Lessons Learned

It is day 18 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge and NaBloPoMo.  Today's post is in response to this week's blog hop prompt from the Writer's Post host Suzy Que of Reflections of My Soul.

    Over the years I have learned some pretty important things about myself.  I don’t handle heat well and I must drink water.   With the Elkhart County 4H Fair starting tomorrow and the happy weather man threatening over 100 degree heat indexes you can bet I am guzzling water, and have been.

      I go to the fair every year and have my whole life.  I was a 4H member, and now both of my kids participate in 4H.  Not going to the fair is not even an option for me.  I have to go.  I have to know how the kids did on their projects.  Forget that the fair comes at the hottest time of the year.  Forget that a couple years ago I went toe up while at the fair from heat stroke and dehydration.  I learned it is not fun to be vomiting nonstop anywhere but at home.  Not that it is fun at home, but it is a nightmare to be in a medical building at the fairgrounds wondering if you are ever going to stop upchucking and be able to go home.

     Since then, I approach time at the fair with a sense of fear and trepidation.  I don’t want to ever experience what I did again.  So I drink tons of water.  Because I love my kids and want to see their projects first hand, I put aside my fears and go.  I learned an important lesson from that experience.  No matter how much I love to drink soda pop or anything else, water is essential to good health.  It makes up 60% of your body and helps everything in it function properly.  Without it, your body begins to shut down.   A little dehydration can lead to difficulty focusing on small print, trouble with basic math, and completely screws your ability to remember things.  Feeling a bit loopy, drink some water!!  It lubricates the joints and keeps blood flowing for proper circulation.    With the human brain made up of 95% water you can just imagine what happens if you are dehydrated.  Everything goes to hell in a hand basket in a big ass hurry.

 
       I felt like I was going to die that day.  I was weak and fatigued and could barely summon enough energy to walk, nor did I want to.    With the heat topping out in the 100’s, it makes dehydration even more likely and serious of a business.  So I lived to tell the tale, and I learned to drink more water.   I still am terrified of going to the fair because of what happened but I refuse to live in fear.  I choose to combat the heat staying hydrated, using the brains the good Lord gave me, and live my life to the fullest one day at a time.

Dog Days of Summer- BFF 217

      Just as the start of a new school year approaches it seems like the dog days of summer have fled to parts unknown.  Here in the heart of the Midwest the temperatures have dropped to the refreshingly cool 60’s and 70’s, the skies have become overcast, and thankfully the rain has finally fallen.  To look about you would have never guessed the area had ever been gripped by a scorching drought.   The parched lawns and dismal croaked over flowers have finally made a come back.

       I admit that I have never been a big fan of heat and humidity. I have been allergic to everything but cockroaches ever since I could remember.  Because of this, I never ventured outside much when I was younger unless it was to the beach or there was the beckoning promise of a dip in a swimming pool.  I hated the blood thirsty mosquitoes and took no pleasure in the annual invasion of the earwigs or the annoying fleas who tried to take a vacation on my dogs and cat.  This summer has been different for me.  When the school bell rang for the last time at the beginning of summer vacation, I welcomed it with open arms.  I actually looked forward to the 24/7 company of my kids.  I took the bickering in stride, armed myself with pesticides to murder evil bugs, and spent more time outside walking and in the pool with the kids and even more time guzzling water from my water bottle.  A little more peeing was involved due to the water bottle, but it was all good.

         The sun beat down all through the month of June and July hotter than the fires of hell without a drop of rain in sight and because of it every living thing trying to grow either died or suffered.  For the first time in memory the town’s fireworks were cancelled due to a county wide ban.  It was literally drier than a popcorn fart and everyday was filled with watering the lawn and garden.  I felt like the Mr. Donut man, instead of time to make the donuts it was time to move the sprinkler.   The 4th of July passed much like any other day.  Fair organizers probably wished the drought would continue despite the threat of a stray cigarette.  Fate took its course.    The heavens waited to burst for the fair.   I was at the fair for one of those downpours.  Thrilled it was finally raining, my family didn’t let it deter us one bit.  We ran hell bent for election from one place to the next splashing puddles and gasping for breath laughing all the way while others cowered in doorways and barns.

