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Two Writing Teachers!
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| Fan #1 - The Silver Oscillator |
It's been too hot in Maine recently. On Sunday it was 88 degrees with 95% humidity. That is totally unacceptable to me, but not unexpected.
I know, I know, some of you have had over 200 degrees and 195% humidity - and in summers past we have had that, too, even in the years when we were told that another Ice Age was imminent. Please don't tell me you don't remember that. If you do, you are too young, and you probably have air conditioning and not fans!
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| Fan #2 - Old Faithful |
The thing about Maine is that we get lots of different kids of weather all the time. That's the predictability of Maine weather - that it is unpredictable. Some would like to attribute EVERYTHING that happens nowadays to climate change/global warming/ etc. But if they were really looking at the weather over the years in Maine, they would find that ANYTHING has ALWAYS happened here - and really everywhere else for that matter - it's cyclical. When I was a kid in Maine, we got the deep and frequent snows that we had this past winter, and it happened a few winters in between my childhood and now. We had summers so hot you thought you could fry an egg on the pavement - though who is going to eat that egg? And I remember the summer my feet got badly burned when I went for a walk barefoot on the road sometime during my invincible years. But it has also snowed in June in my lifetime and we've had many January thaws that give you a brief glimpse of spring in mid-winter.
We've had summers when it rained EVERY weekend, starting on Wednesday. We've had summers when things dried up and blew away to look for rain. We've had flooding and hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes, blizzards and ice storms causing loss of power for a week or more. These are not everyday occurrences, but they do happen and have happened off and on over the past 60 years of MY recorded history.
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| Fan #3 - The "Honey" |
So I am not going to blame anyone or anything for how hot it has been this week. We've always had a week when you wish you had AC. We never know when that week will be until it happens. This year it is happening this week. It can stop any time now, I'm still not getting AC more cooling than my four fans. I have officially noted this warm weather, recording it for future generations living in the Ice Age that should have been mine!
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| Fan #4 - New and improved Mr. Vorna-Dud. |
Meanwhile, I'm officially beginning preparations for December.
I'm going to go find my mittens and boots.
I'm ready for winter's predictable unpredictability now.
Bring. It. On.
I promise not to complain.
I am sure that if you live in Maine you detest that kind of weather. Hopefully it will pass soon.
ReplyDeleteMost do detest it. I remember a a child going into stores and they were sweltering. All the doors would be open to let in any breeze available! My grandmother managed a dress factory - talk about hot! Little by little we are succumbing to living the AC life here, as others do, though our temperatures aren't nearly as warm usually. We used to be a hardy lot! I'm afraid we are getting a bit wimpy...
DeleteDonna, I truly enjoyed your post today. Tongue in cheek? Reality? Finding mittens in summer? I am thinking that your tale would make a great poem for Summer Splashings with your air conditioners in the background. Are you in for the challenge? I am collecting offerings now. I hope yours is one of them.
ReplyDeleteI'll give that some thought in the cool of the evening!
DeleteHigh temps and high humidity - what's not to love? If you think about look at all of the water you can save. You don't need to shower, just go out and walk around. Soon you will be wet enough that all you need to do is apply soap. Another good thing is that the grass goes dormant so it doesn't need to be cut. Now if only the weeds would stop growing as well. Oh well, the joys of summer. :-)
ReplyDeleteThere is never any drying off after this bathing...and I'm watering the grass from the sweat of my brow!
DeleteIt sounds as if you could describe our Denver weather, too, Donna, as in "if you don't like the weather, wait 20 minutes". Arvie & I never had AC in our house. It was well shaded by both trees and the house next to us. There was that one week, as you say, that we whined and said why don't we get the AC, & then we didn't. I love the windows open, & now in my new house, it's rare that I do open them. The new owner of our house put in AC before she moved in! So, I understand all your words, & hope the cooling happens fast!
ReplyDeleteThat's what we say here...only I believe we give it one minute to change...
DeleteStill too hot and humid today. All 4 fans are running full speed so the dogs can find a place to be!
I know. I know. You have no AC. Well, if you only knew. We could not survie without AC. But I'd take the 100 degrees over -30 any day. So advice from the deep south. Drink iced tea. Wear cotton. Skirts are cooler than pants. Wait a few days. The weather will change. Here, we are finally getting a break. It's 7:30 PM and it's only 88 degrees with 95% humidity.
ReplyDeleteYou are so right about cotton skirts! They are also warmer in -30, believe it or not! Kind of like wearing mittens vs those frostbite inducing gloves! Mittens and skirts make nice warm tents in winter. I know if I lived in the south I'd just HAVE to have AC! Your evening relief from the heat isn't relief enough! I think I'll make some iced tea tomorrow. Good tips!
DeleteI live in Massachusetts and feel very similar about the weather. We've had mild winters, cold winters, cold summers, scorching hot summers...you just never know what you're going to get! I chuckled when I read about your burnt feet - I did that, too, once when I was young and boy was it painful!
ReplyDeleteI thought my friend and I were the only ones foolish enough to have done that! Blistered feet are terribly painful! We'd walked to the beach and then got sand in the blisters. Had to spend what change we had for an ice cream to buy flip flops to make it home again.
ReplyDeleteYou at least have snow to look forward to. Out here in the wild west, we're hoping for a few drops of moisture. Just stopping by from the AtoZ Road Trip. I'm looking for interesting blogs to add to my list for visits! Loved your post.
ReplyDeleteMeant to tell you you'll be mentioned in my post on 8/26. Here's the permalink that goes like that morning. https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7148510738485459197#editor/target=post;postID=6946864087400602580;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=34;src=link
ReplyDelete