er … BEAR bums (that pesky autocorrect)!!
I know that title made you take a second look though, didn’t it?
It’s another sultry and sizzling day here in Southeast Michigan. It got to 90 degrees F (32 C). It was pretty steamy when I ventured out on my walk this morning, but I did get in five miles anyway – it’s all about that final goal of 1,242 miles (2,000 K). The days are already getting shorter as we creep toward Winter. Sadly, the sun is getting up nearly one minute later, and going to bed one minute earlier, every day since the Summer Solstice has passed.
Due to my smashed finger debacle, I realized a couple of days ago that I never reported on my miles at the end of June. I’ll wait and walk my socks off some more, then report my total at the end of July instead.
The heat and humidity were unrelenting for over a week.
In my last post, I wrote about sweltering away in our heat wave here in muggy Michigan. Of course, the hot weather is a whole lot easier to take if you own a pool, or a cottage at the lake (or have dear friends whom you could visit). While other beachgoers enjoyed the cool water of Lake Michigan over the recent holiday weekend, this deer was not going to let a few humans stand in the way of him becoming a beach bum. Click here and scroll down for a smile.
Now, what about that bare/bear bum?
Monday was garbage day all along my route to Council Point Park. I rounded the bend and the first thing I saw was one humongous bare bottom looking me in the eye. Oh, by the way, I guess I should mention it was a plush bare bottom.
Butt, what a bummer (excuse the puns – I couldn’t resist)!
The garbage cans were in the way to get a good picture (and, at one point, I even questioned why I would take such a picture, but I had an idea for this post, so what the heck). If anyone was looking out their window, they probably thought I’d been in the sun too long, as I carefully angled myself to take not only the bare/bear bum shot, but a few more of this poor unloved teddy bear that was looking so undignified, all crumpled up, arms and legs haphazardly sticking out and flopped over onto his face, bum up in the air.
Yes, the indignity of it all!
Perhaps because I collected teddy bears for decades, it gave me a smile, but maybe it is just a warped sense of humor on my part too?
When the heat finally took a hike, so did I – a few extra-long ones.
We were lucky to get a three-day reprieve so Sunday through Tuesday, I racked up the miles, six miles each trek, savoring those cooler, humid-free days. I was here, there and everywhere, mostly hanging around my go-to place, Council Point Park, but strolling around the ‘hood as well. I actually took 200 plus pictures over the long holiday and this week without even leaving the City. The squirrels were back to their ol’ perky, begging selves and the Cardinal and Blue Jay each scammed a peanut while Stubby went to bury his treasure. He had a rude awakening when he returned to see how short his pile of peanuts had become while he was away.
But alas, all good things must come to an end.
We returned to sweltering temps again today, in the 90s, and a possible storm on the way this evening. So, this morning I sought shade, just like my feathered and furry friends. I spent my entire walk on the shady side of the Park. But, I had the luxury of returning to A/C after my trek in the heat – they did not.
Interestingly, we are quick to credit our “new norm” of erratic weather to strictly climate change, and I have no doubt that is the reason too; just look at what is going on in Alaska. But, for years, every time we had a prolonged heat wave, my mom would recount the story of the big heat wave of 1936.
I just researched a bit and learned that the heat wave encompassed all North America from July 8th to the 15th – in fact, the peak of the heat (July 8th through 10th ) would have been on the same date as I am writing this post. The death toll in North America was over 6,000 people (780 direct and 400 indirect deaths in Canada and 5,000 in the U.S.) and large numbers of crops were destroyed by the heat and lack of moisture.
My mom was ten years old at the time of the heat wave and she vividly recalled how Ontario residents wilted as the thermometer hovered at 105 to 110 F daily (40 to 43 C), only dipping down to the mid-90s at night. She remembered her parents speaking in hushed tones about the deaths of mostly babies, children and older folks. She told me that most people, her family included, had to make do with a single fan for the entire house. My grandfather came home nightly from working in a stifling hot factory where he made rubber boots, and he’d have dinner, then he and most of the men in the neighborhood, who also toiled at factory jobs, each took their pillow and a blanket down to Sunnyside Park where they lined up to sleep on the boardwalk at the water’s edge, hoping to catch a small breeze from Lake Ontario. Likewise, in those days my grandmother worked in the hot, greasy Planters Peanuts factory. During the heat wave of ’36, she and my mom slept out on the front porch every night to get out of the oven-hot house. The ice man would drop off the ice for the icebox and Mom said the ice would be melting as they carried it through the house to the kitchen.
