Heat Wave

 

The back deck of Casa Tipton-Kelly during this heat wave

Thank God for air conditioning!

Can you imagine living in Europe, where they don't believe in air conditioning? I would be one of those old folk fatalities that you read about who died from heat exhaustion if I lived in Europe.

This morning I made an early morning run to my local supermarket before the heat and Fourth of July tourist onslaught began. The traffic and heat were fine when I left at 6:45 AM. Not so much when I return ed at 7:30 AM. I sat a good ten minutes in my car waiting for a break from the south bound traffic coming from the north on Route One.  Casa Tipton-Kelly is located on the other side of Route One. Always a challenge getting home in the summertime from the summertime hordes.

The rest of the day I will stay inside here at my oasis from the heat, chaos and turmoil of the outside world. 

Tomorrow I'm having company. Old friends who rented a beach house to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary with their extended family. Checkin isn't until later in the afternoon and they need a place to stay out of the heat if they come down earlier. That place would be right here at Casa Tipton-Kelly. Originally they were going to stay overnight (they are always welcome) but decided not to this time. We will also go out to lunch. I suggested one of my favorite local Mexican restaurants. 

My Canadian husband at that favorite local Mexican restaurant in Milton

I could use a frozen margarita in this steam bath that is southern Delaware.

Heat Wave!

 

Sweating already!

I can't take this heat and humidity folks!

I only have to be outside five minutes until my T-shirt is soaked with sweat. Then I have to retreat inside my house and peel off my wet T-shirt and the rest of my clothes and take a shower. I'm taking a lot of showers these days folks. 

Today was another Heat Alert from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. 

This is serious stuff folks. 

When I was young (a LONG time ago), I remember those stories about old folk like me dying during heat waves. I can believe it. 

When I was young I knew the summers were hot. We didn't have air conditioning. When we got an electric fan for our bedroom (me and my two brothers, we slept in the same double bed if you can believe it until I was thirteen years old, that's story for a future blog posting), that electric fan was luxury. Our parents got an air conditioner for their bedroom. That was Heaven. The only other air conditioning I knew in my childhood was the Roosevelt movie theater where we kids used to go to the Saturday matinees and watch the newsreel, previews, cartoons, Superman serials and the main feature which more often than not was a Fifties musical staring Doris Day and the likes. Again a story for a future blog. So much history you have Ron!

Back to when I was young and knew the summers were hot and steamy but I don't really remember being those summers being THIS hot. Maybe I just adapted to it. These days I'm adapted to air conditioning. I seriously don't know how I would survive without air conditioning. 

This is one reason I'll never move to Palm Springs unless I'm in a wheel chair and need Pat as a caregiver. Pat's moving to Palm Springs, he's adapted to this heat. Oh I know they say the Palm Springs heat is a "dry heat" but as my dear friend Spo says "It's still hot!"

One day at a time folks, one day at a time.

Stay cool!

Still Sweltering!

The forecast for tomorrow is one hundred degrees. And that's not the heat index temperature, that IS the temperature. 

The humidity now is 53 percent.  Feels like 90 percent. 

I'm housebound. I venture out several times a day to replenish the water in our bird baths which the birds appreciate. They'e hot too.  

This is the first weekend that I don't have to work, that's a relief.  Maybe I can get back on my regular rhythm of working two days a week (Mondays and Thursdays) now after months of filling in for co-workers for various reasons. 

This morning I forced myself to buy some paint.  I have to paint the baseboards in our basement media room. I should have done that BEFORE the run was laid. What can I say?  I wasn't thinking.  

I hate to paint. There is a lot of touch up painting that has to be done around here. I'm trying to talk myself into painting our main entrance door, which isn't our front door. Who uses their front door to go into their house anyway?  Not us. In fact we don't use our living room and dining room. We don't even use our little dinette area off the kitchen.  I eat at the counter and Bill eats in his Archie Bunker Chair.  

The "Beat the Peak" is from 4 PM to 7 PM today. It's 7 PM now. Time to bake that Chicken Parmesan I've been looking forward to all day.

Stay cool and have a great Saturday evening!

Thoughts During a Heat Wave

Hi folks! Yes, I'm apologizing again for not posting more frequently. I'm trying, I really am. 

Today, with the continuing heat wave, I'm forced to stay inside lest I pass out from heat exhaustion. Yesterday I tried to do a little yard work but I was soon drenched in my own sweat and had to come inside our wonderfully air conditioned manse to recover.  Yesterday was a three shower day. Once when I got up. The second time after my abbreviated yard work.  Then before I went to work at the hotel last night. 

You know it's true what they say about senior citizens being in more danger during these heat waves. When I was a youngster (oh how LONG ago was that?), I didn't give the heat much thought.  We just went about our play during the lazy, hazy summer days. But these days, I only have to be outside a few minutes and I get woozy.  Well, I am seventy-five years old and no longer the carefree ten year old whose summers went by too fast.

