Saturday was the first day this summer that I actually feared I might die of the heat. No exaggeration. The intense heat in the house is completely unbearable and nothing alleviates it: all the windows are open, the ceiling fans are on, as well as the floor fans.
Sometimes, in desperation, I open the front and back doors - - despite the possible intrusion of wild animals, wild insects, or Bigfoot.
open window
(I do have screens on the windows, but they're impossible to see on the photos)
(I do have screens on the windows, but they're impossible to see on the photos)
On Saturday afternoon - just to prove that miracles can happen - Mother Nature whipped up a delightful cool wind that rustled the trees. The sky clouded up and unleashed a torrent of rain.
The air cooled......and I breathed a sigh of relief.
Early Sunday morning was foggy, damp, and cool. My imagination insisted that autumn might be sending an early smile.....
.....so I forced myself to wander outside with a brush and can of paint. I figured it's as good a time as any to finish painting the lattice on the front porch - - which I started weeks (months??) ago.
I wore a hat, boots, jeans, and long-sleeves as protection from the aggressive hordes of roving insects.
I'm not winning any awards for neatness or beauty. I just figured the brown paint looks better than the white paint that I first put on.
As I began painting, I suddenly heard a massive, collective buzzing sound coming from under the porch. The more I painted, the louder and angrier the buzzing became.
I wasn't about to crawl under there to investigate, but my active imagination swarmed with wasps or bees.
If there's a nest or hive, I don't want to deal with it now. I'll wait until winter.
Perhaps it was only a chorus of friendly
bugs.
Perhaps.
Within an hour the fog lifted, the sun appeared, and the intense humidity started biting.
Drenched in sweat, I crawled back into the house...got dizzy....felt very faint....
.....but managed to drink lots of water.
I'll finish the painting some other time. Like December.
My cat Scratch on the porch
couldn't care less what color the lattice is
I'm thinking - - with apprehension - that if anything happened to me here in the wilderness nobody would ever find me. Unless I managed to crawl out to the road.
And even then they'd probably run me over and ride by.
I no longer have a cell phone. I tried two new cell phones recently and neither one could pick up a signal out here.
Perhaps I'll have to resort to getting a more costly one - - - but I seldom use a cell phone, except to text.
Am I complaining?
Naw. I'm merely documenting my breathlessly amazing rural life.
A change of subject!
When I went shopping last week, I thought this "new" ginger ale orangeade sounded wonderfully refreshing.
When I tried it yesterday, my first thought was "This tastes like a household bathroom cleaner."
I couldn't discern any ginger ale. It wasn't exactly orange - but it did have an unnerving citrus "tinge".
My humble opinion:
Ginger ale and orange don't mix.
Your flopped cat looked like me all weekend!!!!! I thought of writing a song, Sweat me a River! Even in the pocono mountains.it was awful and I dont mind heat. I should have stayed in Vienna....it was cooler. I thought of you the whole time...Jon would love this I though, with such beautiful sights and all the classical composers history there. Thanks friend for stopping in.
ReplyDeleteVienna is magnificent and your trip was fantastic!!! Here you were - - having a romantic journey on the Orient Express, while I was sweltering in semi-consciousness and painting lattice in the wilderness....
DeleteGinger ale and orangeade. I'm still trying to imagine it. But yes, I think I agree that they don't mix, and put it this way, I don't feel like trying it out in real life just to check for myself. We're due for some super hot weather tomorrow - and we have big south facing windows. Britain is not in any way geared for super hot weather, given that you might go the whole year without experiencing even a day of it. The forecast could be a prompt for a long visit to the supermarket to hang out by the chillers for a while. Stay cool!
ReplyDeleteI've been in Tennessee for nearly five years and all the previous summers were mild with few hot days. This summer is intensely hot - - but it's really the overwhelming humidity that bothers me.
DeleteI hope you can keep cool during your heat wave. Drink plenty of cold liquids - - but stay away from orange ginger ale.....
I saw on one of my news feeds that all over the earth the heat waves have broken all records this summer. They had to change the route of the ideteron dog sled race in Alaska because the ice is too thin for the weight of the sleds! We'll have to find a cave to move into & here in this area of Tenn there are tons of them.
