Monthly Archives: July 2020

Baby, It’s Hot Outside!

Happy August everyone! Here at The Storage Inn in Egg Harbor Township New Jersey, the temps are soaring along with the humidity. Our storage space customers, however, seem to be immune to this weather as they check in on their storage rental spaces, retrieving various Summer fun time items. Yesterday I noticed one of our storage tenants, Bob, outside his storage rental unit with giant black inner tubes over each shoulder and carrying a large cooler. “What are you up to?” I shouted from my golf cart. “We’re going tubing – If we don’t sweat to death first!” came Bob’s reply. “ Yep – Dog days of summer!” I yelled back.

 

Bob threw the inner tubes and the cooler in the back of his pickup truck and drove away, leading me to wonder if one really could sweat to death, and what the heck does the saying “Dog days of summer” actually mean? I decided to look into this matter and came up with a handful of Summer sayings that needed some clarification.

Dog Days of Summer
I always assumed that this saying referred to the weather being so hot that even the family dog did not want to move out of his resting spot. But, it turns out that the “dog days of summer” are the hot, sultry days of summer that coincide with the heliacal rising of the star Sirius (also known as the dog star) from late July to late August.

It’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk
Sure, the sidewalk gets hot, but it’s unlikely to cook the egg much, if at all. If you really want to fry an egg outside on a hot day,
you might have better luck with the hood of a car. Metal conducts heat better and gets much hotter.

Have a hot drink to cool you down?
On a scorching summer day, you’re probably more likely to grab an iced coffee than a steaming cup of joe. But a study has shown that drinking a hot beverage on a hot day actually can cool  you down. Consuming a hot drink does add heat to your body, but that heat actually increases the rate at which you sweat, which can help cool you off. The sweat has to evaporate in order for you to feel cooler, so, if you’re wearing shorts and a t-shirt, hot coffee might actually cool you off more than a glass of ice-cold coffee.

It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity
There’s a reason for the adage: It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. “It’s really the dew point that is the measure of how humans feel outside,” according to Carlie Buccola, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service. When the dew point or humidity is high, that means the air is already saturated with moisture and your sweat has a harder time evaporating. So, it’s really both – heat without humidity can be bearable, as can a cool day with some moisture in the air.

I’m sweating to death!

Is it possible to sweat to death? Literally no. Sort of yes. The cause of death in every single human death is exactly the same. Lack of oxygen to the brain. Sweating is fluid being taken from your blood, and pushed out of your skin to cool you off when your body feels like its core temp is too high. Your body will lose the ability to sweat after your fluid level reaches a certain point, and your kidneys have gone into refiltration mode. (kidneys stop filtering urine down, and hold on to excess fluid in a desperate attempt to save your life) So no – it’s not possible to sweat to death. And even if you could, the cause of death would still be lack of blood to the brain.

So, there you have it, some interesting facts about summer sayings courtesy of The Storage Inn. As for me, I’m going to fix myself a nice big cup of hot coffee before I sweat to death!  

 

 

July is National Picnic Month!

July is National Picnic Month!

Summer is in full swing here at The Storage Inn In Egg Harbor Township New Jersey,  and our storage rental tenants are busy retrieving summer items from their rental spaces. Today I saw one of our long-time tenants pulling a giant picnic basket and blanket out of her storage space.

She informed me that July is National Picnic Month.  “What a great way to take a break from the current world situation!” I replied as we went our separate ways.

I began to wonder – Where did the idea of the picnic originate? Could it be simply an instinctual holdover from when primitive people lived outdoors? Here are some picnic facts that you may find interesting…

Picnic History

The start of this simple tradition may date back to hunting expeditions of the Middle Ages. Hunters would bring a meal to enjoy in the great outdoors. We can imagine a medieval hunting party taking an afternoon break in the shade of oak trees and enjoying a simple meal before continuing their expedition.

The earliest form of the word ‘picnic’ didn’t appear until 1692 – and was first documented in the French language. Then in 1748, a little more than 50 years later, the term found its way into the English language in a letter from Lord Chesterfield to his son, in reference to an outdoor social get-together.

From then on picnics have been held on blankets, in lawn chairs, aboard boats, and at picnic tables on both sides of the Atlantic. The term is now synonymous with relaxed outdoor dining, time spent with a special someone or a large group of friends, and simple fare like sandwiches or hot items fresh off the park grill.

A checked red-and-white blanket, a wicker basket, and an open patch of grass may be the quintessential concept of the classic picnic. But imagine trying to enjoy an afternoon of delight with these classic components – and three hungry children in tow, plus Grandma, a puppy dog, and a sore back from sitting in an office chair all week. That patch of grass may not be looking so inviting after all.

