Chollas Lake, San Diego, CA. - Eucalytus Pathway

Magnificent! This is so like the bush that surrounds my home.

Bernieh:

Thanks again! I bet the gums keep your home cooler in the Summer.

This pathway is very dusty though...since we are in such
a horrible drought. The lake is more than 6 feet / 2 meters lower than it should be.

Yes you're right Delonix - we have gums higher up on the cliff that our house is built into and they keep the western side of the house shaded brilliantly for most of the day. We've just come through a bad drought and our dam fell to below 35% of its capacity - thankfully we actually had a monsoonal wet season over the summer!

Bernieh:

I do miss my neighbor's large Eucalyptus trees that were cut down last year...my house is just an oven now. The air conditioner can't keep up with our current heat wave. Without the trees -- inside the house it has been getting frequently to 91 degrees F/ 33 degrees C. I hate it!

There's a lot of masoonal moisture over the deserts and mountains, however, no rain has come to the west of the mountains...I do hope soon we'll get just a little rain to help our horrible drought!

Sounds like our summers over here - know what it's like. This is the first house we've lived in that is truly designed for our hot tropical weather - 12 foot ceilings, breezeways above the doors, verandah around three sides and all wood. We lived without air-conditioning for quite some time - and even though we have it now, in this house we only use it for a couple of weeks in the summer. It also helps that we get shade on the western side of the house from midday to evening.

Bernieh:

It seems your house was designed very well for the tropical weather - which is really important to stay a little cooler (which is subjective : > ) ).

Luckily, our dew points are not as high as yours in summer...however, with the monsoonal flow it does bring the heat, humidity and clouds even though not usually the rain.

People living in inland areas of San Diego can always
escape to downtown San Diego or the beaches where the temps. are usually 15 to 30 degrees cooler. You can imagine how crowded (like ants. lol) the beached have been over the last 3 weeks or so. Also, many people come from Arizona to escape the extreme heat of the desert this time of the year...they're called "Zonies".