It's hot out there.

It’s official. It’s hot out there. We high desert dwellers look forward to the evening when it cools off, and plan our days around avoiding the hottest hours. During the summer I get up at 5 AM and then observe the Mexican tradition of siesta. This is a good plan, unless some non-siesta-er makes the phone ring.


We who live here know about the heat and how to stay safe when it’s an oven outside, but what about our clients and guests?

I got a call this morning from some people wanting to go walk property. “Can we meet you at noon on the Hillside Drive parcels so that you can point out the corners?”


“Yeahhhh……No. Temperatures are getting to over 100 degrees by 10 AM, so I’m sorry, but until September I will only walk properties before 8 AM or after 7:00 PM. I will point at the corners from the road, but if you want to walk it will have to be either early or late.”


They had never thought about the heat. They don’t come from here, so what was second nature to me is something that never occurred to them.


What about the foreclosures and other vacant houses? Many of them are buttoned up tight with no cooling going, so walking into them is like opening your oven door when the biscuits are done.


We want to make a living, so we do end up showing property to people who don’t have a history with heat and dehydration. They don’t get that these human bodies of ours can start to shut down after just a few minutes in intense heat.


Since some of us don’t really understand, we need to watch out for each other. How do we do that?


We start by being aware, and by being smart.


The warning signs of possible trouble are: nausea, vomiting, fatigue, weakness, headache, muscle cramps, and dizziness. Signs of BIG TROUBLE are: skin hot to the touch, flushing and redness, absence of sweating, rapid pulse, difficulty breathing, strange behavior, hallucinations, confusion, agitation, disorientation, seizure, and coma. (Well, great. Three quarters of the signs of heat stroke and heat exhaustion are behaviors that I see my clients exhibit every day when they’re considering buying or selling real estate. I guess we’ll have to rely on absence of sweating, right?)


If you see any of these signs in yourself or others, this is not the time to dither around making a judgment call. Dial 911 immediately. My son the paramedic explained to me something that I did not know. There is often no charge for an ambulance call. If you are taken care of by one of the municipalities’ or the County ambulances, the charge is paid by your tax dollars at work. (No, I’m not sure about Sedona.) It’s only if you get one of the private companies that the patient is responsible for paying. No matter - if there’s a possibility of a problem, get help and don’t haggle about which ambulance shows up. These things can go from “maybe I should be worried” to life-threatening very quickly, and for somebody to die or be damaged over an ambulance charge is ludicrous.


So how do we avoid this nice day in Arizona suddenly turning into one of the worst days of your life?


Always have a cooler in your vehicle filled with ice packs and lots of water. (I met a REALTOR® in Ehrenberg who handed out frozen washcloths – that was Heaven.) If somebody is in trouble you will need to cool them down while you wait for the medics. Get them into the A/C or shade immediately, and then slap some ice packs on the groin and armpits. (Snort. Every guy that read this just flinched. Maybe I should say “Gently place some ice packs………?”) Get their shirt wet and have somebody fan them. DO NOT dump a cooler of ice water over their heads – that could put them into shock. The key is tepid to cool water, not freezing cold water.



Dehydration is also big trouble, just as big as heat problems. The two often go hand in hand because if we don’t drink enough water then we don’t sweat and then we get too hot. ALWAYS bring plenty of water and make people drink it – they might not know to do so. (There’s that cooler again.) If you’re drinking beer or coffee or tea or some of the energy monster drinks, know that these do not qualify as liquids. Alcohol and caffeine are diuretics, which eliminate moisture from the body – these drinks add to the problem rather than alleviate it.


Since I’ve lived in this country all of my life, I have gotten overheated and I have been dehydrated. I knew when I was too hot because I felt, well, too hot. The mistake that I made was in thinking that if I ignored it it would go away. No, I should have dealt with it the second I realized, but I was stubborn (Mike had told me that it was stupid to take that hike.) and pretty soon I was in trouble. If you want to read the story it’s at


http://realestateaccordingtocarolanne.blogspot.com/2009/08/yesterday-was-mikes-and-my-6-th.html


I don’t know if it’s true or if it’s an old wive’s tale that if you get heatstroke once you’re more susceptible to it in the future. I am certainly more aware and reactive, but I don’t know if I’m more susceptible.


A doctor once told me that if you’re feeling even slightly thirsty you’re already in the first stage of dehydration. The day that I got dehydrated, at first I didn’t really know what was going on. I was taking my Broker classes in Phoenix during the summer, operating on the thinnest of shoestrings. I forgot my water bottle and didn’t want to pay a buck for water out of the vending machines, so I just sat there in class thirsty and thirstier. I felt suddenly very crappy, and it just kept getting worse. Now that I know what being dehydrated feels like I slam lots of water immediately. I always improve amazingly quickly.


Please, my friends. Be aware, be the voice of reason, be the bearer of water, and be the dialer to 911 if necessary. Let’s take care of each other and let’s be careful out there.