Mother McCree, it's hot. For most of the day, passing fair weather clouds minimized the direct sunlight. Within the last hour they disappeared, the temperature immediately shot up. According to the thermometer outside the dining room window, the temperature right now is, er, high. Real high. Much higher than it was for most of the rest of the day, though when I got up this morning that same thermometer read 80 degrees in the shade. I made the mistake at that time of going outside, spending an hour doing desperately needed weeding in the perennial beds off at the far end of the house. The word is hot -- not a word I usually use 'cause it really has to be hot for me to feel hot. Then the fair weather clouds moved in and everything seemed to level off a bit. Until, well, you know.
When I bought this house, the sellers made a big point about the ceiling fan in the dining room. Seemed kind of silly to me, a ceiling fan in a house in northern Vermont. 'Cause there aren't normally more than a handful of days in any warm season when you'd have an excuse to turn the bugger on. Today's one of them, though, and I'm giving thanks for frivolous amenities as I soak up an artificial breeze.
Also on the plus side, it's late in the day, the sun will be backing off soon as it eases down behind the trees off to the other side of the road. And speaking of evening, last night I saw my first display of fireflies for the season. The downhill slope in front of the house consists of several acres of field, a major hiding spot for fireflies during the day. When darkness falls, they rise up and party. And it's a fine show.
I realized today that I'm picking up a farmer's tan. Color from partway along my biceps down to my hands, color on my face, maybe some on the back of my neck. Everything else remains white 'cause I've usually spent time outdoors dressed to discourage blackflies. (One upside to hot weather: it tends to wipe out blackflies that have hung on looking to pick up a free meal whenever I step outside.) Yesterday and today I've walked around in shorts and not much else, so the color should become distributed more generally.
Weather. My tan. Blackflies. Can you believe I'm boring you with this stuff? Shouldn't you be doing something outside instead of sitting at your 'puter?
That's where I'm heading. Outside. Soon's I smear some bug goo on.