July 27th, 2018

I don't know about you, but I find the weather report in the newspaper to be one of the more amusing sections.  By way of example, I offer the Wednesday report of this week.

First of all those little thunderstorm cartoons are a bold faced lie.  Or maybe it was just wishful thinking on their part.  While we did indeed have a few tiny showers here and there, they could, in no way, be construed as full on thunder and/or lightening storms.  That's how I interpreted the little drawing anyway.

Yesterday, which was Thursday, the high was indeed 90 degrees. That was spot on correct! Good Job Guys!  But the "feels-like" temperature was 104.  90 and 104 are not the same thing.  90 is hot.  The kind of hot you fully expect in late July.  104 is Arizona.  And before anyone maligns me as regards my opinion of Arizona in July let me remind you that I have been to Arizona.  In August.  And then again in September.  

When people hear about the crazyhigh temperatures in an average Arizona summer it's usually followed with, "But it's a dry heat."  It is indeed a dry heat.  But 115 and 120 (which were the high temps when we visited) is freakin' hot, wet or dry. It just is.  When Tim and I were there those two summer months,  one of the things that baffled me was that while it was easy bake oven temps outside, inside it was like a meat locker.  Two crazy extremes.  I would sit outside under the pergola until I though I was going to pass out from the heat and then go inside to cool off where I would only last until I had icicles hanging from my nose and then go back outside to warm up.  That's only a slight exaggeration.  The other thing that surprised me was that while almost everyone had a pool, almost nobody was in their pools during the day.  My guess is that the high temperatures heated the water and if you got in the pool you might risk simmering.

I am noticing that here in Florida  the humidity isn't really bothering me anymore.  Especially compared with our first summer here.  As you may (or may not) recall, we moved to Florida in June two years ago.  The contrast between Colorado which has almost no humidity at all and Florida in summer which has all of the humidity was a physical shock to the body and mind. I forced myself to go out every single day so that I could adapt to it. (I had to do the same thing in Colorado to adapt to the altitude).  By August, I felt as if I was trying breath under water.  The second summer was noticeably better.  I still was aware of the humidity but I wasn't as bothered by it.  This year, humidity?  What humidity?  But man oh man, I notice the heat.

And it's funny.  I'm the person in this marriage who is almost always too cold.  I used to say that I could never be warm enough. But that was probably back in Connecticut when we lived in a drafty old house with winters that seemed to last for 9 months filled with damp, wet, deep in your bones below zero kind of cold.  I actually heard myself say to Tim yesterday when he suggested taking a walk at noon, "why don't we wait until tonight when it's cooler".  Who said that?  Yup, that was me.  I had actually just returned from my ESL teaching gig where I walked first to the library and then back home in the "feel-like" 104 sunshine.

So that's my big old whiney-hiney complaint of the day. Despite the humidity, there is a lack of actual rain and it's uncomfortably warm.  I have seen nationwide weather reports and it seems to me that everyone across the nation is suffering the fiery sun this year!  There does not seem to be anywhere that is safe. Sooooo take heart, there are just a few months to go before autumn and cooler temperatures will arrive to save us all. 

In the meantime, drink a lot of water, slap on excessive amounts of sunscreen with SPF a thousand, wear a hat, stay inside when you can and think cool thoughts:  Glaciers, iced tea, polar bears, that scene from Doctor Zhivago  - you know which one I mean, ice skating, sledding down a big hill, your breath coming out in a fog and ice cream.

Which also reminds me, next Thursday, August 2nd is Children's Miracle Network day!  If you buy a Dairy Queen Blizzard, the proceeds go to Children's Hospital. Awesome.  Stay cool and be cool at the same time!

And have a great weekend!