Oppressive Heat Report
June 8th, 2008 by joe
Man was it hot in Sterling today.
I’m no stranger to heat at all, having lived in southwest Florida for ten years in an era when I could not always afford a vehicle with air conditioning. Yes, I am that old and yes I was that poor in my 20s. Summers in Florida driving with your windows open is manly business, and there was more than one summer when my work was construction and my drive home was in a non-air conditioned car.
But today was a complete ass-kicker, unlike any I’ve experienced in recent memory. I had to do the lawn, which is about a 2.5 hour exercise with the edging and trimming included. Unfortunately, my basic laziness was in full force this morning and I did not manage to break out the equipment until about 11:00 am. The “temperature” was only showing at 94 degrees, and there were numerous areas of shade in the yard, so I thought I could tear through the job with no problems. But the humidity and “heat index” were at another level altogether.
So as much as I like to tell people that 47 is not really so old thanks to modern science and I still get carded in 7-11 by cashiers from the other side of the world, I must admit that mowing the lawn on days like today is no country for 47-year old men.
Within roughly 15 minutes of embarking onto the front lawn (do that first, so if you die in the process at least the neighborhood standards will be maintained) my head started to burn and I had to breathe a LOT. So I mowed a stretch, then went inside for a cold drink and a chance to let the breathing slow down.
By the time I got to the back yard, which was around noon, the overall sensation could best be described as stinging from the inside out. Luckily, portions of the yard were still shaded, so I could strategize by doing a circuit in the sun and circuit in the shade, then the occasional break in the house for a cool down. The internal temperature continued to build, though, because during my circuits in the sunny portions, when I had to stop and empty the catcher for the obligatory stop in the sun, the heat-and-sweating sensation got so intense there were brief periods of chills. This, I would tend to think, is not a good thing.
Eventually, I managed to get the front and back yards both done, and by the end my ears felt like they were chimneys, almost burning. Needless to say, I spent some time in the house cooling down before moving one step further.
I also did a number of errands throughout the day, and the overriding characteristic was brief moments in the sun (or hopping into the car) were like a shot to the head.
Now it is 1:00 am, and I still have the burning sensation in my ears. It’s the heat combined with humidity. This has been one hot damn day in Sterling.
Tomorrow is supposed to hit 98 degrees, and we will be at the Steve Winwood - Tom Petty concert. I will try to send some Twitter updates from the concert on how that is going and how everyone is surviving the heat.
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 12:23 am and is filed under Personal Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 8th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Joe
Two things:
(1) You have waaaay to much grass - for what? You fertilize it to make it grow, and when it grows you have to cut it. Gasoline at $4+/gallon and you walk around burning the stuff for 2 1/2 hrs! - Hint: buy a townhouse.
(1) Now do you understand why folks hire day laborers?
They seem to be able to work like the dickens in all kinds of weather.
(If I were Bill Clinton I’d probably say “I feel your pain”.
June 8th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Hey, Joe - Just noticed that your blog is on Standard Time!
June 8th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Lovisa, we tried the TH lifestyle for a number of years. It has its advantages, to be sure. But when Joe developed allergies to the cats, we had to move somewhere where they could have their own space. (True story.)
June 8th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Want to know what first came to mind (not meaning to be mean but it WAS the first thing I thought)
- Why do you have cats if Joe is allergic to them? And a 2 1/2 hr cutting-time-grassy area for the cats to have “their own space”!
Gee, what kind of cats do you have?
June 8th, 2008 at 9:31 am
He developed the allergies just a few years ago, and we’ve had the cats for many years. He got so bad within a six-month period, he had to move out of the TH and into a motel while we sold it.
At the time we moved, we had three cats … two long-hair “mutts” and a Siamese. The Siamese ran away about three months after we moved, which was so, so sad, and one of the long-hairs died a few months ago (she was 14), so we are down to one long-hair. And she’s the mean one, too. Sigh.
But, we do love our new house (lawn care woes and boarding-house neighbors aside).
June 8th, 2008 at 9:34 am
BTW, our lot is only .25 acres. Joe is a meticulous mower/edger/trimmer.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Suck it up , Joe. I’ve built two decks for customers while you were bitchin’ bout the lawn.
June 8th, 2008 at 11:21 am
See Joe, those western Loudoun people are pretty tough characters!
June 8th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Jeez I guess living here in the posh end of Loudoun really has softened me up. I tried scraping paint on our garage doors and that lasted all of three minutes.
Lovisa, even with the .25 we probably could benefit from a little more strategic landscaping. I am thinking of more pebble covered areas and maybe ground cover plants of some type.
After the weather cools down of course.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
What a baby - I coached three soccer games, did a eight hour outdoor catering event, and live in a house w/out air conditioning. Of course according to the NOVA Town calculation of middle age I am more like a very young adult, that must help.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Yes Joe, this is Tampa-St. Pete hot. Glad I lived on the east coast of FL.
