# the low humidity solution

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Posted by Zonie on June 14, 2021 at 05:26:17

In April I finally convinced my sometime mountain climbing partner Dr. Ceranski to come out of hiding. Having received two doses of vaccine, he was willing to face the trail again. Soon he became quite ambitious, wanting to go to the summit of Squaw Peak for his 84th birthday. I had managed to climb it on Christmas Day, but his birthday is in July, and I'm not sure I can manage to climb it at that time of year. This morning his left knee was troubling him so we only went about one-quarter of the way up. Had his knee been well, I would probably have exercised veto power as the heat was difficult to bear. Others might have been thinking that way, as the trail wasn't very crowded.

Ironically after all this time with only one mild case of the COVID-plague at work, we now have a severe case. The night shift foreman has been out for over three weeks. His wife has been denied access to him and wasn't sure if he was on a ventilator or just an oxygen tent. Fortunately his assistant has far more work ethic than he ever did, and just as much work gets done on the night shift as had been done when he was here. Still, I hope he recovers eventually. I've long wished he would go to another job or back to his former continent of residence, but I never wanted him to drop dead.

Despite rumors of a poor economy work continues to flow in, and we've been staying very busy. Friday we had several jobs come in all the way from Minnesota. This is puzzling because the American Midwest has heat-treating facilities that are actually good. Maybe we're cheaper.

This past month with the swimming pool maintenance I've been fighting the battle of the algae at a time when just about every pool chemical I need is in short supply. I sent away for calcium hypochlorite. It had to be sent all the way from Dallas and took a week to get here. I did find some muriatic acid at a local establishment, but it cost nearly twice what it had cost several months ago.

The forecast for the final week of spring is rather a disappointment. Afternoon temperatures are expected to be between 112°F and 118°F. Today was no exception, at 3 PM the temperature was 113°F. Ordinarily I'd try to avoid any outdoor work in such weather, and I hadn't had much time in the relative cool of the morning, with my mountain climbing engagement, but I also noticed that the humidity was extremely low. The dew point was a mere 13°F and the relative humidity a mere 3%. I knew this meant that wet clothes would have far more cooling power than usual. I might risk trying to finish some outdoor projects in the late afternoon and early evening.

On the agenda: Harvest the last of the grapefruit, give the pool another vacuuming, mow the lawn, and finish pruning the mesquite tree. Pruning the mesquite tree took top priority. Under the weight of the seed pods limbs had sagged into contact with our roof and a neighbor's roof, and this could facilitate the spread of termites. I didn't have any power tools for the purpose, just a pole saw to cut off the limbs and a hand saw to saw them into manageable lengths for disposal. I had done some shortly after returning from the climb, but soon I had retreated indoors.

At 6 PM the sun was at a low angle and the temperature had declined to 110°F, so I thought I'd risk it. I put on some old torn work socks, an old mudding long-sleeve button down shirt, old torn work overalls, and a camouflage ball cap. I took with me some work boots too shrunken from repeated wetting to wear dry. I filled the boots with the hose and they quickly became sufficiently supple to wear again. I then hosed myself down completely. I was right about the cooling effect. With humidity that low I almost felt chilled. I took the hand saw and started sawing apart the limbs I had downed earlier, including one particularly thick limb. I soon found myself getting dry again and sweating, so I took to the hose again (I needed a drink anyway) and hosed myself down a second time. I then got out the pole saw for a few of the limbs still in roof contact and finally had the mesquite pruned. Using hand saws is quite a workout. By then it was about 7:45, not quite the twilight's last gleaming, but it was clear I couldn't see well enough to do much more. I stripped down, though apart from the boots and socks I was almost dry again. I left the boots to dry slowly indoors rather than rapidly out in the heat. Maybe I'll be able to put them on indoors next time. I had more pairs of torn socks, so I sacrificed that pair. It had picked up a lot of the mud and gravel from the inside of the boots anyway. As the humidity isn't expected to rise anytime soon, I may get a lot more done this week by this method.

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