The "thoughts" going through my aged mind these days is my impending Final Exit. I've been thinking a lot about friends, former co-workers and relatives who have passed on. Every now and then a pang of sadness hits me when I realize I can't call them and complain about my latest perceived slight. Thank goodness I have Pat and Bill who I can bend their ears with my petty complaints. However, Bill is very hard of hearing so I suspect he's just humoring me while I rattle on. 

Why these thoughts of my impending Final Exit is that these days I am unsteady on my feet as my longtime friend Larry pointed out to me recently after viewing a video of me refreshing my bird baths. Yes, I am unsteady on my feet. I worry constantly a lot about falling and breaking something. Although I don't see how I can do much worse than tearing my quadriceps muscles like I did a few years ago 

Another sign of my deterioration is how tired I get. I absolutely need an afternoon nap or else I wind down like an old clock. I have to ration my wake time to be productive.  

When I'm tired I have double vision. I brought this situation up with my eye doctor a few weeks ago and he affirmed that it was happening because my eye muscle was "tired."  Another sign of my aging body.

And then there is my arthritis. My whole body, especially my lower back, is so stiff when I wake up in the morning. You should see me hobbling my way to the bathroom. On second though, maybe you don't want to see that sad sight. 

And now for the past few days I've been getting shooting pains up the left side of my head. Like mini lightening bolts.  Is this a precursor of a stroke. God I hope not.  

I did a some Internet research last night during a slow period at the hotel and found that those pains were probably the result of stress and anxiety. That makes sense because the few weeks I have been under a lot of stress and anxiety.  Bill and I had a spat a few days ago over him turning off the automatic sprinkler system and forgetting to turn it back on thus drying out all my plants. 

And that's another thing, my short term memory. I'm forgetting more and more.  Is this the beginning of my dementia? Would I know if I can't remember? I've often wondered what goes through the heads of people with dementia? 

Well, I've gabbled on enough today. 

Please stay cool and hydrated during this heat wave. I don't want to lose any of you. I need you!

The Heat Is Back!

Well, that was nice.  We had a few days' reprieve of the heat and humidity.  But that is over now.

I got up this morning and rounded the corner to the kitchen and saw my wall of windows steamed up.  The humidity has returned!

When I was young I don't remember being bothered this much by the heat and humidity of summer.  With temperatures reaching 97 degrees today, I have difficulty breathing.  All those warnings about old people staying in during heat wave like this, I'm there folks at 74 years of age.

So how is summer going for me so far?  Great!  The only obligations I have are two doctors' appointments next month.  One appointment is with my dermatologist and the other a followup for my colonoscopy.  Then Bill and I have to get our drivers' license renewed next month. 

At the end of the month I take my annual trip to Toronto to visit my pal Pat.  

I am very much looking forward to both the Republican and Democratic conventions.  I started to follow the conventions back in 1956!  I was hooked then when I watched the floor fight at the Democratic convention when Adlai Stevenson asked the delegate to pick his vice presidential candidate.  A young, unknown Massachusetts senator almost won the Democratic vice presidential nod.  His name was John F. Kennedy.

A young John F. Kennedy with Hubert Humphrey t the 1956 Democratic Convention - the first convention I watched on TV

A Tennessee senator, Estes Kefauver eventually won after a vigorous and exciting floor fight. 

Kefauver with former president Harry Truman and Adlai Stevenson at the 1956 Democratic Convention

 Except for the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, there hasn't been much excitement at either conventions.  They both have been basically infomercials for the already selected candidate.  But this year with the Fraudster in Chief; Donald J. Trump, about to pull the biggest con job in the history of this country, the Republican Convention should be quite a show.

See, it's his real hair!

 I have to admit I have enjoyed The Donald Show but him as president?  I don't think so.  Of course Hillary Clinton doesn't inspire much excitement either and the prospect of Bill Clinton

Clinton smoking THAT cigar!

sleazing around the White House again causes me to cringe, at least she will appoint progressive members to the Supreme Court.  I just can't imagine who Trump would appoint.  But here I go on a political rant which I have tried mightily to refrain from in this blog but I am looking forward to the shows at both conventions.  I just saw a scroll on the TV that Trump's family is going to be on the speaking list at the convention.  Oh how will I ever be able to sleep until the convention?

Okay folks. I'm off to replenish my bird baths now.  Those birds sure do use up the bird baths on hot days like this. 

Stay cool wherever you are!

The Muggies Are Back

It had to happen folks, the "muggies" (hot, humid, muggy weather) is back.  Just the other day I was saying how much I appreciated real spring like weather.  Usually, here on the Delmarva peninsula, surrounded as we are by water, we get one, maybe two days of spring.  This year?  Why I almost lost count of the really nice days.  But that's all history now folks; We're back to August, middle of the summer, draining, humid, hot, muggy weather.  

Yesterday was a Three Shower Day and yet I still ended up the day peeling my clothes off of me as if I had just spent a half hour in a steam bath.  

These are the kinds of days that I don't like doing yard work other than changing the water in my seven bird baths.  I just can't take the heat folks.  

