It's a dry heat, so the plants suffer, too. Evaporation is immediate and there's no condensation to be found. The water cycle is definitely screwed up.
The zinnias' leaves are being sucked dry. The little bugs are draining the veins and nibbling the edges and the little birds are feeding on those little bugs and the flowers are unhappy.
Not-Kathy turned on the air conditioner. This is a woman who made herself hot chocolate because she was cccccooolllldddd when it was in the upper sixties outside. She cuddles under my cashmere blanket (thank you wonderful cousins who sent it my way when I was perforated) while we watch tv, the rest of us in shorts and light tops.
It's apocalyptically hot in every parking lot in town, newly blacktopped (like at Prince Elementary School) or old and potholed (most everywhere else). The occasional tree may shade an occasional spot or two, but the heat reflecting off the cars and the carts and the pavement and the walls of the stores is intense. Unloading groceries into the trunk and returning the cart to its resting place left me glowing (horses sweat, men perspire, ladies glow.... according to G'ma).
I went out to the garden before 7 this morning. TBG needed me about half an hour later. I came in dripping from every pore, from the top of my head to the tops of my feet.
My car's air conditioner is doing its best, but cooling the interior after sitting in the sun for several hours takes a lot of effort. I feel like apologizing for asking so much of it.
Still, I'd rather wear minimal clothing and race from one air conditioned space to another, than bundle up in everything I own and wait at a bus stop in the snow. There's nothing for me to slip on, nothing for me to shovel, no blast of frigid air greeting me when I open the front door.
And the sun shines every single day.
We had our coolest June and July in 30 years. Our PG&E bill reflected that, too. But August has arrived, and with it the heat. Today, Saturday, is forecast for 108F degrees. It was 80F at 9 am for I believe it will make it. Thank God for air conditioning and lots of trees. I water three days a week, running the sprinklers, but I water with the hose on all the other days so the cats will have cool places to lie.
ReplyDeleteBig Cuter spent a few weeks in Fresno; they fried an egg on the parking lot.
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