Beat By Heat And Sliced By Ice

We had our warmest day of the year so far today. I heard them say that on the local news in a teaser before they went to commercial asking, How warm did it get?. I had just got back to our room from my evening KP with my face still 'glowing' with the heat and steam rising off the dishwater. I already had the remote in my hand to turn off the TV which I'd left on when called to dinner. I clicked it off without hesitation. I did not need to sit through a three or four minute commercial in order to have a number confirm the obvious. It was warm today. I doubt it was a record setter for this time of year. The remarkable thing is that we have gotten to the end of May before we had a day warm enough to remark about the warmth.

Merlin has his own remarks about it. I wish my camera had flash so I could have got a shot of him splayed out on the bed on his back to bare his belly fur to the fan.

I was planning to get busy working on my post for this evening but the heat was enervating me and I'd bruised a finger on the ice while making my iced coffee before I returned to the room. Or bruised was what I thought until that finger slipped on the remote as I picked it up. A closer look revealed a slice about the size and shape of a well manicured thumbnail across the crease on the underside of the ring finger on my right hand. I didn't know an ice cube could slice like a knife or a cat's claw.

After my mother-in-law went to bed, I moved out of our room with the laptop so the light could be off for my husband. It was some better in the living room by then. But after a half hour or so, I decided it would be even better on the porch. So for the first time since early October I moved out to the porch with my laptop. The porch light is on a motion sensor and there is no always-on setting. It is a very bright light. When it is on, I have difficulty seeing what is on the screen. When it is off, I can't see the keyboard at all. I have to sit very still not to trigger it on. But it isn't entirely up to me. Cars driving by trigger it too.

It took me nearly an hour to get acclimatized to the new environment. As, I've demonstrated here often, I don't do change well. I was all nerved up and every little sound startled me. Soon they were just distracting me. Now I think I'm almost relaxed. But it has been awhile since I heard any footsteps or voices. The only traffic noise now is coming from outside the trailer park. Mostly the sound of the big trucks on I5 a quarter mile to the east. The crickets are more shrill than musical. They are just about the loudest sound now that a baby crying several doors down has stopped. Their 'song' reminds me of a Christmas song medley by the chipmunks. A fountain in the yard across the street sounds more like a faucet or garden hose was left running over some gravel than like the brook or waterfall it was probably marketed as.

I can finally say that I am no longer too warm. There is a cool breeze picking up that has put goosebumps on my arms several times. It won't be long before it will start to feel downright chilly out here. Just when I was starting to get comfortable. Oh, well. I need to move indoors where I can see both the keyboard and the screen so I can spellcheck this before publishing.

I confess, I let it get to me today. I woke stiff and sore from a long walk with Sweetie and my husband yesterday. I was going to post about it today but I haven't gotten the pics off the camera yet. The first thing I did after getting my coffee was to finish watching Heroes episode sixteen which I'd had to pause when I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. There was only about fifteen minutes left in it so I allowed myself to start another one. At that time I still intended to get to work after that. But I gave in to the greed for the next one. And the next one. And the next. Until there weren't anymore.

I hope I can adjust to the heat before too long. I can't continue to coddle myself like I did today. It is only going to get worse. I doubt it topped ninety today and the mid nineties is where we can expect it to park for most of the summer. It will hit triple digits at least a few times in August.