Down But Not Out

I see from at least one comment I may have worried some of you by my long absence. I did intend to post much sooner, to clean up my template, and so on. I still plan to do those things, but 'the best laid plans of mice and men...'

During the earlier part of August, we had a number of days with extreme heat and humidity. Summers here are warmer than they used to be, and there isn't a spare circuit to plug an air conditioner into. Besides, I hate canned air and prefer fresh air blowing through the window. Most days, even though I don't like the heat, I can live with it. On the really awful days, I usually at least survive it.

What I didn't count on this summer was a combination of factors. First, usually the really bad days come one or two at a time. Second, usually, I'm not worn down by the flu and then dehydration. Third, I usually take it a bit easier than I did this summer when the heat does hit. So, when a long string of baking, steaming, humid, awful days arrived (and, despite being in the northeast, in our micro region, more than one visitor from Brazil has complained about the heat when it gets like that...) they hit me harder than I expected.

The other thing I wasn't prepared for, and this is something I urge you all to keep in mind: if you begin to suffer too much from heat and dehydration, your judgment suffers. You decide you're too tired to get up and get a drink when that's exactly what you need. Yes, it is stupid, and I feel like a fool admitting this, but you should all be aware of this. Once you start to get really sick, you aren't in a good position to take decent care of yourself.

Of course, the end result of all this, along with nights so hot and humid I couldn't get to sleep for hours (or, sometimes, at all) was a nasty case of heat exhaustion. Which doesn't sound like much. In my case, I was too hot and weary to eat much, I didn't drink enough, I didn't get enough sleep, and I got sick from the heat. And, when it was all over, I was more exhausted than I've ever been in my life.

I haven't even been keeping up with my blog reading. When I'm too exhausted to read, you know I'm worn out! When I was in second grade, I had pneumonia, and during the whole thing, I was going through library books so quickly I drove my parents nuts. But this time, I was too exhausted to read. Foolishly, when I started to get better, I tried to begin catching up on the things I needed to do right away.

Another mistake, although I did catch that one quickly. I've been taking it easy this past week, finally dipping my toes into reading a bit (I haven't got back to my blog reading yet - my computer throws off enough heat that the night in winter that the furnace quit, I sat up surfing and was nicely warm all night...). I still don't have a lot of stamina, but walking in the woods when the weather was cooler, sleeping late, and being lazy whenever I felt I needed it have done wonders for me.

I do hope to post more here, once I'm a bit more caught up on all the things I need to do. Today was another steaming scorcher, but I was forewarned, and consumed enough water, coconut water, root beer, and ice cream to keep me pretty cooled down and hydrated. That, and my trusty battery powered fan and a comfortable chair under the trees got me through it okay, so I really am doing better. I'm sorry I worried any of you.

In the meantime, please spare a thought for the people of Greece who are, quite literally, going through hell right now. I wanted to explain my long absence, but, next to what they're enduring, I've been safe and happy. Whatever explanation you prefer, it is pretty hard to avoid the idea that the Earth's climate is getting hotter than we are used to.