I remember the oft repeated warning when I was young that the old folks should be especially careful of the heat and becoming overheated.  I am there folks.  I am old and I quickly wilt under this oppressive, seemingly, non ending heavy humidity of heat.  Oh to live in a part of the country where, even if it does get hot, it's a "DRY" heat.  I hear that's nothing.

"Too Darn Hot!"

Folks, we've been living under a hot and humid heavy hand of the weather Gods for what seems like weeks now.  Just a short time outside the air conditioned walls of our comfy love nest results in sweat drenched T-shirts and beaded brow.  It is too damn darn hot!

This morning I threw caution to the wind (actually there was no wind so I guess I threw caution to the heavy humid air) and planted a crepe myrtle tree to take the place of our dear, departed bag worm infested arborvitae tree.  I thought if I got our early enough this morning I could avoid ending up like a sweat drenched pig.  Do pigs sweat?  A sweat drenched human being then.  And I did.

Not much going on around Casa Tipton-Kelly during this heat oppression. The heat and humidity has a way of sucking all the energy out of these two old married (recently) men.  

A cold front is supposed to arrive later this afternoon.  It's 4:24 pm now and the beat heat continues.

I actually have a few good subjects to write about in this blog but I have to "feel the moment" and I'm just not feeling it now, so drained I am.  

I think I'll update my Find a Grave.com account and post some more photos and memorials.  Later on I'll watch one of my Netflix rentals.  No doctor's appointments planned for this week (thank God).  Actually, nothing in the offing this week except going to work on Wednesday and Thursday. Of course I could tackle my "Memory Room" downstairs and clean out some of my memorabilia that I've accumulated over the past seventy some years.  Uh huh, sure.  NOT.IN.THE.MOOD.

Here's a little video Bill took of me transplanting our newest addition to our family of plants around Casa Tipton-Kelly.  Fascinating video.  It's on You Tube folks.  Let's see if it goes viral.


I'll be back tomorrow.  I'm mulling over in my mind writing about my First Crush in high school. I got some pictures of that First Crush but I can't find that One Photo.  So frustrating. When I'm looking for photos like this I often wonder what's going to happen to my treasure trove of photos when I'm gone.  I know I shouldn't waste my time worrying about such a thing because it won't matter once I'm gone but I can't help but think that the rich history of my life will be lost and gone forever once I'm out of the picture.  

Hotsie Totsie

Rehoboth Beach Summer 2013

"Hotsie Totsie" - no, that's not me nor is it some eye candy that I happen to see during my comings and goings during the day.  "Hotsie Totsie" is how Bill refer to the weather when it is unbearably hot as it was and still is today.  

I'm telling you folks, I can't take this heat and humidity.  Our thermometer reached triple digits (100 degrees) today.  Temperatures like this just drain me.  If I'm out in it for more than 15 minutes I get dizzy.  I'm soaked with sweat. 

By the way, if any of you are wondering "What in the world is that banner Ron put on his blog?"  Well folks, look closer.  Look to the far right and you will see a young man sitting in a chair with a Sousaphone (no, it's not a tuba) wrapped around him.  That is yours truly in 1957 during a Downingtown High School concert band concert.  I was 15 years old at that time.  Hotsie Totsie.

Me - 1958

Yes, I was also in the marching band.  In fact, the three years I was in marching band were the some of the best three years of my life.  Not only did I get to go to all the football games (back when I was a big fan of football) but I formed a close friendship with Bill B., who was the bass drum player; a friend that I have until this day.

Me, far left on the back and my friend Bill B. far right with the bass drum - 1958

Not only did I make a good friend with Bill B., being a member of the marching band (and concert band) was wonderful for me because I was included.  Unlike many others who I hear don't go to their class reunions because they say they hated high school, that wasn't my experience.  I loved high school.  I was included.  How ironic that today I feel excluded from much of the local gay community.  But I won't go there again today.  I've done that in previous posts and I feel I'm belaboring a situation that will never change.  Too bad but that's the way it is.  

That's me in the plaid shirt - 1956 - yes, the girls liked me.  My friend Ruth Hall (the blonde to my left) thoughtfully placed this collage in her yearbook partly to kid me because I didn't have any girlfriends - do you think she knew?

It's not that I don't reach out. I do.  Just recently Bill and I met another couple at the Georgetown courthouse on July 1st when we applied for our marriage license.  I feel with hit it off right away with this other couple.  They were a bit younger than us but not kids.  After that day I sent Facebook friend requests.  One was accepted.  I sent messages invited them for dinner.  Heard nothing.  Silence.  Same thing I heard from the local gay organization when Bill and I got married.  My local state representative stopped by our house personally to wish us well.  And yet I didn't even receive one "like" from the folks at the local gay organization.  I heard later from one of the board members, he said they were "busy."  Uh...okay.  But here I am going of on another tangent.  Yes, it's hurtful.  I try not to let it bother me but their silence does. So rude, so selfish, so insular, so uncaring.  

As regular readers of this blog know, I don't always know where I'm going when I start a blog posting.  This one really veered off the Heat Wave course didn't it?  Well, the "Hotsie Totsie" metaphor should tie it all together don't you think? 

