Hot Enough For Ya?

 That's a favorite greeting Vermonters often use - well, they used to. Perhaps that's changing along with the weather patterns these days! Anyway, it's plenty hot enough for me. I absolutely wilt during hot weather. I went out onto the deck to crank down my big umbrella during the brief shower we had this afternoon, and it was sooooo nice feeling the rain on my face and drenching my blouse. It reminded me of when I was a kid and my cousins and I played in mud puddles during rain storms. On the farm, I can't imagine that was a very healthy thing to do, but somehow we survived. When my kids were growing up at camp, they  loved to run and slide on the grass when there was a heavy rain. The water on our lawn didn't drain quickly and quite often there was a shallow stream flowing from our driveway to the boat launch. With a good run, they could sometimes manage to splash into the pond, sliding on their backsides or their bellies. I've always enjoyed walking in the rain or hearing the rain on the roof at night. I was tempted to stay out in the shower today to cool off, but I had too much going on inside, and just stayed long enough to put the umbrella down so it wouldn't interfere with the rain gauge. Now the sun is burning down on us again, but at least there was a little reprieve, and it may have  helped revive growing things tin fields and gardens.

I've been reorganizing and cleaning out files today. It's a job that doesn't require any heavy lifting, much brain activity or physical effort, and I made good headway. I have had the overhead fans going in the house, and that kept it pretty comfortable. I expect it will cool down nicely after the sun goes down. I've had the windows open most of the day except on the sunny sides of the house -  I close the windows and lower the insulated blinds when it's hot like this. Then open things up again as soon as the sun has moved around. I have awning type windows, and they are great to let in fresh air during a rain storm. I never worry about whether windows are open when it begins to rain.

While I was rummaging through files and tossing things out, I came across an email I'd printed and saved from a dentist friend in Maine. It was sent to us in 2003, and it goes like this:

Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This mad him . . . what? A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

I know - that's really bad, and my apologies to Julie Andrews and Dick VanDyke!

Stay cool.