What Are Your Tips For Keeping Cool?

If I'm working in the heat (which seems a distant memory here in th UK after the wettest year on record), I'll soak my hat to keep cool, or wrap a wet towel around my neck.  Or soak my t-shirt.  The evaporation has a marked cooling effect, for as long as it lasts.  

I've done the same indoors in high summer in the Balkans when sleep was impossible due to the heat.  A cool shower, a wet t-shirt, and a chance of dropping off.

I will suggest one thing, just forget everyting and go to Bahamas or Hawaii and cool off there at the beach. Nothing can be compared to this already.

I don't mean spend megabucks on an in-ground pool.  Though that would be good if it works for your budget (and time, and effort).  I just mean a cheap above ground pool.  Even one of those small plastic ones.  Beats being hot!

 The laborers from Mexico swear that the best way to keep cool in the summer is to drink hot beverages because they make you sweat. I have been trying it, and it works. Cold beverages make you feel better briefly, but the sweat from a hot cup of tea lasts a good while.

I live in a mobile home in Texas. It would be unbearable if it were not for the big shade my father had constructed over it. Basically, it is just a big pole barn built over the mobile home, but it is permanent shade, which cools by about 20 degrees F. The chickens and other animals love it too!

I am a natural night owl, and so I do a lot of my chores in the wee hours when it is cool. It requires a flash light, and keeping a sharp eye out for snakes...

Drinking lots of water is important. You need more water than usual because you'll be sweating it out. As dry as it is in St. Louis, I'm having a hard time drinking enough water.

Resting during the heat of the day is important if you're working outside. When it gets hot like this, I do any strenuous outside work early in the morning, finishing by 10 a.m. if possible. If not, I slow down, take breaks every half hour or so inside with a fan blowing on me, drink even more water, and make sure to dress in light, loose fitting clothes that allow sweat to evaporate. I don't expect to get anywhere near what I'd normally accomplish done and am just grateful for whatever I can manage to do.

My DH received one of those weird towels that you wet and drape around your neck to cool your carotid artery. I was skeptical, but I tried it one weekend when the temp was in the mid 90sF and I needed to dig the beds for my popcorn crop. I found it helped keep me cooler which in turn helped me work more effectively. I'll use it again when I need to work hard in the heat.

Location, location, location.  Looking at temperature maps for the last few weeks, the Pac. NW has been cooler and damper than usual, the rest of the country, roasting.  According to the Weather dept. (Prof. Cliff Mass) at the University of Washington, we can expect cooler, damper springs and summers in the NW for at least the first 50 years of global climate change.  I expect an influx of climate refugees in the next couple of decades.