Let us be clear from the get-go...

...that I don't quite trust the downtown bank clock's thermometer, which broadcasts in big numbers visible up and down Main Street for quite some distance in both directions. It tends to run a couple/three degrees higher than other people tend to get on their thermometers, I think. It usually is higher than the radio station's reports. Never mind how much it's off from the official reports (but then, I think the official reports come from the airport, which is almost silly, since the airport sits quite a bit higher than town, up on top of a hill surrounded by fields and trees).

But, having said that, I don't doubt that it's close to right.

Beyond that, because it's the most noticeable temperature display in town, it's pretty much the de facto official reading, whether it's right or not. It does set the standard for conversations, at any rate.

Today, walking to the drug store to pick up a prescription plus some things for the kitchen, the bank thermometer said 105. On the way back, it said 107. When I went back to the drug store to return the kitchen shears I just bought (note to self: people with small hands should not buy shears packaged so that a person can't try them out to see if they'll work for people with small hands without causing sprains), the reading was 109. On the way home from returning the shears, the reading was 112.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't 112. The roads weren't going to liquid yet. I didn't even pick up any asphalt goo on my sandals.

But it's hot.

One of the things I like about where we live now compared to where I grew up is that the weather is, overall, more moderate than my childhood hometown. But, every few years or so we do get these hot spells.

I think it's funny how different people react to the situation.

At the bank this morning (my bank doesn't have a thermometer display, but I'm guessing it was 90 already) my teller asked me if it was getting hot yet. I told her it was definitely warmish. We both smiled. I thought I was playing the game quite well, thanks.

But then I stopped by the post office on my way home, and an old guy, very spry but obviously well into retirement years, bounced in. The cleaning lady, also white haired but lively, looked up and saw him and called out, "Cool enough for you?" The old gentleman replied, "Just right!" They both smiled and laughed.

I know when I've been outclassed. They win.

All the same, I'm taking precautions.

I've been experimenting with how to set the fans in the house, to best use the one room-sized air conditioner we have, which, unfortunately, isn't mounted in a room we need cooled. (No, there's no other place it would fit, in the rooms we do use.)

I have a long muslin 'curtain' mounted outside my back door - a door, mind you, that is painted dark and gets full sun (not a clever plan in the summer). I know it looks funky to have a jerry-rigged curtain outside a door, but it's amazing how hot the inside of the door gets without it, and how much cooler it is with some proper shade. (If you do this, it seems to help to have the curtain away from the door, and mounted so there can be air flow.) It's just a big sheet of muslin I bought for a quilt back long ago, that wound up in my too-large fabric stash. It's nice to have a good use for it, finally.

I'm getting quite fond of my lawn sprinklers. It's amazing how nice it is to sit on the back deck downwind from a sprinkler hose, and just watch the world go by.

I don't use appliances I don't have to. I don't turn on lights I don't need. Anything that creates heat or uses electricity gets a second look before being used. My computer time is way down, and will stay down until this is over. I like to tell myself that by not using things I am helping to prevent a brownout or blackout. It sounds good, anyway. It also helps me not feel frustrated at being knocked out of my usual routine.

I do most of my cooking late at night or early in the morning - whenever I can throw the windows open and let somewhat-cooler air flush the heat out. I cook in big batches to last several meals.

I take my daily walks early in the day. Most days. Yesterday I did yard work early and didn't get my walk in until evening. At 8:30 p.m., that bank thermometer I mentioned earlier was parked at 88 degrees. Oops. Until the heat wave's over, it's early morning walks or none at all, I think.

You have my permission to laugh at me on this next bit. Heaven knows I'm laughing at myself. All this careful attention to getting up earlier than usual so I can get stuff done without risking heat stroke has had an interesting shortcoming.

The heat isn't hard enough to deal with on its own? I have to give myself jet lag?

OK, I'm half joking. But I have been getting up and going to bed at wildly unusual hours, and I definitely feel like I have jet lag. It's possible, right?

Saturday update: It turned out I couldn't publish this post yesterday - because the Internet connection went down. Long-distance phone service went down, too. So far, knock wood, we've snuck through without power outages, or, knock wood again, local wildfires. The cable TV public service channel, which runs ads and a few announcements, and occasionally posts weather conditions, listed yesterday's high at 111. The radio local news report, using the airport readings, said 103. I'm guessing we were somewhere between that right here. Today, at least we have clouds, and so not nearly the direct sun beating down on the house. That should help a lot. I have decided to attack my books-to-read stack. Somewhere in the shade. Or go out of town to spend time in the forest, by a stream, in the shade. The operative word here is shade.

On the plus side, flowers in my yard that haven't deigned to bloom all year are suddenly popping open. That's nice.