How lucky we are, even as we muddle through these 90+ degree days – it puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it?
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Bare bears and sweltering nights! I remember having no air conditioning at home. Only large stores and movie theaters were cool in the summer!
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Sure and we’d go to the mall and show before we got central air here in 1975 – the window air conditioner in one room didn’t help much.
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We never had a/c when I was growing up. We put fans in the windows. It was horrible.
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We didn’t get it until 1975 and that was only because my father, a tool-and-die maker, worked in a shop where they had no air conditioning, no fans, and the company would not allow fans in their areas either. He would come home, night after night, and just drink gallons of iced tea or lemonade and not eat a bite, even if my mom made cold salads … he would sleep in the basement as he said the window A/C didn’t really cool him off, so they got central A/C. I’m glad we were not around for that big heat wave. I would not feel safe sleeping on the porch outside and I am scared of spiders and centipedes so couldn’t sleep in the basement on the couch either.
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The title made no difference to me (because I read it as bear automatically)
Oh my gosh. This post struck home. I’m so glad we live in this day and age. In Israel, where there are heatwaves at least once a year, the houses are built in white stone so that it doesn’t heat up as much (though Israel can’t cope with cold weather, they shut down if there’s snow and no one has heaters). I’m glad that even though we get heatwaves in this world nowadays, at least the world can handle it….
The bear pictures are just cute! Reminds me of the teddy bears I can’t bear to throw away for they’re childhood toys. All crumpled and tattered.
Yay you for posting!!!!!!!!
Love, light and glitter 🙂
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I was going to put the bear picture up top, but then decided to use an old stock photo I had from years before … I didn’t always use my own photos, used to buy stock photos at Dollar Photo (now out of business). I don’t have to attribute the photographer of the pic since I paid for it.
They had hundreds of photos and graphics and vector images to choose from and you could find something to match your post. Then I discovered Pinterest and Pixabay so I got the pics for free – I’ve done some dumb things in my life as to money Eliza.
Unless that teddy bear was messed up in the front of it, he had not a single mark on him/her so was a little surprised to see him in the garbage and I hope the picture conveyed just how big that bear was … as you know I collected bears for years … you collect dolphins, I collected bears – no more room for them now.
It did feel good to post again, I only did a handful of posts in three weeks due to all the stuff going on and the weather – I don’t think we ever got that storm.
Love, light and glitter back at you, you are on lunch break now and likely catching up online.
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🙂 I was on lunch break then. I spend so much time online, but it’s good.
Do you have pictures of your bear collections?
I need some more dolphins……… I only have 2 dolphin cushions (lots of dolphin paraphernalia, I’ll have to take pictures and send them, maybe I’ll do it on a post and password it – I can’t upload pictures onto this email address. Actually, I sent you dolphin pictures, no?)
I hope you don’t get the storms ever…. they send the day spiraling.
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We are having a few nice days (for a change) and then back to the sauna. You did send me some dolphin pics at the windows. I thought I sent you pictures, but I will send them to you again – I took groups of them – yes, there are lots of them from over the years: 52!
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You did send me some in the past. Not all 52
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OK, I will send them to you then – I know we exchanged dolphin collection shots and bear collection shots.
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I just checked out your bear collection again. I never realised you had nearly 100! It’s cool…. I liked seeing them again.
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OK, great – you did get them. I shut down last night and realized I forgot to send them. I put them in a folder on the computer and for those pics, I made the rooms look nice (and they have not looked that nice since I might add) and took the pictures. 🙂
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I can imagine! I’ll make a private post here with my pictures. When I tidy up.
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We didn’t have a/c when I was young. Mostly I remember unbearably hot car rides without it.
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No, me neither Kate, and I can remember when we lived in Oakville, which was about 25 miles from Toronto, my father had a job interview in Oklahoma and we drove out there in the Summertime, in a VW Beetle, with no A/C and my father had plastic seat covers on all the seats – really, I have no idea why he covered the seats because it was not fancy velour or leather seats, just some type of vinyl and fabric likely. I had to sit or lay down on a blanket so my legs would not stick to the plastic as I was wearing shorts. The plastic would draw the heat and the blanket made me all the hotter. Crazy!
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I remember plastic seat covers. Yuk!
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Whoever thought of such a silly thing – in the Winter months, they’d crackle when you sat on them.
