#heatwave 2020

An extreme heat wave is bearing down on Southern California and the American Southwest. With  many people having moved to the desert during the last year, and this heatwave extending all the way to the pacific ocean, many more people will be affected than usual, and for the first time. Here in the desert we are used to living with the heat, everything is designed for it, and it’s certainly possible to live a more or less normal life during the summer.  However it’s a tenuous situation, because when even one system goes down like the electrical grid or the water service, then it’s an emergency.

A minor mistake or accident can become deadly in the extreme heat:

If you got a flat tire or other minor car problem, or got a little lost on the hiking trail, under normal circumstances it would be an inconvenience, but hardly life or death.  During extreme heat, any small deviation from normal can quickly become fatal.  It’s so important to plan for resiliency, and to make sure you are always prepared for a minor emergency.

In The Car/ On the Road:  Make sure when you head out for the day in your car that you have a cooler with ice packs, plenty of water, and sunscreen (which will destabilize in a hot car), just in case you get stuck.  Also make sure you have sunglasses, a wide-brimmed hat, an umbrella, and a blanket in case you need to change a tire or something. The ground will be too hot to sit or lie on when working, and the umbrella will protect you from sunstroke.  Also make sure you know your route in case you lose connection to the GPS or your cell service.  Never leave your pets or children in a parked car in the heat, the inside of the car heats up so fast from the greenhouse effect that it can kill your loved ones in less than 20 minutes.  There is a reason people go to jail for leaving their children in hot unattended cars here in California.  Lastly, if you don’t need to be out for the entire day, wake up early and run your errands in the morning.  

On The Trail:  The most important advice for keeping safe while hiking during extreme heat is don’g do it!  It’s not good for your health to die of dehydration and heat stroke on the hiking trail.  So many people every single year of the last decade I have lived in California dozens of people have died every summer on hiking trails in the heat. Many of them were from further away and they didn’t care to make themselves aware of the summer conditions, but also many of them were from here in Southern California and the heat of the desert in summer is hardly kept a secret.  As much as you understandably want to keep fit, and get fresh air and sunlight after being stuck inside in the air conditioning, it’s simply not worth your life, and/ or possibly the lives of people trying to rescue you.  Now as I type this there is a search going on for a missing man near me in an incredibly remote and just punishingly hot and arid area.  The search is in its 7th day, it’s 113 degrees with no shade in that area, I can’t imagine the person they are searching for is still alive, and how grueling and dangerous it must be for the search and rescue crews.  Please do not be one of those people and keep yourself safe. Working out in the gym or at home is certainly not as much fun or strenuous as being outside, but during extreme heat it’s a life or death decision.

At Home:  In order to keep your home cool, keep it dark.  Close the window coverings that face the sun to keep it from heating up the house, especially in the afternoon, but during a heat wave don’t underestimate how much even the morning sun can heat up your house.  Use fans to circulate the air around your home, it will both make your air conditioning unit work up to 50% more efficiently, it will also help your body evaporate the heat and you will have the sensation of being cooler than it really is by up to 2-3 degrees.  Don’t make more heat in the house, in the heat of the day minimize your use of appliances like the washer, dryer, dishwasher, toaster, big screen tv, or vacuum cleaner.  

What to Eat: Calorically dense and fatty foods raise your metabolic temperature because it takes so much energy to digest those foods.  Eating fruits and vegetables, and other light foods satisfied your hunger but doesn’t raise your internal temperature as much.  Not to mention that simply not cooking hot food will keep the house, and yourself cooler.  Eat fruits and vegetables that are high in water content to keep yourself hydrated like melon and cucumber.  I can always tell that it’s time to lose a few pounds when I start to feel warmer than usual.  Not always, but often in the extreme heat my appetite diminishes, so it’s a great time of year to lose a few pounds, and you really will feel cooler when you have less insulation on your body.

