38°

It was thirty-eight degrees yesterday! My God what Hell is this? I’m dreading another day of extreme heat today.

It was too hot to do anything yesterday, except water the plants once the sun was off the gardens and to read and loaf. I spent all day either in front of, or beneath, a fan. It’s truly nasty and poor Sheba is really feeling it. I feel human after 6:30 at night when the sun goes behind the trees. 

In front of a fan I feel comfortable. However, when I get up for water, I enter the still, humid air and it’s shocking how much warmer it is. I have ceiling fans in my bedroom, the living room, dining room and guest rooms. I have all the doors and windows open that are screened. I fill the pets’ water bowl several times a day with cool fresh water.

They say this is our future. It takes a lot of work, every day, to maintain a garden in this weather. I cannot leave, or everything will die. I live right on the edge of the forest and there are many large Fir trees in my plot. Their roots are broad and narrow, not even a foot thick. Their roots are networked and reach through my yard, sucking up all the water it can. My gardens are on top of the root network.

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Beth sent me an article about people withdrawing from long-time ‘addiction’ to Diet Coke. (Friends know I drank it all day for twenty-five years.) The article describes people battling craving it when they quit, having horrid headaches and really struggling. I had no such issues. I stopped with no difficulty whatsoever. But I will often have a glass—just one every day or so. 

It was the same with cigarettes and marijuana for me. I seem to be able to quit long-time habits easily. Why would this be, I wonder. I reckon it’s easy if you really truly want to quit, but it’s hard if you still ‘want’ whatever you are quitting.

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Sheba is really doing well and on Sunday she receives her last daily dose of prednisone. After Sunday, she gets her drug on every second day instead of every day and I expect she’ll be even better. Right now, her personality is back but she’s still rather lethargic. I hope that changes next week.

I’m off to meet my friends for our communal dog walk, then I’m coming home to pick up all the Fir cones that are on the (dead) lawn and driveway, plus I’ll clean up the courtyard and do some planting of new ground cover I got before it gets too hot.