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That Teddy Bear being throw away makes me sad. I know staying cool is going to be a challenge during this heat wave but at least stay hydrated Linda. Oh and don’t forget to be ready for a power outage. I expect there will be extremely high usage.
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It made me sad too Ruth – I don’t know if it was the way it was laying there or the fact that it was not dirty (that I could see), so why was it out there? It was a shame to see it and it was huge – for perspective, that is why I took a picture of it Some city has been without power due to overuse for 24 hours and I’m not sure which one it is. We are having a similar heatwave beginning next weekend and lasting over the weekend. I heard there will be issues with algae bloom in some bodies of water this Summer, and they have already said one will be Lake Erie. I’ve not been back to Lake Erie Metropark since there was still ice there. This is because of all the flooding at the lakeshore. I’m going to try some other parks that are not so near the water.
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I know the flooding along the lake shores and the river communities has been bad. I was in Marine City today and the Saint Clair River is still very high. Believe it or not we are watering our gardens and actually we have been hoping for a little rain.
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I keep hearing about the flooding issues on Lake St. Clair and all the sandbagging and Lake Erie as well and I think it is spotty showers in the forecast for tomorrow and then we go back to extreme heat again on Monday – actually I had heard it was Wednesday in the 90s, but now it is Monday and no rain til later in the week. Is your garlic pulling through this first rainy, and now hot and dry season? I apologize if you’ve written about it Ruth – I’m a few days behind in Reader and need to catch up. The Wyandotte Street Fair started yesterday – people Downriver joke that if you want a few days of heat and humidity and storms, just wait for the Street Fair to arrive. It seems every year at Fair time, a bad wind or rainstorm comes along and the set-ups by the many vendors are damaged or all the rain pelts down and there are issues from that. So I guess they lucked out, except for a little rain tomorrow – I predict that little bit of rain will be as I answer the door to the HVAC guy tomorrow – I put off calling Flame Furnace as it had been so chilly and they won’t do a tech visit unless it is a certain degree of temps.
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I know what you mean about keeping up with reading and I actually haven’t even had time to get a post up in a week. Hopefully I’ll get something written soon. Some of our garlic is doing ok. Two of the varieties that are more suited to growing in warmer climates could not handle the cold winter and rainy spring. The third variety is more cold tolerant. We really won’t know how well it has done until we get it out of the ground. We plan to start harvesting probably next week.
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Yes, it’s rough and we’ve been really busy at work since after the long holiday weekend – I worked late last night and tonight until 6:45. So I hope to put a dent in Reader, but I don’t know how far I’ll get. I hope you get the garlic out of the ground and into the barn without incident – just a small chance of rain tomorrow, so don’t know if will hit either of us. Then a sauna bath next week. – sigh. Summer is now flying by Ruth, now that the 4th of July has passed.
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My husband started a landscaping job July 1 and is working long hours so I am trying to keep up home and farm. Busy, busy, busy. LOL. Yes – it’s going way to fast. I hope to have some time to enjoy it this weekend.
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Wow – you guys have to make the most of your time and budget for time together now … you had an earlier post this year saying you worked a lot of hours with regard to the farm and at least you got to spend time together doing that – I hear just a brief shower so hope the sprinkle does the farm good, but doesn’t mess up your outside “tending” duties.
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Linda, you are on a roll with the bear/bare, but/butt puns! 🙂
That heat wave in the 1930s was probably worse than it would be today because of the lack of air conditioning. The house I grew up in didn’t have air conditioning either, but I don’t remember being bothered by the heat.
We had a high temperature of only 85 today – not too bad – but I did get caught out in a downpour when I was out on my run. I got soaked!
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Yes, I was on a roll there wasn’t I?
I agree with you Laurie – it must have been tough with just one fan doing its duty for everyone in the house. I don’t remember being bothered by the heat when young either and I know all of us neighborhood kids would be down at the meadow at the end of the street most of the day playing and running and jumping, coming home for dinner and not hot or bedraggled looking. I’ll bet the weatherman was wrong again – you got soaked. Our weather folks have not been able to predict anything all Summer. We are having more rain and a pop-up thunderstorm once the sun goes down, so I’m shutting down shortly, before the cold front arrives. At least it was warm for you while getting drenched!