What to Drink: Drink plenty of water, and make sure to drink water before you feel thirsty.  Our body’s thirst response is one of our weakest biofeedback signals.  Although it’s certainly possible to drink too much water, you can actually kill yourself by drinking too much water, which would have to be gallons  of it, most people in America are chronically dehydrated.  While electrolyte water is great for when you need instant hydration, drinking too much of it can lead to kidney stones.  Bottle water is bad for the environment in so many ways, from where it’s sourced from, to the amount of petroleum it takes to ship.  The average bottle of water uses ¼ of its volume in gas or diesel to transport it to its destination.  However, it’s better to drink bottled water than die of dehydration or poisoned by non-potable tap water.  For everyone else who can safely drink their tap water, I suggest filtering it, and then taking re-fillable bottles of water when you go out of the house.  

Eventually you will probably get tired of drinking water, and I suggest that you avoid sugary soft drinks, juices, and especially drinks with caffeine during extreme heat.  Caffeine dehydrates us, and when stuck inside all day, can make us feel anxious, so after your cup or two of coffee in the morning, lay off for the rest of the day.  My favorite way to stay hydrated is to either make non-caffeinated herbal tea and let it cool, and then drink it on ice, or to infuse pitchers of water with slices of fruit and cucumber so that it at least has a subtle flavor. Also, reduce your alcohol consumption since that really dehydrates you.  

Pets:  Keep your pets safe in the heat, they have no one else to do it, and you are their only protector and advocate.  For dogs, make sure you walk them first thing in the morning, and take every precaution to keep them from burning their paws on hot concrete.  It doesn’t even have to be that hot for the asphalt or concrete to heat up to the point of injuring their paws.  When I see people out here in the desert it makes me so mad, I wish I could walk their owners on bare feet on the sizzling asphalt and see how they liked it.  You can literally fry an egg on the street or sidewalk during the summer here, why on earth would you subject your pet to that?  This is why, although it’s great to remove your turf lawns and switch to desert landscaping, if you have a dog, I suggest keeping a small patch so that they still have a place to use when they need to relieve themselves, better yet put up a sunshade on that area for the summer.  

Cats and dogs alike need plenty of water in the summer, and a cool surface to sprawl out and wait out the heat of the day.  If you have carpeted floors in your home, put a smooth cotton pillow case or sheet down on the floor.  Better yet, use a large porcelain or stone tile, or even a big stone cutting board on the floor.  The carpet is so hot for them and is insulating their body-heat, so giving them something smooth and cool to lay out on is a huge relief for them.  After all, they have fur coats to keep the heat inside rather than evaporate it away. I picked up a large 2x3 ft remnant porcelain tile at my local tile store to give my cats a cold surface in my carpeted primary bedroom.

Shed Those Clothes!: My last piece of advice is to suggest that if privacy allows, you remove some layers of clothing.  If there’s no one around to see you, why be uncomfortable and run your AC at a cooler temperature than you need to?  Your skin was made to evaporate the heat from your body, so why make that natural process less efficient by covering up with clothing?  Place a towel or washable blanket over your favorite chair or sofa.  It’s amazing how much you can sweat just sitting down, so don’t get your upholstered furniture sweaty when you can just sweat onto a towel that gets washed.

Please take this heat wave seriously, it’s going to be extremely hot in many areas closer to the coast that do not typically get this high level of heat.  When it comes to extreme heat, you have to adapt to it, it won’t adapt to you.  So for this time period, change your routines and your activities to prioritize your health and safety.  Even if it upends your typical routine and schedule, it’s worth it if it keeps you and your loved ones safe.

Thank you so much for reading,

All the best,

William Z. Brennan (but you can call me Will) & Desert Mountain Apothecary

The Original Desert Apothecary for Mind Body & Spirit: Desert Mountain Apothecary – Desert Roots & Mountain Botanicals

About William Z. Brennan:

William Z. Brennan is a natural lifestyle expert, founder of Desert Mountain Apothecary & author of upcoming e-book Natural Lifestyle Optimization.  

Supreme Spiritual Siphon – Drawing from Wild Desert Roots & Grateful Mountain Botanicals

About Desert Mountain Apothecary:  

The original desert apothecary for mind, body & spirit: desert roots & desert mountain botanicals: Desert Mountain Apothecary by William Z. Brennan.  Supremely natural natural skincare & botanical fragrance hand made with love from the purest natural source plant-based ingredients.  