You will enjoy the concert, we saw Steve Winwood some time back and it was a great show. He played a good mix of his solo music and the classics, including a good bit of Traffic.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I think maybe the fact of the exhaust blowing out the back of the mower into my face and that I did not wear a hat for some reason (normally I don’t go anywhere without a ball cap on) might have exacerbated the situation. Maybe some issues with regard to air flow in our neighborhood. Maybe the level of exertion. Normally I can handle a lot of time in the heat.
Maybe my unbelieveably youthful appearance really does mask a prematurely old man. It would explain the grumpiness …
June 8th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Joe - “issues with regard to air flow…”
Too much hot air, maybe?
Oh, and you know, when the hair thins out on top, you really should wear a lid on sunny days!
June 8th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Hey Joe, good to hear from you
June 8th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
10 footer
Been doing a deck all day myself a quick stop for dinner and back at it until 0 dark thirty.
It is pretty brutal, I have never drank this much water in my life. This was a bad day to be on the end of a digging bar.
June 9th, 2008 at 6:31 am
LauraV — perhaps being Mexican, you’re better acclimated to the heat than we WASPs are.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:29 am
Joe,
You’re old and need to slow down! DUH! Take a clue from me. I didn’t know you were mowing the yard because I was inside (air conditioned) painting all day and watching the race at breaks. For a nominal fee (or just for the asking) I can teach you some of these neat tricks…youngster!
June 9th, 2008 at 9:18 am
If Laura is Mexican I’m Pancho Villa. If I remember correctly she’s Irish with some Native American genes - she married a guy from El Salvador thus her tie-in to Latino causes. In reality she’s probably closer to a WASP than I am, blood wise.
June 9th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Joe, You may not have been properly hydrated to begin with, this makes a huge difference. We coached Flag Football Championships this weekend, 1 game Saturday and 2 Sunday and we had the kids hydrating the night before. The kids faired well and the parents and grandparents on the side lines all survived.
Brag alert: I am happy to report that we won the Championship for the 3rd season in a row (in our age group), despite the heat.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Actually, I am French and German on my Dad’s side and Apache and Mexican on my Mother’s side(as a matter of fact my grandfather was an illegal immigrant). My husband is from El Salvador.
I am very involved in immigrant issues, not so much in “Latino” causes. I don’t even use that word moron.
Joe, your age seems to show by your memory, or lack thereof, and not so much by your poor resistance to heat, as Cathymac points out might have been caused by dehydration.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Jack - your idiocy astounds me - pysch! Nothing you say suprises me. I think LI summed it up better:
“See Joe, those western Loudoun people are pretty tough characters!”
No matter what my ancestry is, I am Loudoun County born and raised, and that’s Western Loudoun to be sure.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I imagine Joe has more important things to commit to memory than the number of illegal aliens in Laura’s family tree..
June 9th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Spent Saturday water-rafting. Beats mowing the lawn, painting, building a deck etc. Got home, mowed the lawn. Drank water like a fish before and after the mowing. Guess sitting in a raft still dehydrates you.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Just one, Anastacio Moreno. I was too young to remember him but I here funny stories of him and my Rock Island, Illinois grandmother living with us at the same time. Apparently my grandmother was pretty freaked out - My aunt had to take my garndfather in.
June 9th, 2008 at 10:20 am
I water-rafting anything like water boarding, by any chance?
June 9th, 2008 at 10:58 am
Man, LauraV, can’t take a little joke?
June 9th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Laurie,
“No matter what my ancestry is, I am Loudoun County born and raised, and that’s Western Loudoun to be sure.”
I don’t care about your ancestry but I am concerned about the rest. Western residents are mostly inbred from what I understand.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Funny, she seems Irish to me because of the feistiness, guess it’s that German blood.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Considering the general sense of humor here is comperable to say, a telephone book (with the exception of Joe B who can admittedly be hysterically funny), I have to clarify with ACTivist. Is that one supposed to be a joke?
June 9th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Laurie,
It’s an East/West thing. It was also meant to hit someone else. You were just a minor player. To answer your question-yes. If it seems offensive to you, might I suggest you keep your “western” ties quiet. Do you know what is on the otherside of western Loudoun (other than more sheep, of course)?
June 9th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little f*cked up maybe, but I’m funny HOW, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you LAUGH, I’m here to f*ckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny? What the f*ck is so FUNNY about me?
June 9th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Funny, as in “Ha! Ha!”. It was actually a compliment. That last post is a great case in point.
Of course I still can’t stand you based on your world view, which is f*cked up.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
and since the heat has really gotten to me I’ll add that in addition to being hysterically funny, you are a fantastic writer, seriously.
But I still can’t stand you, and you are pretty f*cked up!
Goodbye ladies and gents (and the rest of the lot)- its been fun.
June 9th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
See ya. You should watch “Goodfellas” during your time away …
June 9th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
…and thanks for the compliment, you know I consider you a worthy adversary as well.
June 10th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Hey there,
I don’t care what our disparate views in politics are. I just want you to be careful, Joe (and all y’all)!
Experiencing a chill like feeling or cold, pale, and clammy skin can be a sign of heat exhaustion.
Y’all keep hydrated,out of the sun and stay well.
Who would I argue with otherwise?
June 10th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I think you and Cathy are right, it was about lack of hydration. Lesson learned.