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Ah… that heat! They couldn’t get our geothermal air-conditioning fixed and we suffered a lot in the extreme heat! Yesterday, after they had left — thinking that they fixed it — it continued to malfunction. They again returned and finally figured out what it was; it was a drainage hose blockage; now it is working fine, thank goodness.
Cool weather is coming soon! 🙂
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Yes, the heat is relentless isn’t it Tom? And I groused about the cold and icy Winter, and the rainy and chilly Spring – now this. We have three days of seasonal Summer weather, then Monday it is 91 degrees and they say an extended heat wave. My HVAC tech is coming for a routine visit tomorrow. I don’t think I’ve ever had them that late for an A/C check-up but because it was so chilly in early June, I never called for an appointment … they won’t perform the tests unless it is a certain degree of warmth and have cancelled on me before.
I heard on the news yesterday that Lake Erie is in for a severe algae bloom event next month – I need to get there and check out the lotus beds before that happened. This is predicted to be the fifth worst algae bloom in this area since they’ve been recording/testing. A few years ago we had a bad algae bloom outbreak in the water near Elizabeth Park and horrified homeowners were finding dead ducks strewn along the shoreline where they had been in and drinking the water.
Are you seeing leaves on the ground where you live? I was noticing in the Park, as well as the neighborhood, that lots of yellow leaves are already drifting to the ground and the trees are not diseased (at least from my look-see of them – i.e. bark intact, no spots on leaves or odd growths anywhere). This happened in August last year – wonder if this will signal an early Fall? I shut my water off and took the hose into the garage shortly after Fall’s arrival last year as we had a hard freeze the last week of September. Hope your door situation is better too.
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That poor bear – being abandoned like that. There must be a children’s book in there somewhere Linda? Maybe he comes to life and walks away just before the garbage truck arrives! I saw that video of the deer at the beach on the news, it didn’t even seem spooked by all the people. It was supposed to be cool today, 70ish, with a N breeze, so I dressed for that, and it was hot and sweltering by noon. 3 days behind in Reader, so no post for this week. I will have to ask my mom if she remembers the heat wave in 1936, as she would have been ten.
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I am likewise three days behind in Reader and you are like me Joni, you feel like you need to catch up a bit before doing a post for yourself – I get it. I caught up on Wednesday except for maybe 1/2 day or 1 day so did this post quickly and then we’ve gotten very busy at work and stayed late a few nights (Thursday/Friday) and trying to stay off the computer more so so much for catching up. I have the HVAC guy coming in today for a routine A/C check and have a five-hour window for his arrival, so will be able to catch up better then (hopefully) and I want to get back into posting. Do ask your mom how they coped and what she remembers – it was all through North America. That teddy bear did not have a single mark on it that I could see – don’t know about its face and front of it, but it was clean – if it was dirty, I would not have taken pics of it and I was like you – curious why it was discarded … kid(s) outgrew stuffed animals? That was a huge bear and would have cost a pretty penny. Same here with the weather – they predicted milder weather yesterday and it was hot in the a.m. when I was out walking – hot today … Sunday nice, then a week of hot and above-average temps in the 90s.
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Late next week looks brutal, in the long range, if it’s correct, 108-09 with the humidex? I will ask mom what she remembers.
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Yes, that is what they say and you know that will bring not only a whopper storm, but excessive power usage and power outages – oh joy. Yes, pick your mom’s brain on it – see what she says Joni.
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I did ask her this afternoon but she didn’t remember any specific year. She said it was sometimes too hot in the summer to go out and play but didn’t recall it going on for any long stretch. My grandparents both worked in the sugar beet fields for a few years after they immigrated, as part of the sponsorship deal with a farmer, and my mother remembers them taking them along, as they did not have a babysitter, and it was very hot. I know sometimes when they show the weather at night on the tv news they mention the daily high and often it is from years ago, but I don’t remember any other summer like this one!
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And I worry this is the “new norm” – the weathercaster I follow who is really interested in climate change and travels all over the world to meet with like meteorologists, has been preaching for several years this was coming – not just the hot Summers, but the very cold Winters as well. Springs that arrive late, Falls that arrive early – the erratic weather shifts and swings in the course of a few days … yup, he has been right all along. It is sad to see the weather changes in Alaska and the rate the ice is melting.
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I find kids/parents throw out so many of those “stuffies” but this one – due to it’s size and cost – why didn’t they put it in a garage sale or something….seems like a waste.
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Yes, I agree … I think that is what drew me to it and to take a picture ad there was something about it that didn’t seem right.