I don't mean to say I haven't made friends since we've moved to the Rehoboth Beach area seven years ago.  We have and I appreciate those friendships, I do.  All fine folks and they know who they are.  Thank you friends.

And this brings me back to why I blog.  I like to write and I like to make friends.  I like people.  That's one reason I choose a job as a hotel front desk agent.  I get to meet a lot of people, nice people and get paid at the same time.  But as I said before, I found since moving to Delaware, I didn't make many friends in the local gay community for whatever reason.  Maybe it was me but hey, I am what I am.  I don't change myself to suit someone else.  That's not me.  So I thought to myself, "How about all those folks outside my little bubble here in Gayberry, DE?"  So I've been blogging since 2007 and I have made a LOT of friends in the blogosphere.  THANKS!  A LOT of really nice folks who accept me just as I am just as I accept them just as they are.

Top photo, last row,  6th from left - tallest guy with the mop of hair - oh did I ever have a lot of hair back in 1957

So what was I talking about?  Oh, "Hotsie Totsie". Is it hot where you are?

Downingtown High School Class of 1959 - 1957

By the way, how bad is this?  I still remember the names of everyone in this photo of our sophomore class.

Downingtown High School Class of 1959 - Reunion 2012 (I'm in the back again fifth from left with the tree growing out of my head) - no crinoline skirts in this photo - the woman in the blue sitting second from the right is the same girl in the 1957 picture sixth from the right) - the woman in the black vest standing in the middle is the same as the girl in the 1957 photo fifth from the left front row with the VEST!  Mary Jane, you haven't changed your style!

Happily Married

The Happy Couple (look for this photo on next year's Christmas card)

So this is what its like to be happily married?  I love it!  Bill is pretty happy too.

I didn't think too much about how we would feel after the big buildup (49 years after all) and the last two months (testifying before the Delaware state house in support of marriage equality) but I was sort of expecting a slight letdown at least.  Didn't happen.  We're still high on happiness!

Bill and me at The Circle in Georgetown, DE on our wedding day

This morning I was talking to a dear blogger friend on FaceTime and he asked me if I felt different (I think that's what he asked me).  The answer is "Yes, I do feel different.  I feel complete.  Its hard to describe but I feel just right.  Maybe this is how it feels not to be marginalized or discounted as a human being or a citizen of this country just because of who I love.  I'm here to tell you this feels damn good.

So what have we done since the Big Day?  Well, as you know life does go on.  We've been suffering through a high humidity heat wave here in southern Delaware for the past week or so.  The heat and humidity bears down on us then it rains then the heat and humidity returns.  We just slog our way through it and try not to spend too much time outside.  If we do, then when we come back into the house we have to peel off our sweat soaked clothes and take a shower.

Yesterday morning we had a near disaster.  Our air conditioning started to run erratically.  OMG!  NOT NOW!  I had visions of calling the local air conditioning repair guys and being told they could get out here until next week.  In the mean time Bill and I would have to hunker down in the basement like survivors of an atomic bomb attack until relief arrived.

Leaving Rehoboth Beach yesterday morning

Yesterday morning I also had to go to downtown Rehoboth to retrieve our wedding pictures from Ann of Old Time Photo (she took our wedding photos which are pictured in this posting because Mark H. wasn't available).  So here we were yesterday, fighting the lava flow that is called Route 1 traffic into Rehoboth on Fourth of July weekend and trying to arrange for a service company to come out and repair our air conditioner.  

Old Time Photos in Rehoboth Beach, DE early yesterday morning

I called my boss at work because his air conditioner recently went out too.  I asked him what company he called.  He told me it was a company called Service Today.  Oh sure, I thought.  But I have a high respect for my boss's recommendations so I called.  Guess what?  When we returned from Rehoboth, which was a NIGHTMARE or DAYMARE (not only was the traffic heavy we had to wait for the drawbridge out of Rehoboth to close!)  the Service Repair truck was in our driveway!

Service Today van waiting for us yesterday morning when we returned from Rehoboth Beach

We got out of our car, very happy that we didn't have to wait the entire day in a sweltering house for a service man to maybe show up or not show up.  I didn't seen the serviceman until I walked around the house to the air conditioner unit.  I introduced myself (didn't tell him that Bill and I were husband and husband).  He found the problem, a bad capacitor.  He fixed it and the charge was very reasonable!  Hey, how about that?  After this blog posting I will go on Angie's List and post a very complimentary review.  

Bill giving instructions (as is his wont)  

So what are we doing this weekend?  Just trying to stay cool folks, and now that is possible thanks to Service Today.  Sometimes things just work out right.  

Wilting!

Bill in his sauna this morning

Oh yeah, we're sweltering under this heat wave like much of the country.  No break for us here on the coastal shores of southern Delaware.   Usually when the rest of the country get slapped with a heat wave, we lucky folks here on the Atlantic coast smugly bask in ocean breezes.  Not this summer folks.  Oh no, we are wilting.