About Natural Lifestyle Optimization:

William Z. Brennan is the author of upcoming e-book Natural Lifestyle Optimization, a new way of harnessing habits and routines towards a transformation and renewal of mind, body & spirit.  Pre-order your copy of Natural Lifestyle Optimization today!

Links:

Website:

https://desertmountainapothecary.com/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJSMrCTc80e_I8B2TZuF0GQ

DMA Journal:

https://desertmountainapothecary.com/blogs/blog

Natural Lifestyle Optimization:

https://desertmountainapothecary.com/collections/digital-products/products/preorder-natural-lifestyle-optimization

Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/desertmountainapothecary/

Tumblr:

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/desertmountainapothecary

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/DesertMountai17

LinkTree:

Hey all, it’s that time of year again. When global warming hits full force in the heat department and no one north of the equator seems to know how to deal with it. And those dumb tumblr posts go around being like, omg it’s hot can’t do anything but tear my skin off, cold is so much better than heat, blah blah blah. Like okay we get it, you’ve never actually talked to anyone who lives below the 30 degrees latitude line. And before Europeans complain about their houses being built for heat, I know. I live in Europe now and these are tricks I use to deal with your summers. 

So, here is a list of things to do to make being indoors and outdoors more bearable and less dangerous (lower down I’ll list how to recognize heatstroke):

Invest in a fan. We’ve had record setting summers for years now, it’s not going away. You need a fan for summer in the same way you need a heater for winter. It doesn’t need to be a super fancy fan, it just needs to be able to blow air across your entire body. 

Keep your blinds closed. Sounds a bit counter intuitive but European houses aren’t designed for cross ventilation so keeping the heat of the sun out is very important. 

Get an ice cube tray. These are super important. You want to be constantly making ice cubes. They are helpful for swamp fans and makeshift ice packs. 

Make a swamp fan. Possibly the most important thing you’ll learn from this.

Put a bunch of ice cubes into a bowl, try to have some of the ice sticking up over the top of the bowl

Put bowl in front of fan

Turn fan on and profit. This is a DIY air conditioner. It will cool down a bedroom and can last quite a while depending on how much ice you put in the bowl.

Instant cold water. Instead of constantly waiting for your water to cool in the fridge, get some plastic water bottles you don’t mind accidentally breaking. Fill the bottles up ⅓-½ of the way, screw the top on tight, and then lay them in the fridge sideways. When the water is frozen you can put normal tap water in and drink it a minute or so later and it will be very cold. Also due to how big the ice chunk usually is, it doesn’t melt quickly and you can refill it with tap water quite a few times. Also great for hiking and picnics.

Makeshift ice pack. You really should buy a large soft ice pack, they don’t get super hard and thus super uncomfortable to put on your body. However, until then. Get a bunch of ice and put it in a ziplock bag. This is less melty than just putting it in a towel. ALWAYS WRAP YOUR ICE PACK IN A TOWEL. They are too cold for the skin when you take them out of the freezer.

Appropriate clothing. Wear loose fitting, light colored, breathable fabrics. Polyester does not breathe… also why sweat smells so bad in polyester shirts. Wear cotton or linen when possible. Tight fitting clothes just keeps the heat close to your body, you want big flowing items. Also keeping your skin covered is a plus. Tanning is nice, but the sun on your skin really contributes to heatstroke on these super hot days. 

Drink fluids. Oh my god please drink something. Everyone is like you have to drink water! And that makes people who don’t like water not drink anything. Please please PLEASE drink something. Your body loses fluids from sweating and you need to replace them or your body won’t be able to cool itself off. Ideally drink something with electrolytes but in the end all that matters is that you are consistently drinking something. 

How to cool off quickly. Here is where the ice pack comes in handing. Place something cool on these areas:

Back of the neck

Forehead

Inside of the wrists

Armpits An ice pack or even a rag with cold water from the tap on these areas will help your body regulate its temperature. Do not do this is you are suffering from severe heat stroke, you MUST go to the hospital for that. 