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If I was a grandparent/aunt etc spending all that money on presents and saw them sitting at the curbside a couple of years later I would be upset.
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I sure would be too Joni.
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Wow, that kind of heat is really unimaginable. It is such an extreme. One of my friends who lived in Iraq for the early part of her childhood used to sleep out on top of their roof each night to get some air which is so bizarre to think of compared to our “hot” days we get here in Wales.
That poor little bear seemed so unloved ❤
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Zena – this seems to be the “new norm” for our weather here – the second year in a row for a chilly and rainy Spring, then all of a sudden it launches into a scorching hot Summer. It was 90 F (32 C) today and at 7:47 p.m. it is still as hot as this afternoon. We have one nice, cooler day tomorrow, then a scorching hot week next week. It is better than snow, but wow!
I felt badly about that bear, and don’t know if it is because I collected teddy bears for years (until I ran out of places to put them), but that bear looked so unloved and unless his face or front was dirty, he looked in good condition – there was just something about how that bear was just laying unloved just didn’t seem right.
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That weather sounds unbearable. We are lucky here we have had hot days but not as hot as yours and the last few days have been cooler. That poor bear. I could tell you really felt for it. We can be such a throw away society getting rid of such lovely things. ❤
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Yes I will be glad when it is over, then beginning Monday it is more normal weather … too bad it is not pleasant on the weekend though!
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That seems like crazy hot temps to be so north. Of course, it’s been hot down here as well; however, it dropped to 75 around 5:00 today! I thought that was crazy, until I saw the storm clouds brewing; then, I completely understood! It’s down to a nice 71 now. It’s been muggy here for several days, and I’m so ready for the cooler weather! …of course, I always am, because I love fall and winter. … glad you haven’t melted away in your daily walks! 😉
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The weather here has been so erratic – today they said “oh, it will be a seasonal Summer day” … low humidity and pleasantly warm. I went to an outside event at noon – a butterfly garden open house and it was out in the open, no shade and it was in the 80s. Now 71 is nice to me and when I got up this morning – in the 4:00 a.m. hour, it was already 71! We have a week of extreme heat and humidity and storms – I am ready for Fall as well.
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😳🥵 Shew! That’s hot! … I guess you could really rearrange your schedule and go enjoy the weather at 4am, but your neighbors might start wondering what you’re doing out that early! 😂 … It’s been that hot here, but I definitely expect it for the South, and actually 80s are a blessing for us in July! Today was a high 86; however, by 6:00pm, the outside thermometer read 77.
I was a bit excited and proceeded to head to the deck… well, had it not been like 80% humidity (at least that’s what it felt like! 😜), I would have sat out there longer. Between the humidity and the mosquitos buzzing around, I gave up and headed back into the A/C. 🙄🤦♀️😑 Fall can’t get here soon enough! 🍁 🍂
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Yes, the heat is so unbearable and I don’t know how people in the South are managing it … we used to just have an occasional day or two, maybe a week at most in the “Dog Days of August” … we never had a Spring this year, cool and rainy, then we zoomed right into Summer. We have 90s all week and a heat index of 105 this Friday – yikes! I worry about tornadoes in high temp weather. Try and stay cool – I’m with you because Fall is my favorite season, always has been.
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Well, you and I can just hang out indoors till the fall temps come back around! 😂💕
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Agreed!! I feel like I want to be like those women who were constantly fanning themselves like in “Gone With the Wind” (of course they had those tight corsets and all the layers of clothing) … they must have longed for Fall from March onward!
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So true! 😂🥵
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Nominated you for a sunshine award, if you can *bear* to participate. If not, oh well — it’s in the *rear* view mirror.
…I couldn’t resist either. 😜
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Thank you very much for doing this – I am honored. As a general rule, I don’t participate, only because I always feel badly if the award asks me to nominate just a handful of people and I don’t want to play favorites (although you did) … thank you again. It is appreciated.
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That’s a good reason. I don’t think I mind playing favorites… Though I do mind leaving some of my favorites out, which I did. 😟
But anyway, you’re welcome. I can shamelessly say you’re definitely one of my favorites. 🙂
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That has been my reason in the past (not that I’ve been nominated on a regular basis) as I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. So I’ll stand by that for others that would see me responding to your nomination and not theirs. Thank you for saying that you enjoy the blog – I hope to be posting more regularly now that my finger is almost 100% again. Nine-finger typing is good in a pinch, but ten fingers are much better! Thanks again. 🙂
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Yeah, that’s cool. Don’t sweat it. 😄
Glad to hear your finger’s doing better. No more trouble with the garage door?
