I have to admit that BC is not being the lady that I expected her to be for the summer time. Gosh darn, (and that's the toned down version) it's HOT here. I'm not whining because it's uncomfortable to live in but because it makes the production of my products next to impossible. Today, again, I was thwarted from my candle making endeavours as we try to figure out how to get the heat down back in our pouring area in the warehouse. We have it clocked at 31 degrees C without factoring in the humidex. Soy wax is a beast to work with at the best of times and then throw excessive heat into the mix and it just makes for outright misery. A process that should take 5 hours (from absolute start to finish and varies depending on the amount of candles being made) suddenly becomes double that and even then I'm getting uneven finishes on the top of the wax that have to be buffed out when finishing and packaging. The heat really throws a wrench into how everything sets and makes the complete process which is temperature sensitive in the first place an even tougher thing to figure out and work with.
When we landed here there was no air conditioning anywhere and folks said it only gets hot for a few days at a time in the summer. You know, it's the West Coast where the ocean tempers the heat. Well, last summer was really hot for about 2 months solid and this year is even hotter. And I mean hotter than Manitoba but at least in MB there is a basic understanding and appreciation of air conditioning. And the heat and humidity here is constant from sun rise to sun set....completely different than what I'm used to where it's usually a slow, steady rise and then capped off by a quick cooling down of a thunderstorm at night.
I blog this entry for more of a time capsule for myself to look back on years from now and think, “What ho! Good times!” but as all reminiscents of olden days, it is usually better in hindsight than actually having to live through it. It is so hot that this year we have had mice trying to come in to get cool (as we have started adding portable air conditioners to the warehouse) and even had gnats try to take up home in the reprive of an air conditioned office. Yup....it's so hot, the bugs and rodents are trying to move in with us. We have kept them at bay because let's not forget that a Prairie gal knows how to deal with the critters but a part of me just thinks, “Sorry guys, I wish it was cooler outside for you to run and fly and play in.” Back on the farm, the critters only tried to come in after things were freezing in the Fall....never to escape the heat from a summer's day. It was confusing at first. We couldn't figure out why our oasis, that is the warehouse, was suddenly the place for nature to want to come and hide out in.
And so Vancouver has brought along it's challenges. They are forecasting rain for the weekend and a bit next week. I hope they are right. The grass is dead here now as grass got on the farm after a long summer drought and it's not even the middle of July. For a city that is so green, it's just strange to see the brown. When it does rain, you can all visualize me doing a happy dance!
And so it goes from the city where “It rains all the time” and "It's so depressing because it's just constantly raining." I say, “HA!” and hogwash to those sentiments. Bring on the rain!
Cheers from Vancouver!
Lana