It's a Snow Day

 If you watched or read the national news, you're aware that the beautiful Pacific Northwest is in the midst of a terrible heat wave.  It is supposed to subside, sorta, tonight but remain in the mid-80's until at least New Year's Eve.  Climate change is real, y'all.

Last night  when we went to bed at 10:00, it was 85 degrees.    The high temp yesterday was 109, the highest I've ever experienced.  I didn't leave the house until I went outside to water the garden for the first time in a few days because it's been too hot to merely step outside.  As reflected by the step counter app on my phone:

Today is supposed to be the worst day, ever.  Literally.  I stayed up after Kevin left, because I had a plan.  I opened all the windows and doors.  I went outside and watered again, this time wetting the walkways and foundation of the house.  I did one load of laundry and all of my chores.  Then I showered so I could start closing off the house. 

It's 68 degrees in the living room and I am wearing a hoodie. I also have socks on and a blanket. My hands are cold. It's been that cool since Kevin left and I'm hoping that it will stay around that temperature for most of the day.  My discomfort now will be a benefit later at bedtime, hopefully.

The main bath and my office has constant sunlight so they become saunas, no matter what precautions I try. Thank goodness for the common folk bathroom and for flexibility with my work.  I called out for the rest of the week but am not telling the family so it's a true vacation.  Meanwhile, those rooms are off-limits until this settles down.

I dragged my projects out to the kitchen: a towering stack of unread magazines, a laptop that we've sold and I need to ensure I've done everything I need to, my laptop so I can write this post and check into work. If I get desperate, I will start the photo project again.

It's been too hot for Lucy to be outside, much to her dismay.  We haven't done walkies since Thursday and she's getting antsy.  I took her to the treat stand then rolled all the windows down in the truck on the way home so her senses could get a workout.  

Kevin had an episode, called a "storm", from his Graves Disease last night.  His body can't sustain in high temps/high humidity.  It results in extreme sweat, weakness, shortness of breath, and disorientation.  It usually takes about 24-hours for him to bounce from it.  So, luckily, he's at work and outside today.  Sigh.  This is the first one he's had for quite a while so that's good, I guess.  It had been so long that it took me a minute to realize what was happening. The remedy is a cold shower, protein and water, and rest.  Which is most times like trying to put socks on a toddler.

There were two threads on the twitter with instructions what to do when it's this hot.  I've found them very helpful and supportive.  One of them made the interesting point that this heat wave isn't going to be just a one-off occurrence so make a plan now.  Here they are, in case you are experiencing this craziness as well:

Bossy Plan  and Australian Plan

The other posts I noticed where people telling others to STFU about "We're used to those temps all the time, stop being a baby."  We are not used to this. We are a moss based organism.  We call June "June-uary"  Our summer starts July 5th.  Also, it's like judging the Texas citizens when they had snow and freezing temps and were wholly unprepared.  They weren't supposed to have snow and we're not supposed to be in the hundreds.

It occurred to me on the way home that this is like a Snow Day.  In the winter, I stay home usually when there is snow on the ground.  I worry about power outages (our lights have flickered over the past 24 hours), our satellite and internet are wonky, and I tend to bunker down.  It's a Snow Day today, but a Sun Day.  It feels odd to stay indoors when it's sunny but I'm a big fan of my skin.

Hopefully this will be helpful, if nothing else provide solidarity in this heat.  Meanwhile, stay cool Pony Boy.