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OK, great! My finger is looking much better – just the nail is a bit discolored and still numb on the top. I understand if the nail was going to fall off, it would have happened by now, so I’m happy about that as typing for work and here would have been difficult. I have to tell you that I am intimidated by the stupid door! I bought a heavy pair of garden gloves with rubberized grips on the fingers and palms and use it to raise the door – I hang onto the panel to push it up or down until I can reach the handle, but I stay far away from the “bend” part. But what I do is force myself to “think” about what I am doing as usually I would have just walked outside, gone to the door and opened it without a thought. Hopefully when it is way below freezing I keep thinking instead of doing what I did for 35 plus years!
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Ugh… That was an option? The nail coming off? Man. Well, I’m glad it didn’t.
That’s good. I’m sure once you two (you and the door, that is) develop an understanding, you’ll get along alright.
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Oh Linda
A beautiful post. Feeling sad for the upside down teddy bear, wonder why the child threw it away or did the parents throw it away? Or maybe it wasn’t a child’s teddy bear at all?
Ever since I have been here, I have been noticing people putting things on the curb for others to pick up if they saw the need. I picked up a few good plates one day.
The deer is enjoying his bath. It has been hot here- a couple of showers too but temperatures don’t fall because of the showers. I lost access to my email account, so I will need to send you an email from another account.
Susie
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Hi Susie – this comment went to SPAM after I checked the SPAM filter early Sunday morning. I am glad you liked this post and I felt very sad about the teddy bear too, not just because I used to collect them, but there was something made me sad about how it was there, unloved … guess I am more sentimental that I’d admit sometimes. I hope things are going well for you. Put your new e-mail address in one of my posts and when I see it I will delete it okay – I’ve never set up my “contact me’ page (yes, sad – it’s only been six years). Glad to hear from you and we are having heat like you are used to – 90s all week and heat indices over 100 end of week.
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susieshy50@gmail.com
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Hi Susie – Thanks for your new e-mail address; I’ve noted it and deleted your comment with the contact info from this post. P.S. – I see what you did there – you swapped the age you started your blog for your current age. Glad my brain is still functioning despite the heat. 🙂 Take care – Linda
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Yeah! You got it !
Please write in. Is Parker ok?
I see squirrels all the time here and it makes my heart happy- I think of you then.
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Hi Susie – I have not seen Parker in a while and I was hoping by the next time we connected that I could say I saw him, but I think it may have something to do with the heat. We have this extreme heat here right now – it will be in the 90s (35 C) later this week and weekend with a “real feel” of 105 (40 C). That is dangerously hot and I won’t be surprised if we have power outages as a result of it. You might be experiencing the heat wave where you are now? As to Parker, I am hoping he is up in a tree, in the nest, in the shade. Today I took some photos of a squirrel stretched on on a branch of a tree – I had similar pictures last year. They are suffering in this heat. I worry that Parker is okay and hope he is just around the neighborhood and did not fall prey to a hawk. I am glad you think of me – get yourself some peanuts and take a breather every so often and pass out peanuts to them. I’m glad you found this post because I was sending it to the former address. I went to a butterfly garden event on Sunday and sent this to you too – I am behind in Reader a few days, as we have been having some crummy and stormy weather. Here is the butterfly post Susie and some other recent ones when you get time:
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That’s one giant teddy bear! Maybe the owner was hoping that someone would pick it up and give it a new home. The weather has been fine here, a little humid at times, but bearable. 😉 I actually like hot weather if it’s not humid!
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I know and it looked to be in good shape – I did not touch it so not sure if its face or front was marrred, but it otherwise looked fine. It really piqued my interest so I had to stop and take a picture, a non-nature picture, no less. We exited a heat wave, had today as a reprieve, but it was still in the 80s and humid this morning, then back to the steambath all week. The humidity is what does you in. A friend moved to New Mexico and they’ll have temps over 100 but 2% humidity. I’d like that Sabine – and no snow!
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Yes, humidity is tough to take! We have some, but not anything like what you guys have.
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It has not always been like this either – we had warm and sunny days and the occasional spike in the heat and humidity, not day after day of it and this week’s weather, through next weekend, is abysmal (to me anyway). Having a 105 degree heat index will either cause bad storms or a power outage due to so many A/C units being cranked up high.