Bill upped the time our backyard irrigation system is on from 25 minutes to an hour.  The birds love it!  You know this hot weather is hard on our critter friends?  I feel so bad when I see at the birds at my planter oval panting, waiting for their turn at one of my three bird baths.  I even put out extra saucers of water that the birds now use to relief from the heat.  I have to change the water five and six times a day.  I love doing this.  This is my volunteer effort.

The days are starting to get shorter.  I noticed it tonight when I took my walk in the Oyster Rocks development behind where we live.  Usually I can walk until 9 o'clock until the moon shines in the sky above.  Tonight that old moon showed up at about 8:40 pm.  Won't be long now until the Purple Martins in our backyard raise the last of their young this season and take off for their long journey to South America to spend the winter.  I'm sort of looking forward to fall and winter.  Not that I don't love summer, I do but I appreciate the change in seasons.  I don't think I would ever be happy living in part of the country where the seasons didn't change.

Tomorrow the temps are forecast to hit 104 degrees.  Bill and I made our Walmart Run early this morning so we don't have to go out tomorrow at all.  The only reason I have to go out tomorrow is to change the bird baths.  By the way, why do the birds always poop in their birdbaths?  Just asking.

Stay cool!

Too Hot To Squat

Unknown young man taking a siesta at Walmart this morning

OMG!  I just read the temperature and it says 102 degrees!  OMG!  No wonder I was feeling faint after planting a few flowers.  My tee shirt was soaked to my skin.  I just took Shower Number Two for the day.

This morning Bill and I took off real early for the Walmart in Rehoboth.  I had a few items to pick up and I didn't fancy fighting the heat and traffic later in the day.  At 7:30 the temps were already in the 90's.  And the humidity, let me tell you I don't know how ANYONE can stand living in Florida during the summer.  I would be knocked out just like this guy was at the entrance to the Walmart this morning.

I'm showered, cooled off and in the house now and this is where I plan to stay the rest of the day.  I don't want to make this a Three Shower Day like Thursday.  Yes folks, I took THREE showers Thursday after my friend Lar came down for his annual birthday celebration. I treat him to lunch and an old timer photo.  Perhaps you saw it, we were pirates this year.  Me with that big goofy hat.  I better stick to cowboys in any future old timer photo shoots.  I can pull that off better with my grizzled old look that I'm stuck with now.  Oh fleeting youth, where have you gone?

I'm not scheduled to go into work until Wednesday.  The operative word here is "scheduled."  Don't even bother calling me Mike (my manager) when my fellow part-timer calls in with her latest emergency.   I say "No" this time.  It's not easy for me to say "No" but sometimes it is necessary when the extra effort is not appreciated and I'm looked upon as a fool.  The worm turns.

Stay cool folks!

Sweltering Heat Wave

I took this photo a few minutes ago - see how I'm "enjoying" this heat? Oh man.

Oh my God.  OMG!  Is it ever hot here in good old Slower Lower Delaware.  This is Miami weather.

Heat index 105 with maximum humidity.  I feel like I'm walking in the bottom of a warm pool with the oven door open.  What is going on here?

As regular readers of this superior blog know, I like to include current photos with my blog postings.  Not for me the generic photos that are the realm of the lazy and still in the closet bloggers.  So it was some challenge this morning to venture out our garage door to look for a suitable subject to convey the heat and humidity of this day at Casa Tipton-Kelly.  NO ONE IS OUTSIDE!  Even the birds are keeping a low profile.  I trudged (and "trudged" is the appropriate description of how I walked to the other end of my back yard) to see if there was any insect activity in my perennial border.  Ah ha!  I captured an engineer bee working on my recently bloomed oregano plants. Oh how the insects love my herb plants.  Bill doesn't like them because they don't display big blooms but the insects thrive on them and that's why I plant herbs (lavender, dill, oregano, sage, thyme) in my perennial border.

So back to my Daily Photo.  I looked around and saw no other suitable subject so I go back to.....ME!  Yep, here is a photo of me a few minutes ago wilting under this heat and humidity. And, if I do say so myself, I don't look too bad for a 70 year old geezer on his way out do I?  It's the lighting folks.  A little trick I learned from Joan Crawford.

So here we go folks.  I worked last night at the hotel.  Sold a lot of rooms.  I am working again tonight.  Then I'm off until next Wednesday.  This working two nights a week suits me very well.  Gets me out of the house, gives Bill a little breathing room, reinforces my self-esteem that I still matter in this world and I get to meet a lot of new cool folks.  You would be surprised at the variety of folks who check in our little boutique hotel here in Lewes, Delaware...the First Town in the First State.  Yep, no one else can say that folks and believe me, I saw it a LOT when checking in guests for the first time at our comfy, cozy hotel in downtown Lewes.

I have a little headache now just from that short sojourn outside to take a few photos.  I can't take this heat folks.  I can't breath.  Now I see why they always warn the old folks to stay inside during heat waves like we're having now.

That's about it for now.  I'm on this computer this morning staying cool until lunch time, then a nappy nap before I go to work this afternoon.  And as someone from my past often says when he ends his posting:  "and so it goes".  Or was that Walter Cronkite?

