When I walked out to my car this morning, the first thing I noticed was the quiet and the calm – then I noticed the haze.

The haze or probably better described as "the smog".

Our city is located between two mountain ranges. We are in "the valley" which is awesome for growing grapes for wine and vegetables and all – but horrible when they air isn’t moving quite right – and the crap in the air settles over the city.

It has been awhile since that has happened. Knowing what the weather the next couple of days will bring, it should not have surprised me this morning. But the eeriness of it all totally did.

Today and tomorrow and maybe even Friday, we are in an extreme weather warning. Temperatures here will exceed 105 degrees. I’ve seen high estimates anywhere between 105 and 111. When I saw our temps here, I looked at my parents’ weather forecast since they live in the high desert. If we are hot, they are usually hotter.

Nope, their high is 95 degrees.

Monday after seeing the weather forecast and how it was getting worse, not better, I ordered a portable AC unit to keep at least part of the house cool. Honestly, I was really worried about our elderly dog. I didn’t want him to overheat in the house.

They delivered it yesterday, and DJ had it installed and operating before I got home from work.

This morning, I covered as many windows as I could to keep sunlight from shining into the house. The upstairs which is typically a sauna in the summers anyway was actually not too bad – so I closed up most of the windows, closed all of the curtains and / or covered windows. And closed the door to my office (which is either the hottest room in the house or the coldest depending on the time of year).

Doing all of this gave me flashbacks to growing up in Iowa. We never had AC growing up, so each morning when the house was cool, we went through the same exercise of closing certain windows, moving around fans, and making the house as dark as possible. Rarely have I had to tap into those lessons out here.

Above all, I do worry about DJ the most. She works outdoors with kids for her summer job. Yesterday while she was making sure her kids were well hydrated, she realized she was not herself. She fixed it once she realized what she had done to herself, but it was a wake-up call that she needs to stay on top of it herself. The plan with her counselor is to take the kids to a place in the woods near water than can be in the shade and play in the water too. I hope that plan holds. The thing that makes me worry less about her is the fact that the place she works is hyper aware of hydration, keeping kids safe and cool, and all.

Thankfully on Sunday when DJ and I went to the store to do shopping for the week, we chose a bunch of stuff that can be eaten cold. We did the little cooking it required on Sunday and Monday to get it out of the way. As SB would say, "Proper planning prevents piss poor performance! "

So we are all prepared as we can be for the next few days of living hell.

Here’s hoping the weather guys have it wrong – and we don’t get as hot.

To my local friends, stay cool!