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It’s been mostly cooler and overcast here with some rain here so far this summer.
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The weather has been a little too erratic for my liking – it was never this hot, not for this long, until maybe one week in August and that was it. I just put the news on for the weather on as we are expecting a thunderstorm and I wanted to see how close (I’m trying to catch up here if possible) and they said it is not a 30-car accident, vehicles hydroplaning from the torrential rain.
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😬
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Ah, yes, quite the excellent perspectives you shared. Both in the bear shots and how unbearable the weather can be sometimes. Thank goodness for A/C. This was a delightful post. Stay in where it’s cool, Linda, soon the weather will turn and you’ll get your miles in this year, I’m positive you will!
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Glad this gave you a smile Shelley and I missed the boat not using the word “unbearable” … I was all about “bear” and “bare” bums instead. I get a feeling that if you walked down the street with your camera you’d take this picture too – there was just something about it … hmm.
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Oh, yes, I’d have taken photos too – I love your interpretation of his shame and the butt in the air! Very clever 🙂
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Thanks – glad to know I am not the only quirky one. 🙂
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LOL – you’re not alone 🙂
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It sure does put it into perspective. My Grandmother said they would soak a bed sheet in water and then hang it over the door to the outside. And if there was a breeze it would feel cooler coming in the house. And the town’s funeral home was the first place to get air conditioning, people would go there to cool off as often as they could. Great post Linda.
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That is interesting Sandra and they had to do what they could in those days – maybe they one fan and all huddled around it. I remember my grandmother saying that they did that – one fan. When they had the bad heat wave of 1936, my mom was 10 and she said she and my grandmother slept on the porch as it was cool and all the men in the neighborhood walked down to Sunnyside Park and took a blanket and pillow and slept next to the water where it was cooler so they could get a good night’s sleep. Most of the men worked in the manufacturing district plants so they had fans or such in the plants, so it was just a little respite from the heat. Glad you liked it Sandra.
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We do have it easier now, even when I was a child, our bedrooms were upstairs. No air conditioning in our farm house. And they would put the fans in the windows backwards, so they blew outside instead of in. I understand the concept. But a big old house like that, it did not take the heat out side, it was still hot. I just wanted to turn the fan around but they said no. What memories.
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I know – we take it for granted about the A/C in the house and the car. And think about way back and the dresses with the cinched-in waists, and metal stays and all the petticoats and other laces underneath … and just a paper fan to stay cool. A whole different world.
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I dont think I would have liked that era. I was to much of a Tom boy all of my life. I would not have liked riding horses side saddle. 🙂
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I think it was pretty hard to do on top of it. I never had any brothers so missed out on being a tomboy. 🙂
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I never thought of it that way, my brother was 2 years older then me. And I really looked up to him. Still do, he lives out west. I got to see him when I was out there. He is hoping to move to Montana, then I might get to see him more. A little closer anyway.
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I have always wished I had a sibling, most of all, an older brother. It was nice being an only child, but having siblings is extra special too. Montana is beautiful country – horse country. I see you getting beautiful pictures when you visit in Montana.
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I have never been to Montana, my brother has Mules, they ride in the mountains a lot. I will be looking forward to visiting him there. Hopefully they will be moving soon.
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Will they be able to take their mules with them to Montana?
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Yes, they plan on buying some acreage. They love riding. I haven’t ridden a horse in years. My brother is a hunter also and goes up into the mountains with the mules and hunts big game. He never cared for horses when we were growing up, I was surprised when he got into mules. But he loves it. He and his wife go alot.
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You will have a nice place to visit when you’re not up north and will enjoy riding like you did when younger.
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Yes, it is nice to have someone there when you travel also. They plan on retiring there. My brother is retired but his wife still works. He has the half draft horse half mule. It would be so nice to ride again. He needed a bigger mule because he is 6′ 6″ tall, my brother. So he needed a bigger ride.
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I wondered how big the mules are for riding. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a mule, just a donkey. Your brother is tall.
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Yes, mules are a cross between a donkey and a horse is how he described it. They have giant ears, so cute.
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I never realized they were a cross … silly me as I thought they were a different species of donkeys that were bigger.
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So did I until he explained it. And his is crossed with a Draft horse so it bigger for him. And they still have the giant ears. So cute.
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That sure was news to me!
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