The Endless Heat Wave

Fuchsia Clematis

Like most of the rest of the country, we've been suffering from a prolonged heat wave around here.  Some of my favorite plants are giving up, no matter how much we water them.  In front of the house where we have our impatiens, they are wilting under the heat.  The front of the house is usually the ideal place for impatiens because they get the morning sun.  This summer the morning sun is about 88 to 90 degrees.  The poor impatiens just can't take that sustained heat.

Even my clematis, which usually do well all summer are giving up.  The picture on this blog was taken about a month ago.  This poor clematis is long gone, burned up under the cruel rays of the sun.

Last year we had an extended heart wave.  Bill loves the impatiens, because they bloom all summer up until the first frost.  I don't think they're going to make it through August this year.

In the back yard I put three bird baths under the newly planted river birch trees.  The birds flock to it.  This heat is hard on them too.  As soon as I fill the bird baths and even before I get back into the house they are in the bird baths splashing around, drinking, and cooling off.  I'm filling those bird baths about eight or ten times a day.  Bill thinks I'm crazy.  No, I'm just helping my feathered friends.  I might come back someday as a bird.  I would appreciate someone helping me out.

It is so hot around here that even the mosquitoes have disappeared.  I'm not taking my daily walk on the boardwalk.  In fact, I'm not doing too much of anything outside.  I haven't weed whacked in about two weeks.  I don't care.  I'm letting the backyard go au natural.

The challenge for tomorrow, Bill and I are going to go down to the Delaware DMV to get our driver's licenses renewed.  Even the DMV now has Security Theater because of 9/11.  Now we have to take our birth certificate, Social Security Card, two forms of mail to verify our address, and submit to a whole body scanner.  I was just kidding about that last part but I wouldn't be surprised if they groped us too when we went in.  The good thing is once we jump through these hoops our licenses are good for five years.  That should take both of us out to the End.

Brutal

Spidey awaits

I had just sat down at my computer a few minutes ago when Bill called me:  "Ron, come here quick!  Here's a picture you want to take!  There is a HUGE spider right next to the garage door."  


At first I was annoyed by the interruption because I had planned to veg out this morning and upload some of my hundred or so gravestone pictures that I took earlier this week to my Find A Grave account.  I have no plans to go out today at all because of the brutal, oppressive heat and humidity.  The only venture I considered was going out tonight for the Friday Night Dine Out Group gathering at the Texas Bar and Grill on Long Neck Road.  That confab of old, over the hill, past their prime time, has-been, retired gay guys takes place at 7 pm when, hopefully, the temperatures are less brutal.

So, in order not to upset Bill, I decide to go out and see what's got him excited.  On the way out I grab my new $765 Canon EOS 550D Rebel T2i digital SLR camera (is that a mouthful or what?) to record this momentous opportunity to catch a creature of nature going about their business of survival. I walk out our garage and into a wall of suffocating heat and humidity and sure enough,there is a spider just like the one I took a video of yesterday weaving her murderous web right outside our garage door!   What better time to test the closeup aspect of my new expensive Canon SLR camera than now?

As the stifling, beath catching heat and humidity of the day settle down around my head and shoulders I take the lens protector off of my too expensive SLR camera and set it for closeup.  Thus the picture you see posted on this blog.

This spider is a perfect metaphor for today and this past week of brutal heat and humidity.  This weather is a killer and so is this spider. Danger!

I'll keep an eye on Spidey and if she snares a victim you can be sure I'll post it here tomorrow.  You know me, I love to share.

Stay cool and watch out for those head level spider webs, you may be the next victim!

Last Blast of Summer

Brandywine, Struble Trail, Downingtown, PA January 2005

The skies are gray.

There is a chill in the air.

There is a dusting of light snow on the cold earth.

It is January, 2005 on the Struble Bike and Walk Trail in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

Think cool thoughts on this hot and humid late summer day in September in Sussex County, Delaware.

At 97 degrees today, new heat/humidity index records were set in Georgetown, Delaware.  

Today is the Last Blast of Summer 2010.

I just got off a three day work stint from the hotel.  

It was good for me to go right to work after I returned from my Mother's funeral services this past Monday in Pennsylvania.  The weather on the day of her services could not have been better.  The skies were clear, the temperature was mild and the humidity was low.  Mom would have liked that.

How am I doing?  Just fine.  Better than I thought.  In many ways I feel relieved that Mom's suffering is finally at an end.

The only negative from last week was my mistake in leaving out the names of my Mother's two sisters from the obituary notice that was placed in the local newspaper.  I don't know what I was thinking by forgetting them.  

I remembered to place the name of her one full sister Jeanette who now resides in Simpson Meadows Nursing Home.  Ironically, Simpson Meadows is right across the street from the James J. Terry Funeral Home, where my Mother's services were held.  Aunt Jeanette is 92 years old and was unable to attend.  