ReplyDeleteThat's amazing about the Alaskan dog sled race. At this point, I wouldn't mind moving into a cave. Keep cool and take care.(I mostly write in this blog to assure you I'm still kicking.....*smile*)
DeleteFirst, that Ginger ale/orangeade sounds disgusting. Is Canada Dry's marketing team on major drugs?
ReplyDeleteJon, you're the only soul who can make heat exhaustion sound amusing. I'm glad you threw in that reassurance about consuming lots of water. As you know, people even as young as 32 are dying out there! PLEASE consider buying/leasing a more reliable cell.
I'm wondering if anyone actually TASTED that ginger ale/orange crap before they marketed it. I'll usually drink anything, but that was truly unpleasant.
DeleteIt's surprisingly easy to succumb to heat exhaustion. It sneaks up on you without any warning. And the heat bothers me MUCH more now that I'm older.
I'll consider looking at a more expensive cell phone.
The ungodly heat and humidity has been terribly for the past week, but thankfully a mid-week cool down forecast starting tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteNorseman blood does not fare well in these southern United States :(
Is your air conditioner kaput ?
Fill up bottles of water and freeze and place in front of the fans, it gives some relief !
I like the brown paint, matches your deck trim.
Scratch is enjoying his nap, he's a big boy :)
Fingers crossed for cooler weather...…
~Jo
This is the first house I lived in that doesn't have central air conditioning. Summers are mild here compared to Texas and California (where I used to live) but the humidity is really INTENSE this year.
DeleteIt has currently cooled down a little so hopefully the worst is over.
I like the brown paint, too.
I like the brown colour, it seems more natural than white.
ReplyDeleteAccording to specialist weather forecasters UK is due for a similar heatwave you describe. Not happy about that!
The brown color is definitely a big improvement over the white.
ReplyDeleteI got so tired of the hot weather that I just sent it over to the UK (*smile*).
Stay cool, Valerie. I certainly hope your house isn't as hot as mine is!
I would definitely wait to paint if I heard buzzing! Awk! But I do like the brown better.
ReplyDeleteScratch looks so relaxed. I am always puzzled as to why cats love the heat with all that fur to begin with.
I hope it cools off more your way. :)
Hey, Rita, it's good to hear from you! I really hope you're feeling better and stronger.
DeleteI think the brown paint is a big improvement - - but all the angry buzzing under the porch has me worried. I sure hope it's not a wasp nest.
My cats enjoy sitting in the sunshine even on really hot days. Apparently the heat doesn't bother them with all the fur. It's strange.
OMG Jon, it's been the same here. All I've been doing for the past week is sweating from this god-awful smmer heat. You know, I used to live in Florida, so I know what intense heat and humidity feels like. However, the summers here in the Northeast I think are worse. Last weekend it was 105 degrees for TWO DAYS STRAIGHT! I barely left my apartment because it felt like a swamp outside in the city. I couldn't even breathe. I don't know how you can survive without A/C. I don't use mine during the day, however, I have to turn it on at night in order to sleep. God, I can't wait for AUTUMN and WINTER. I love the cold!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the pic of your cat! That's how my two cats used to act when it was hot. They would just lay of the floor, unaffected, and just sleep.
Don't you love cats? I miss mine.
"My humble opinion:
Ginger ale and orange don't mix."
HA! I have never tried that, but even without tasting it I would have to agree with you!
Stay cool!
Ron, I wholeheartedly agree about loving autumn and winter. When I lived in San Angelo, Texas it would sometimes be over 100 degrees for months. Strangely enough the humidity was often so low that it would drop below zero!! The weather forecaster would say "The humidity is minus 4."
DeleteI hate heat whether it's humid or not. Fortunately it has cooled down somewhat now (it's Tuesday night as I'm writing this).
I love cats and presently have two. Scratch is nearly 14 yrs. old and Bosco is 5 yrs old.
I used to have three cats but Scruffy died last October from a respiratory problem. I really miss her.
I was surprised how awful the orange ginger ale was!
Dear Jon, I'm embarrassed by how old I was before I learned that painting lattice anything but white was punishable by Federal Law. I love the brown coat you're using, and intend to follow suit.
ReplyDeleteGeo - painting lattice is a lot more trouble than it's worth, especially when accompanied by annoying insects. But I definitely like the brown color. I initially used white because, at the time, it was the only color I had.
Delete