          It may have been hotter than hell outside but it was comfortable in the house.  The standing joke all summer has been that it is snowing in my bedroom.  The room houses the biggest honking air conditioner of the two we possess and it packs a powerful punch.  While comfortably cool everywhere else, in my room it is colder than a witches tit in the Klondike.  Penguins could live happily there.  I wouldn’t have it any other way though.  I still remember those scorching days before air conditioning when sweat flowed freely down my a$$ crack even with the fans going full blast.

        Another thing I love about summer is all the barbecuing going on.  This year I made up my mind I was going to become a master of the barbecue grill.  No more was I going to wait 3 weeks for my husband to roll into town to enjoy meat from the grill.  Oh hell no.  This year I grabbed the bull by the balls and learned.  The result was that the kitchen stayed a lot cooler, and I became a master of marinades, barbecue sauces, and basting.   The summer was punctuated with not only long walks but golf cart rides and the roar of my husband’s racing lawn tractor as he raced around the yard spinning tires and kicking up dust.

          My summer has held all the best things this year: barbecues, swimming, a trip to the zoo, camping, ice cream, sun block, a fair amount of exploring local parks and the Wellfield Botanical Gardens, cotton candy from the fair, picking blueberries, and a trip to the local cheese factory.  Instead of only my ole computer chair showing the wear and tear, my tennis shoes have gotten mileage as well.   Despite the dog days of summer and the plague of frequent migraines, I have soldiered on until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.

Summer’s Wrath

     I can not remember a summer that has been so hot and so dry here in the Midwest.  It may have been hot and it may have been humid, but at least it always managed to rain.  This summer not only is it hotter than the blazes of hell, but there hasn’t been any rain at all.  It is dryer than a popcorn fart.  One loose cigarette out a passing car window and the whole place would go up like a roman candle.

      Because of this continuing draught, the powers that be put a county wide ban on the use of fireworks, and except for a few aerial bursts of red, blue, and green the fourth of July was quiet.  Our town cancelled their fireworks display.  I even read in the newspaper that people who were caught setting off fireworks that just happened to start a blaze were arrested and carted off to jail.  

       I went past fireworks vendors who were so desperate they were out alongside the road waving signs saying “it rained!”  A birdie must have pooped on their head because I know it never rained.  I would have noticed.  I have been shifting my sprinkler from one point to the next in my yard at regular intervals throughout the day all summer long.  They were left with no customers.  By the time the holiday came and went the local newspapers were proclaiming the woes of the fireworks dealers who were basically on the verge of bankruptcy due to the continuous fear that one stray spark would cause another ravaging fire disaster like the fires out west.

       A person can’t even enjoy the swimming pool.  We went out to the pool last night in the hopes for a little relief from the heat and what we discovered was water so hot it burned the skin.  We had to add water from the hose to turn the lava hot water into bath water.  On the upside we weren’t cold when we finally decided to get out of the swimming pool until we stepped into the icy cold air conditioned house.

       I know I am not alone.  A lot of people across the country are guzzling water to keep heat stroke at bay, trying to water grass in an effort to turn it back to green, and watering a vegetable garden that withers seconds after the water has been turned off.  It has gotten so hot here at my house that the tree’s leaves in the front yard are falling to the ground dried up and brown.  You would think it was the beginning of fall instead of the middle of summer.  You know you are in trouble when the weather guy on the local news threatens to wear ugly ties until we receive a good soaking rain and is starting to ask for viewers to send in donations of the ugliest ties they can find so he can keep up his end of the bargain.

       Will it ever rain?  Will the temperatures ever break out of the 90’s?  Inquiring minds want to know!!  I have no answers.  All I know is that I am no meteorologist.  I am no farmer.  I am just a lady who wonders if we are getting a little taste of hell fire right here on earth until next time when I give you another glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.