Upgrading to Tables

Enter a modern convenience often taken for granted: picnic tables. All of the wrinkles in your picnic problem have suddenly been released. Give the kids a spot to sit on the benches along either side of the table – and now Grandma has a spot to rest too. The dog stays out of the way of the tempting treats. And you can spread out the feast, then take a place at the picnic table yourself. With your meal above ground zero, you’ll spend less time combating the army of ants, too!

Classic fables evoke images of Robin Hood and his friends dining under trees during ‘picnics,’ but thousands of park-goers during National Picnic month will skip the storybook setting and opt to enjoy their meal on a picnic table in their favorite park.

Picnic Tips

The beautiful thing about a picnic is its versatility. Make it simple or sophisticated. Spend days planning the perfect party, or minutes packing the essentials for some impromptu fun! But no matter which route you go in your picnic planning, here are some tips for a perfect picnic

Keep an Eye on the Sky –  Summer showers can put a damper on your picnic plans, so check the weather for the day of your picnic. If it looks like a light shower might be rolling through, choose a park with covered picnic tables to serve as a back-up plan in the event of rain. But beware of thunderstorms – and stay safe if lightning has been spotted in the area.

Keep it Clean –  Don’t leave your trash behind and ruin the park experience for others. Keep an eye on wrappers, napkins, and paper cups which can easily be blown away by a breeze. Bring a small bag to collect refuse, and make use of trash receptacles in your local park. Remember, litter encourages more litter and a few paper plates on the ground could start a landslide of trash.

Cold is Cool  –  The summer season is a perfect time for picnics, but the warm temperatures mean that you’ll want to take extra precautions to keep your food from spoiling. Bring along plenty of ice packs and a cooler to store food and condiments in. If you’re making hot food fresh on the park grill, then don’t let it linger too long in the hot summer sun after you’ve cooked it.

Try a New View –  Celebrate National Picnic month by choosing a new spot for your outdoor feast. Whether it’s a park in your local community or a destination you’ll need to put in a little effort to reach, you’ll be rewarded with new views as you enjoy your meal. 

Pack up and picnic on!

So what are you waiting for? The staff here at The Storage Inn wishes you a happy rest of the summer – Whether you choose to dine in the grass, or on a picnic table, pack up and picnic on!

Summertime Storage and Fun Summer Facts!

Hello Summer Storage

Summertime Storage and Fun Summer Facts!

Summer is officially here in Egg Harbor Township, NJ and The Storage Inn is bustling with warm weather activity. Landscaping storage customers are shooting in and out, retrieving items from their storage spaces. Families are grabbing barbecue grills, surfboards, and bicycles from their summer storage rentals, and I even saw one of our younger self storage tenants on roller blades!

Everybody loves to be busy in summer! To celebrate, I’d like to share a few interesting facts about summer with our readers.

  1. In the United States, the top 5 most popular summer vacations are
    – Beach/ocean (45%)
    – A famous city (42%)
    – National parks (21%)
    – A lake (17%)
    – A resort (14%) 

2. The “dog days of summer” refer to the weeks between July 3 and August 11 and are named after the Dog Star (Sirius) in the Canis Major constellation. The ancient Greeks blamed Sirius for the hot temperatures, drought, discomfort, and sickness that occurred during the summer. 

3. In the summer heat, the iron in France’s Eiffel Tower expands, making the tower grow more than 6 inches. 

4. The month of June was named after Juno, the wife of Jupiter. July is named after Julius Caesar, and August after Caesar Augustus. 

5. The first Olympic Games in the modern era were the 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the Olympiad in Athens, Greece. The Games featured the Panathinaiko Stadium, the first giant stadium of the modern world that housed the largest crowd to ever watch a sporting event. 

6. Watermelon, a summer time favorite, is part of the cucumber, pumpkin, and squash family and consists of 92% water. On average, Americans consume 15 pounds of watermelon annually. 

7. The popsicle, another summer time treat, was accidentally invented by an 11-year-old boy in San Francisco in 1905 during the cooler part of the year. He left a glass of soda sitting outside and by the next morning it had frozen solid. A little time later in life he began selling them at an amusement park in New Jersey. Cherry is the number 1 popsicle flavor in the United States.

8. Before the Civil War, schools did not have summer vacation. In rural communities, kids had school off during the spring planting and fall harvest while urban schools were essentially year-round. The long summer holiday didn’t come about until the early 20th century. 

9. The record for the most people applying sunscreen was on January 8, 2012, in Australia with 1,006 participants applying sunscreen for 2 minutes. 

There you have it – A few things that you may not have known about Summer! Happy Summer everyone from all of us here at The Storage Inn!