chelsea cookWorking in the heat we are now experiencing makes everything much harder. I know, I know, I have said I like hot weather and I used to work, play, sleep in the extreme heat. One caveat: The days are much hotter now. Yes, back in my long ago youth we had days with a temperature of 100F on several occasions during our Oklahoma summers. However, after the 1930’s we did not have months of 100F temperatures. There would always be periods of lesser temps. Many people now wear T-shirts saying that Oklahoma is not for sissies because of the temperatures. I do not have one as most of them are black and are too hot to wear.
I have a good deal of “bee work” to do or I may lose more than one hive. I started reasonably early this morning. The temp was 80F at 7:AM. Instead of working three hives today I just barely made one. The fact that I was a teenager in the tennis playing in 100F degree weather days and am somewhat older now also had a lot to do with it. If “certain people” knew I was lifting boxes weighing more than 50-60 pounds i may have gotten in trouble. The bees did not particularly like what i was doing and I didn’t either. But I did get finished and then went back to the patio where I got to wash the sting from my eyes. Tomorrow I shall attempt to start at 6:AM to see if i can do two hives. These little buggers had better make a lot of honey to make up for all the trouble they are.
But things seem to slow down in the summer, except for traffic. It continues at its own suicidal pace. I suppose more people stay inside with the A/C turned up full so as to escape, or avoid, the beating sun outside. There was once a saying: “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun.” The natives of those tropical climes knew how to survive and the Brits just dared the sun to harm them. They were, after all, British and the favorite children of God. They declared that to be true so, since they were Brits, it must have been. Wonder how that played out for them...???
Back when I was a real person and worked at teaching music, the start of “marching season” began in late August. Our rehearsals started at 7:30AM so it wasn’t too hot until later in the morning. Those kids who had a car and didn’t live too far away would slip home and shower between band and regular school. Of course, I knew nothing about that and didn’t know that sometimes they even dropped off a friend and picked them up again to take to school. It was odd that this went on for a few years and I knew nothing of it but did, on occasion, talk to some about driving safely “on the way to school.” In all those years there was never a car accident which to me is/was a miracle.
Think about this. Almost no one I knew had a house air conditioning unit.  There is no way to tell, but I have often wondered how many sick people died because of the heat back in those days. Now we go to the wall and change a switch to lower the temp and not worry about the electric company gleefully rubbing its collective hands together as they raise the rates and collect more and more. The joke that is true is that many people keep their houses colder in the summer than in the winter. And, yes, they then do the opposite.
But I still like summer. I still do not like winter except for those days when everything is quite and still and the world seems to be holding its breath. Winter seems to be telling us to enjoy the weather now as July and August are not that far off. However, I love these long days of june and july. It is light enough to be on the patio at 6:AM and read the newspaper. It is still light enough at 9:PM to sit outside and watch the birds do all their birdie aerodynamics. The flittering and the fights and pecking and sudden take offs are always a marvel. It gets particularly interesting when a hawk flies overhead and almost every bird on the ground takes cover. The grackles leave a lookout on the roof of the house next door. It seems they have given up on our yard as i constantly chase them away from bullying the smaller birds. There are many other very interesting sights to see but I suppose one would have to go to the swimming pool to see them.