Mary Moreland Shank was my Mom's step sister.  Ruth Hadfield Steidler was my Mom's half sister (they had the same father but different mothers.)  At the day of the services I thought they were a little "off" with me.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized that I didn't include their names in the obituary.

Yesterday I called and had the funeral home run the obituary again.  I was surprised by how much it cost to place an obituary in the newspaper but to me it was worth it to avoid a lifetime of hurt feelings.  Mom grew up with Mary and Ruthie and they should have been acknowledged.  

The corrected obituary ran in the newspapers today.  I called Mary and Ruthie and told them to check the newspapers.  They seemed happy with this news.  

The only thing I have to do now is write out thank you notes to all those who sent flowers and attended Mom's final services.  Then this chapter of my life will be over. 

No more funeral planning for me.  If Bill goes before I do, his services will be private as he has often requested.  In fact, he doesn't want any services at all and I just may go that route.  

I may attend funerals in the future but this is the last time ever that I'm doing this.  

This weekend I begin to get my life back to my old comfortable routine.  I plan to coast out the next fifteen or twenty years until my funeral.  

And that my friends will be somebody else's responsibility.  

All I'm thinking about now are those cool, autumn days that are in my future.  

Getting Through Another Day

The view from where I work in Lewes of the Rehoboth-Lewes Canal - I love it!

The dog days of summer continue on this last day of August.

I would love to go out in the Back Forty (my backyard) and putz around but I don't feel like getting drenched in sweat again.  So here I sit updating my blog twice in one day.  Hey, I would rather do this than drain myself fighting the heat and humidity that has been unrelenting this whole summer.

I think we had two, maybe three normal days of summer.  Most of the rest of this summer we have been beaten down to a weak pulp with the heat and humidity.  Come on the cool winds of fall.

This morning I took my usual walk on the boardwalk in Rehoboth.  Someone planted themselves in my usual seat on the boardwalk so I didn't take my half hour break between my up and down the boardwalk. Since I got there early this morning I was able to cover the boardwalk a total of four times (for a total of over four miles) in one brisk walk.

I was just starting to sweat when I got to the north end of the boardwalk near the Henlopen Hotel where I park my buggy.  I left before 8 am.  I think I accidentally discovered the secret to getting out of Rehoboth and avoiding the traffic.

I usually make my run in the morning sometime between 6:30 am and 7 am.  This morning I was out the door at 6:15 am.  I didn't sleep too well last night thinking about Mom and her difficult nights.

It was a straight shot down Rt. 1 as it usually is this early in the morning.  My only competition are the Sysco food trucks delivering their precooked food to the tourist trap restaurants in Rehoboth.

Coming back is another story.  I have been coming back home around 9 o'clock.  I'm hitting the heavy traffic going north on Rt. 1 at that time.  I can't figure out where all that traffic is going.  Milford?  Milton?  Touristas leaving Rehoboth for their hobbits up North?  What's with that?  Just another mystery that I have to solve.

Well, this morning I hit Rt. 1 at a little after 8 am.  It was almost clear sailing.  Oh sure, I hit the occasional doofus on a cell phone clogging up the passing lane.  The occasional Old Guy or Old Gal gripping the top of the steering wheel. "You'll never pry my cold, dead hands from this steering wheel".

I still had to dodge the ladder topped service trucks that weave in and out of the traffic, speeding toward their destination of the day to to overcharge some defenseless customer de jour.  Oh yes, we are sitting ducks down here in Lower Slower for the Service People.  Hey, at least they're showing up somewhere.  You're lucky if you can even get one of these slickters to show up.

Well, anyway, I made it home in no time at all and I've been here ever since.  Holed up in my air conditioned, fabulous, four year old, Ryan ranch home. One floor living baby....I love it!

Below are some of yesterday's photo journal that I take from that camera that is always hanging around my neck:

A sign that caught my eye from the fruit and vegetable stand on Rt. 5 outside of Milton.  It reminded me of a bad habit I used to have in my bar hopping days.  

Bill and I went to Big Bob's and Jim's yesterday to see Jim's new car.  They live in the woods outside of Georgetown. They weren't home.  We still haven't heard from them.

Big Bob and Jim are world class hoarders.  Here is Bill inspecting some of Bob's goodies.  I have my eye on that lawn chair.

"The Ranch"

Big Bob and Jim live in a double wide on 22 wooded acres outside of Georgetown.  Yes, they do live in  Sussex County Redneck County.  They still keep a low profile.  It's still not safe to come out. Big Bob was one of the original gay settlers of Lower Slower.  I've been visiting him at "The Ranch" (our pet name for his place) since the Seventies.  I "discovered" Delaware because of Big Bob.  I have no idea where I would be living if I hadn't.  Probably still in Pennsylvania, working full-time to try and keep up with the always increasing taxes. 

I owe Big Bob a world of thanks for providing this turning point in my life.  Now they're just two old men living in the woods.  Just like me and Bill, two old men living in a development off of Rt. 1. 

Just getting through another day.

Not An Easy Day

This morning on the beach at Rehoboth watching the waves roll in

Not an easy day today folks.

