Almost everyone who lives in the continental United States has felt the heat the last few weeks.
Deaths in California and across the nation have been attributed to the massive heat wave that has strung across pretty much the entire nation.
There have also been massive power outages as the electrical grid in big cities have been trying to deal with the increased demand of people trying to keep cool. New York has suffered some pretty severe ongoing outages as have other big cities such as St. Louis.
Thank god we here in South Eastern Wisconsin have not had any outages but we did have three or four days where the temps hovered around the 100 degree mark.
But this is August...
Isn't it supposed to be hot and sticky with temps in the high 90s and 100's??
When I was a kid I remember these hot spells with the heat and humidity being called "The Dog Days".
And we didn't have air conditioning. In fact I can't remember many in my neighborhood that did.
And we were fine in those days.
A lot of "koolaid" got us through the hot days and at night the fans went full blast.
And then there were the numerous trips to the local "Dairy Queen" and if we couldn't get there we would bike over to the local fast food hamburger joint called "Chips" and get a cold soda or an ice cream cone.
Our days were spent either at the local pools or if we were lucky we would get some parent or older brother of a friend to take us out to one of the two local lakes that were on either end of Wisconsin Rapids, which is the little city in central Wisconsin where I grew up.
I guess as we get older most of us forget those hot summer days of our past.
There probably were worse heat waves going back to the beginnings of the 1900s.
I am sure that the "Dust Bowl Days" of the 1940's were some pretty rough times for people.
I do think the planet is warming (as some scientists are saying that the earth goes through these warming phases quite often) a bit and maybe there is a bit of what some are calling global warming going on.
Do I think that this is the harbringer of things to come for our planet?
There is a possibility I would think but then again I think our Earth is pretty amazing planet and I do not think that the planet is going to roast us all to death in the near future.
I for one am enjoying my summer and I would just like to remind all of those people that are complaining about the heat now to remember this warmth when it is twenty five below zero come next winter....
I plan on spending a nice weekend enjoying the sun and the warmth and all that summer has to offer.
Warm Regards for a good weekend to all....
