SustainLane’s study of cities in harm’s way lists Mesa and Milwauke as having the lowest risk for natural disasters. I guess evil heat and beer slobs are not considered natural disasters.
Number two at risk is New Orleans. I have been following trials and tribulations of our friends at MetroBlogging New Orleans and a year later the struggles continue.
Just gotta talk about windows and my eternal battle with Arizona’s heat. I have a small patio home, circa 1984. I secured a home equity loan with the idea of making improvements to my house. I can be a real form-over-substance girl when it comes to aesthetics and a mad desire for new flooring conflicted with more practical replacement windows. The house has cheezy, single pane windows which provide absolutely no insulation. Even in shade, the glass feels hot from the inside. After agonizing and hand-wringing, the pocketbook won out and I contracted for aluminum, double pane, low-E windows.
Well . . . yesterday, the first of the new windows were installed and oh what a wonderful improvement already. With the strong mid-morning sun streaming in, there was no heat coming through the glass. The low E was doing its job, reflecting and rejecting. The biggest surprise was the appearance from the outside. Being clean, surely helps, but there’s a very subtle effect created by the low E glass. It’s not tinted and yet it might be. I figured they would look better, but didn’t realize how much they upgrade the appearance of the house. If you’re wondering what you can do to lighten your utility load and add a bit of bling to your house, think replacement windows.
When we lived up north, we never had air conditioning - not in the house and never in the car. We had heaters and heated seats but not A/C. Hard to imagine what that was like now. But, I feel for the rest of the nation, 164 dead in California alone. Flip side is, I never thought I would need a heater here in the desert…
Did you see this new invention? Would this work in our humidity or lack thereof?
Do not laugh. The number 9 thing I love about Phoenix is our canal system. We use well over a 100 billion gallons of water a year and growing. On the hottest days, our water use nears 500 million gallons. Almost all of it comes from either the Salt, Verde, or Colorado Rivers and it arrives through our canal system. The Central Arizona Project canal runs from Lake Havasu to Tucson. It is an open aqueduct system. Avereage loss due to evaporation is estimated at around 4%. This stuff really does fascinate me.
Number 9 - Our canal system, really.
Counting down the top 30 things I love about Phoenix, can you feel the excitement?
No one else can be so cheerful and giddy when describing our horrendous traffic. He does help me navigate and that is why I love him. He is Presh’s favorite radio personality. I actually get “shushed” when he is on the air. Until the light rail is finished, I have Detour Dan to show me the way.
Number 15 - Detour Dan Beach, now really, can any of us make it through the commute without this guy?
Counting down the top 30 things I love about Phoenix as we head to our first BDay party here at MetBlogPHX.
It was sixteen years ago today that the temperature hit 122 at Sky Harbor. A friend remarked the other day the last time we had so many days in a row above 110 was that summer sixteen years ago. I am worried. What was that like? Anyone not totally in denial want to share a story?