The day started out innocently enough.  I got up early (5:30 am) and was down at the boardwalk in Rehoboth by 6:30 for my daily walk.  Up and down the boards (one mile) then a stroll on the beach to listen to the waves.  Then my usual seat at the north end of the boardwalk then up and down again for another mile walk.  I'm enjoying this new activity.  It is not only healthy for my body but my mind.  While sitting and watching the folks go about their activities on the beach, I'm clearing my mind plus I'm giving Bill some space (and getting my own space too.)

Then I head back to where I parked my car at the end of Rehoboth Avenue and head out of town.  Today I'm meeting my neighbor Barbara for lunch and a visit to the weekly Rehoboth Farmers market.

My car is a red 1998 Subaru Forester.  The mileage us approaching 124,000 miles.  For sometime now I have been aware that soon I will have to buy a new car.  I think today my decision was made for me.

That's my old trusted friend, my '98 red Subaru Forester parked in the primo parking slot on Rehoboth Avenue - I get there early in the morning

For the past few years I've had some strange noises coming out of the back of my car when I start it up or slow down to make a turn.  I've ignored these noises, wishfully thinking that it was my imagination.

When I picked up my neighbor Barbara for lunch today the first thing she said was "What's the matter with your car?"  I say "Oh, that noise?  It's been there for ages.  Wayne always used to complain about it when I picked him up when we went to dinner at the Purple Parrot."  She said "You should get that looked at."  This is something I didn't want to hear.  I had inured myself to the fact that my trusty old friend, my red Subaru Forester was getting old.  It still looked good but it is now of an age (like me) that strange things start to happen.  Like my knees are sore when I walk, my Subaru was complaining also that it has a part of its body that is wearing out.  I guess I can no longer ignore the inevitable.  Time to get a new car.

Now let's see.  My previous car was a 1984 Honda Civic.  I had that one for 14 years.  Nothing was basically wrong with that car either but at 14 years old, it was inevitable something would happen.  My 1998 Subaru Forester is now 12 years old.  I only had 68,000 miles on my Honda when I sold it.  I have almost double the miles on my Subaru.  Pretty darn good.  But I think I'm pushing my luck if I think I have too many more years with this car.

Barbara and I had a delightful lunch at Dos Locos.  My friend The Cajun was on host duty and was his usual charming self.  The food was wonderful (Barbara had the Mexican Dish and ate almost the whole thing because it was so good) and I had the Plain Jane Burger.  I have simple tastes.

Barb and I at lunch at Dos Locos today - great food, wonderful service!

Then we were off to fight the heat and the crowd and look for a parking place at the Rehoboth Farmers Market which takes place every Tuesday 12 to 2.  The last time Barb and I went to the farmer's market she was overcome by the heat and fell to the ground.  I had to get her car (a Cadillac the size of Cleopatra's barge) and get her out of Dodge before she passed out.

Rehoboth Farmers' Market today - shady, cool breezes, fresh veggies

Today the heat wasn't as oppressive.  There was a nice breeze through the park where the farmers' market is held.  We were doing fine until just about the end and Barb is again overcome by the heat.  She goes to the ground.  OMIGOD!  Again.

Barb smelling the flowers (a few  minutes before she went to the ground)

My car is parked over by the laundromat.  Parking is not an easy chore at the farmers' market.  A concerned vendor gives Barbara some cold water.  I get my car to the fence, near where Barbara is sitting.  She's on the other side of the fence.  She doesn't see me.  She's throwing up her Mexican Dish lunch which was probably not as nice going out as it was going in. What to do?  I didn't want to get a ticket (Rehoboth is well known for it's efficiency in handing out parking tickets.)  I move my car farther down the street and park were it is permitted.  I go back to Barbara.  She's feeling somewhat better, but not completely.

Fresh veggies at the Farmers' Market today

I get her in the car and maneuver the best I can to get out of the maze of cars with Pennsylvania license plates that packs Rehoboth Beach during the height of the season.  I wonder "What am I doing in Rehoboth this time of day anyway?  Can't I get my cucumbers at the roadside stand outside Milton?"  Of course I can.  And I will in the future.

We can get tomatoes and peaches like this in Milton

I help Barbara in the car and we're on our way home.  We turn on the packed Rt. 1 north.  Oh how I just love traveling Rt. 1 during the hot, sizzling midsummer day with all that traffic.  I gently tell Barbara this is the LAST time I will be doing this. Really.

My car is still making strange noises (thank goodness she didn't remind me again) and I'm trying to get home in time to take my afternoon nap.

When I get home I drop Barbara off at her house which is right next to mine.  Then I pull into my garage, thankful to get out of the heat, traffic and stress of a near serious medical emergency.  Twice this has happened.  It will not happen again thank you.  The burger I had at Dos Locos was good and the host was delightful, but I would just as well stayed at home updating my iPhotos or working on my autobiography (oh yes, my next big project.)

Tomorrow we go to Dover to look at new cars. I knew this day would come.  I hate dealing with auto dealerships.  I'm not looking forward to it.  I would rather go to the dentist.  More stress tomorrow.