Something I Used To Never Think About

I had a day this week that reminded me of my mortality. The temperature was around 102, the humidity was a little high, and I found the heat was more than oppressive.

I was laying out a long ditch to drain a project. It wasn't hard work, but required a lot of walking. As I worked, I walked slowly, didn't hurry and was methodical in preventing any extra steps.

After I reached about 600 feet from my truck, I realized I needed some water, and the need to stop for a few minutes to sit in the air conditioning.

The distance was farther than I anticipated, and I realized the energy was gone. I'd been hot enough before to know heat exhaustion was setting in, and I needed to do something quickly.

Another employee was checking grade for an excavator one hundred feet away. They were waiting for the off-road dump truck to return for a load of dirt, so the machine was idle.

I motioned for him to go for my truck and bring it closer. He walked away, while I slowly walked to the machine and crouched under the counterweight for some shade.

As I waited for a few minutes, I thought of my brother, and wondered what through his mind during his last moments before heat finally killed him. I knew his angst. I knew his feeling of helplessness, and I knew he went from conscious thought to unconsciousness in seconds. Mostly, I wondered if he was aware of what was happening. There are only short moments between feeling able and the intense exhaustion, where walking becomes a challenge, and the dizziness appears.

Keeping my truck close, and retreating to the ac for a few minutes, when needed, I finished my task. The heat cramps started about thirty minutes later. Supplements helped keep the back cramps from doubling me over, but one in my thigh caused soreness for a few days.

Age brought a feebleness, and vulnerability I wasn't expecting. I don't like it, but I'll accept; and adapt. Where I could once work for long days, weeks at a time, in the intense heat, without any concerns, I now must be very careful, and learn my new limitations.

Picking Up The Garbage

I've never understood how people that will demand immediate action, when their garbage isn't removed from the curb, will idly sit and let the feckless Federal government waste so much money without getting anything done.

Maybe it's the size of the tasks, but still, if the trash isn't removed, the garbage continues to pile up at the curb.

Increasing Heat

Rain is not on the horizon, the temperature is supposed to reach the upper nineties to low hundreds, and the event is supposed to last to the middle of the week, at least.

The summer of 2011 was similar, and we had one worse in the late nineties, when afternoon temperatures reached 108. That was a brutal summer, and our work hours were 6:00 am to 2:30 pm. With temperatures over 100 by noon, it was dangerous to work in the brutal heat. Even those most accustomed to the work were beat by the early afternoon and close to dehydration.

So, we have another summer, where everything is the same, and everything is different. Like those before, it will end and Autumn will arrive.

I'm looking forward to the first morning, when the temperature is in the low sixties, and the afternoon high is less than eighty.

Joe Cocker - Summer In The City (From "Across from Midnight Tour" DVD)

The "Loving Spoonful" recorded the popular version. Joe Cocker added his own touch, and it's good.

Maybe a Good Class Action Suit

I've been reading how Planned Parenthood is harvesting fetal tissue, after the mothers sign releases to allow the process for "medical research". I wonder if there's an opportunity for a shrewd attorney to make billions by suing the organization for coercion by fraud, since the complete abortion procedure, dissection of the fetuses, and final disposition of the parts wasn't completely described by the abortionists? I think a good attorney would have a slam-dunk, if he can get enough women to join the suit.