I'm melting, I'm melting

This afternoon recently retired North, international man of mystery and leisure and I took a stroll down a country lane. My Beloved had gone up to take a nap and Mrs. North was entertaining the Russian twins. That left us to ourselves on a wonderful and warm day down by the lake. Now, we don't live by a lake but he and the Mrs are on a vacation and we were just visiting. Retirement is so taxing he needed a vacation already.

We decided our stroll would take us along the outside property lines and down a newly paved asphalt road. Our conversation drifted from topic to topic as we went, gone nearly an hour and a half. Finally our subject turned to the weather and the heat the country has been under. Drivers would sometimes pass us and wave likely thinking we were nuts walking down the road in the middle of summer's heat. But, then we reflected on our lives and how we grew up. Our family had little money and until I was in my twenties, air conditioning was not a part of our lives. But somehow we survived.

I think most make way too much of weather trends including the current heat wave. Yes, certain groups should take care but my feeling is too many folk simply use the weather as an excuse to do nothing or simply to complain. The news and weather services make it sound as though anyone over the age of forty or under the age of ten will suffer heat stroke. Did everyone die each year before AC was invented? No. Did outside work come to a halt? No. Did children cease playing? No. Last Thursday I painted my deck in the sun on what was reported to be the hottest day of the year. I did it because it had to be done and that was my day off from work. I took the proper precautions and didn't die.

You too don't have to die every time the weather gets hot or cold. Sweating is a natural phenomenon and Dorothy didn't throw a bucket of water on you. You won't melt. Dress for it and stop being a crybaby.