Scattered Thoughts . . .

E veryone seemed to have been complaining about the heat yesterday and television pseudo-weather forecasters clamoring about "record heat like we've never seen before".  Honestly, I'm very vulnerable to any heat above 80 degrees and I had few problems yesterday.  Actually, that record heat and relatively low humidity (in the 50s) was rather comfortable for the most part.  All the thunderstorms (some quite severe) bypassed Waterbury too.   Yesterday, the temperature was at a high of around 97 degrees (which was only for an hour or two late in the afternoon) but the humidity was only in the 53-60% range which made the heat quite tolerable.  That may be a record for mid-June, I suppose, but we regularly get into the triple digits in July so being in the 90s in June doesn't really seem so far-fetched nor highly unlikely.    In fact, my birthday barbeques which are always the last weekend in June or first weekend in July are often brutally and uncomfor...

Yesterday, we had a little birthday party for Nan in the sweltering heat and humidity.   After Sheila and I spent the morning preparing for this little birthday gathering, I set up air conditioning throughout the house so we could take breaks from the heat inside the more comfortable house.  That worked out well especially when a few passing thundershowers passed through the area during dinner. We started the day with a much-needed haircut for Lukey.  Here is Lukey before the haircut...   Sheila managed to capture a few good photos of the haircut... And, here is Lukey after his haircut...   And, a before and after comparison in one image... While I cut Lukey's hair, Kenzie was keeping cool by playing with the cold water from the hose... Lukey had no desire to shower after his haircut but he was covered in long cut hair so he opted for getting sprayed with the hose... The water from the hose was a bit colder th...

We had another beautiful day yesterday (today too, but I may write something about that tomorrow). Liza and John visited in the evening to have dinner with us and spend the night.  Dinner was delicious... Kansas City style ribs (two full racks), corn on the cob and homemade fries. We've been eating well at the lake house! The weather was great so we spent much of the day in the water. We had some thunderstorms through the night but the weather was hot and humid yesterday during the day... Another day of teaching Lukey how to sail...

I had a fairly good day yesterday... my health was relatively stable... I did some annual staining around the outside of the house... I assembled a hand pump station and stained it... I assembled the galvanized plumbing fittings... it was a productive day! This doesn't mean I didn't have moments of borderline lousy health yesterday... I did. A few times during the day, I needed to cool down... cold showers... cold water over my head until I cooled down... cold water on the insides of my wrists to cool down my blood... It was around 90 degrees all day so I had to work hard at keeping my body cool so my health would not fail. Around lunchtime yesterday, I wheeled our air conditioner to a window... set up the vent in the window... plugged it in... and we had air conditioning in our living room, kitchen and bedroom. I might need to resort to turning on the air conditioning today just to cut the edge on the humidity which is causing serious breathing issues for me today. Today...

We chose the correct day of this holiday weekend to head up to Shelburne Farms... that is for sure! Yesterday was a sunny and warm day but there was a nice breeze to keep the temperatures tolerable. Today, however, was brutal. At 9am this morning, we got into the car to head to the supermarket to pick up some bagels and donuts... it was already so hot outside that the inside of the car was dangerously hot which triggered an anaphylaxic response from my body before we even pulled out of the driveway. The weather only worsened as the day progressed. By 2:30pm (the last time I checked the thermometer), it was 96 degrees. Worse yet, our trip into town this morning was wasted since there were no bagels left... as usual.   I haven't been able to breath today... I have absolutely zero energy... it is simply a brutal day as I struggle with the typical and debilitating symptoms of Systemic Mastocytosis. Fortunately, we had chosen yesterday for our visit to Shelburne Farms. Today defin...

This weather is brutal for my health!  Our thermometer hit triple digits this afternoon and that is extremely dangerous for my health. Warm environments cause my health to deteriorate quickly and dangerously. Other than a medical appointment first thing this morning with Sheila, I've been accomplishing absolutely nothing lately. I'm not even sure I would imply that getting to a medical appointment is an "accomplishment"...  but, it is something I managed to do without my health crashing. I have resorted to residing in our air conditioned living room which is at a comfortable 75 degrees... a much more comfortable and mastocytosis-friendly environment especially when compared to the triple digit temperatures outdoors! Whenever I have had to wander from the living room and into the heat (for instance, going into another room in the house), my health would begin to crash quickly. There is no doubt that heat is my kryptonite. These short trips from the living room ca...

We just exited a long, frigid winter with more snow than usual. I didn't expect all the huge piles of snow and ice to melt until a little later than usual since we had so much snow and because it had been so frigid cold. Not only is all the snow gone but we have already planted seeds for our wildflower gardens... a few weeks earlier than usual... and the temperatures are far above normal which clearly contributed to melting all this snow and ice so quickly this spring.  Considering the extreme temperatures we've been experiencing and how quickly all this winter's snow has melted, I'm expecting a brutally hot summer this year. We are already experiencing higher than average temperatures and that is taking a toll on my health, unfortunately, but not surprisingly. Since developing Systemic Mastocytosis, warmer than average environments have been problematic. I have difficulty breathing, I struggle with weakness, and my overwhelming fatigue becomes far more overwhelming...

Another birthday has come and gone leaving me another year older and wiser... well, maybe not wiser but considering my health issues, being left another year older comes as good news! This year's birthday found the weather sunny and hot... and I mean HOT! The weather was brutally hot and very oppressing which, unfortunately, is not agreeable with my health. My health deteriorates very quickly and oftentimes quite severely in warm environments nevermind in oppressing, suffocating heat. Fortunately, I was thinking ahead and spent the day fighting off the effects of the heat on my health by taking extra medications (a LOT of extra medications) and a few cool showers over the course of the day to cool my body down. My health held up and I enjoyed a nice, relatively quiet birthday at home. Liza and the grandchildren joined us for dinner and cake. I had spent the afternoon preparing a few new dishes for dinner. I have no idea why I chose my birthday to put together a couple o...