for sure, as an added bonus. Don't forget to drink more water as well. My dh comes in with soaking wet t-shirts and wipes off and hangs his shirt to dry so it won't mildew up the laundry hamper. When they dry, you can see the salt crystals on them! And he's over 70...

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Pro Libertate!

I grew up in eastern Oregon, then went to AZ for a while, over into sunny southern Ca for a few years. I had a bit of trouble adjusting to the humidity when I first came east at age 25 and then the heat combined with humidity when I moved south to Kentucky. I think I adjusted better than most here that I have talked to because I lived without air conditioning for several years. Since I married my Yvonne (who was born here) and she insists on having the a/c set on "meatlocker" I have found myself getting back to being miserable when I go outside again. I would suggest losing those excess pounds, get yourself back in shape by forcing yourself to work more outside, and lose the a/c. No one can deal with outdoor hard labor in the heat without sweating, but I have yet to hear of anyone dyeing from a little sweat. Other tips, avoid fatty foods, the grease builds body heat fast. Avoid outdoor activities between noon and 5 oclock during the hot part of the year. Get your heaviest work done during the cooler months, august is a great time to stock up on fish.

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"Nothing so needs reforming as other peoples habits." Mark Twain

Today was another good one ... got a lot of brush cleared without hurting myself any. It's a bit humid, but at 65 degrees, it's not a big deal.

Plus, I think I got ahead just a little on another hard lesson learned out here:

Resurrection.

Out in the intermountain West, if you cut something off at the roots, it generally stays dead, or at least gets knocked down pretty hard. This isn't always true, but in my experience, brush cleared tends to stay cleared for awhile.

Out here, this is not the case, and I learned this the hard way--when we bought our place last year, the sellers had cleared the space around the house (it had been overgrown before their "rehab") by cutting things down to the ground, then adding fill to level. The tried to add grass, but it didn't take, so we moved in with a big muddy mess for a yard--but plenty of potential, right?

Nope ... they had cut down Ailanthus and Sassafras, and the ever present brambles. Last year, these sprouts started coming, and I just kept them cut off, expecting them to die, but instead they just spread and multiplied and took over a large portion of the yard. This year, I waited until they got big, than started ripping them out by the roots, and grubbing out the root structure whenever possible. Today, owing to the weather, I got the largest chunk finished. Because this is Virginia, I'm sure the *$&%(#s will come back, but for today, at least, I can feel like the conquering hero ...

Humidity makes everything harder. 34 degrees and rainy is always colder than 25 degrees and dry. 85 degrees with 98% RH is hotter than 100 if one is working. When you work, your body produces heat and has to get rid of it some way. People in dry climates never seem to sweat.... that is because the perspiration is evaporating right out of the pores and does a great job of cooling them. The body looses 1 calorie of heat raising that 1 gram bead of sweat running down your arm from 37 C (98.6F) degrees to 38C..... it loses 540 calories if that 1 gram of sweat envaporates instead.

Fat is a good insulator... it may keep you warmer in winter, but it makes it harder to loose heat from your body in summer. If you are overwieght that is the most important thing you can control.

Having said that, you can acclimatize to a certain degree to working in high humidity. Partially it is learning to drink more so that all that sweat running off you gets replace. You may need to increase your uptake of potasium salts. (You sodium salt will most likely not be an issue, but your postasium is very important in your blood chemistry) Think that awful salty Gatorade stuff you had to drink when playing football in Highschool.

Aclimatizing partially has to do with loosing extra fat, and partially with making drinking enough fluids a habit, and partially becoming used to how much you can safely push yourself without being unsafe. In the words of the comercial: Just do it..... but don't overdo it.

I was going to buy a cooling vest, but instead I think that I will make one.

Basically, little blocks of cooling ice are put into pouches in a vest and worn. In the past I just went out with ice water, and often dribbled some across my shirt and arms, but I am thinking something stronger would be better.

Yep, it is quite possible to cobble together one if you don't mind a leak now and then. The important thing with one using ice is to have a fabric layer or two between you and the ice. One other trick I use is a ziplock sandwich bag filled with crushed ice and stuck under a hat.

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George Washington did not run and hide.

I grew up in Kentucky on a farm and have worked through the summers. You are 100% correct that the humidity is brutal. In all my work, I've found the best idea to start the day early (before sunrise if you have lights you can work under). Also, take some time off in the middle of the day. A good 2-3 hour break in the middle of the day will do a lot for you. Also, drink lots of water. When I did tree removal as a summer job, I'd go through about 2 gallons per day (and thats with quitting about 2 PM).

Also, save those jobs like cutting firewood for cooler weather. When its brutal hot I'd find something that can be done in the shade. Some times it does come down to "work smarter, not harder."

I'd also suggest a light shirt that really allows the air to flow. I've started wearing really light fabric fishing shirts that have vents. Another plus is they have long sleeves so I can limit exposure to bugs/sun/etc.

Paisley, how did you get into yoga? Do you go to a group class or do you do it alone. Just curious if it is something you can do with some on line help? I'm with the rest of you who choose to just stay hot. My body freaks out on sudden temperature changes, and I simply HATE cold weather.

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If you're not going to SNORT....why even laugh ?
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Andi