Date: August 16th, 2020 Location: The Barracks in Los Angeles, California Channel: FITE TV pay-per-view stream for $24.99

- Mr. Case Your Luck Romeo Roselli enters - XPWEW Juniorweight Champion Jordan Oliver enters with Siaka Lexoni

1 on 1 XPWEW Juniorweight Championship Title on the line! M1: Jordan Oliver (c) (w/ Siaka Lexoni) def. Romeo Roselli and retains his title [Siaka is ejected from ringside for trying to help cheat mid-way through the match]

- Ms. Case Your Luck Lotus enters - Rosemary enters (dressed in a Slayer cosplay) 1 on 1 M2: Lotus def. Rosemary via submission (helm sharpshooter) [Rosemary vowed if she were to lose this match then she will no longer haunt Lotus thus leaving XPWEW forever]

Promo: XPWEW Anarchy Rules 2020 on PPV | September 20th, 2020

- All Man enters with All Woman - Jake Awesome enters with Chrissy Rivera & Siaka Lexoni

1 on 1 Falls Count Anywhere M3: Jake Awesome (w/ Chrissy Rivera & Siaka Lexoni) def. All Man (w/ All Woman) **BEST MATCH OF THE NIGHT HEEL JAKE VS FACE ALL MAN WAS BLOODY AND GRUESOME**

* James Westerbeck is standing outside The Set's locker room trying to get a pre-match interview with the XPWEW World Heavyweight Champion, Jake Awesome sweaty and bloody storms by and slams Westerbeck through the dry-wall "NO QUESTIONS! GOD DAMN IT"

- Golden Bryce & Alveno La Flare enters - Myron Reed & Kotto Brazil enter with Jordan Oliver

Tag Team Match XPWEW Tag Team Championships on the line! M4: Gold Flame (Golden Bryce & Alveno La Flare) def. The Set (Myron Reed & Kotto Brazil) [w/ Jordan Oliver] ***WE HAVE NEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS: GOLDEN BRYCE AND ALVENO LA FLARE***

Promo: Golden Bryce BANG! Energy commercial

- Champagne Clausen enters - ABA Men's Champion El Demonio enters

1 on 1 M5: El Demonio def. Champagne Clausen [post-match Champagne swings a steel chair against the ring post in anger he lost a match on pay-per-view to a 'minor' leaguer

- Doxy Deity enters (Nick Simmonds points out Doxy looks lost without Thunder Rosa by her side, ofcourse Rosa lost her ABA Women's Title to Olivia Whitewater at the Awesome Bomb Academy 'Summerfest' last weekend - Chrissy Rivera enters with Siaka Lexoni - Tessa Blanchard enters - XPWEW Women's Champion Priscilla Kelly enters

Four Way Dance XPWEW World Women's Championship on the line! M6: Tessa Blanchard def. Priscilla Kelly, Doxy Deity & Chrissy Rivera (w/ Siaka Lexoni)

+ Tessa eliminates Doxy Deity + Chrissy Rivera eliminates Priscilla Kelly [we are guaranteed a new women's champion tonight at Heatwave] + Tessa Blanchard defeats Chrissy Rivera for the 1-2-3 and Tessa Blanchard is the NEW! XPWEW World Women's Champion here tonight a monumental moment in XPWEW Women's history! What a moment!

- Audrey Carbine enters - Joe Gacy enters

RING OF FIRE Match (Battle of Death Machines) M7: Joe Gacy def. Audrey Carbine

[Finish occurs when Gacy irish-whips Carbine and she slides through the bottom rope completely swooshing past the flames and rolls around until the fire ceases and Gacy sadistiacally smiles and then attacks her post match leaving her in a heap, Carbine still stands up and Gacy turns back down the ramp and attacks her again but EMTs hold Gacy back and he just steps past like he's going to mess Carbine up, then like a little cheat just slaps her hard across the face which is even more insulting]

- Leonard McGraw enters - Ruckus enters [The Set banned from ringside]

1 on 1 XPWEW World Heavyweight Championship on the line! M8: Leonard McGraw def. Ruckus (clean win)