H-O-T Spells HOT, HOT, HOT!

Lately it has been hot. Really hot. Pukin’ hot. I don’t ever remember it being this hot. There have been health hazards issued in the past because of the heat, but this is the first time I ever thought they might actually apply to me. Just a mile away, an entire shopping plaza lost power due to all the extra power it was drawing by cranking up the air conditioning at all of its locations.

At our house, my husband claimed heat exhaustion and sequestered himself in the one air-conditioned room in our house for two days, emerging only to ferret out some food or take a quick trip to the bathroom. When I asked him to help me put in another air conditioner, he immediately cited the health hazards and ran back to the already air-conditioned room. I thought for a minute about the irony of the relief the second air conditioner would bring versus the 10 minutes of activity it would take to throw it in the window, and then I moved on. The edict had been issued - there would be no second air conditioner in the near future.

Then came the weather teaser. Two glorious, sunny low humidity days. One could actually function without a fan, or that still un-installed second air conditioner. No more spending money at random locations just to soak up their air conditioning. The sprinkler was actually being used for the garden. The pool was no fun though, because the water had gotten so hot from the prior scorching days that it wasn’t any relief to go swimming.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The following days brought lightning and thunderstorms, fierce at times, but fleeting. Then the sun would come out and it was if it had never rained at all. At least that muggy, post-storm air didn’t hang around to give everyone upper respiratory problems. I’m convinced the only reason it started raining was because I had decided to keep cool one day by hand washing my car with ice cold water and using my last water-ionizing filter to rinse off the car so it would dry spotless and I wouldn’t have to stand around in the scorching heat to dry it. It poured that night, and rained every day for three days afterwards. And now I’m out of ionized water filters.

So far, the only good to come out of this horrifically hot weather is that the dog got a bath. I stuck her in her doggie pool, and wet her down with the cold water from the hose and she didn’t move a muscle. I soaped her up and she didn’t shake it all over me, which is usually part of the ritual. And then I rinsed her off with the same cold water, and she let me. One little shake and that was it. I think if the pool weren’t filled with soap, she would have curled right up in the ice cold water. Now that told me how hot it really was.

Meet the Doldrums

What to do, what to do? I am wandering around the house today, unable to decide what I would like to do, or even what I don’t want to do that needs doing. But I am at a loss. It’s raining, so I decided to give myself permission to start a new book. I tried three and gave up on every one. There isn’t even anything on TV worth watching. And I have to be in the right mood to do nothing.

Anyone who has seen my house knows that virtually everything, inside and out, needs cleaning, decluttering or just putting away. I tried to tackle a particularly dusty task, but lost interest halfway, so now there are just piles of dusty things all over the floor. And sometime during the week, I picked up contact dermatitis from gardening, so now I’m afraid to go near my plants.

There is just this vacuous presence around me, keeping me from being interested in doing anything. Motivation seems to have left for the 4^th of July weekend. But what’s this? In the act of flipping through the dictionary to make sure I was using the word “vacuous” properly, the book fell open to the word “watercolor,” and now I’m thinking of that bag of watercolor supplies, and special, expensive, paper I had for the watercolor classes I’d taken last year. The bag is on a hook in the hall closet, where it’s been hanging ever since my last watercolor class.

Maybe I’ll dig out my supplies and work on my technique. I painted two pieces that were worth framing, so I know it’s not a lost cause to keep going. Who knows? Maybe I’ll crank out another “suitable for framing” piece.

How about that? My old friend, the printed word, just flops down in front of me and solves the doldrums of my day. Well, I’d better get to it. I’m actually looking forward to this project.