i came home today, turned down the a/c a bit (i usually turn it up when i'm gone); opened my pg&e bill................. turned the a/c back up some :(

I usually sit around in the evenings so I can get away with keeping the thermostat on 80 or so.  Tonight however, I have things to do and it's too hot to do them in the daytime (I'm at work anyway.)  I had to break down and lower the thermostat so that I wouldn't melt while doing dishes and vacuuming.  Last night I had to give in and lower it because I couldn't sleep.

I have a lot of memories of my younger years when the Bakers had an old bed in the front yard where the two younger girls slept in the summer.  Those were the days when people did that because the house was stifling.  The nights when it was as hot as it is tonight were miserable outside as well but at least we could breathe.  WE had "skeeter" bites too but who cared?

I also remember when Mark was a toddler and I was about 8-9 months pregnant with his sister.  We had a tiny one bedroom apartment with the cooler blowing straight down and a board hanging from chains to sort of spread the air around.  It was so hot I got a quilt and laid like a beached whale on the floor under that cooler.  Between that, and the heartburn, I didn't think I'd survive that summer.

Do I dislike summer?  Oh yes !

There are a few things I like about summers. I love the fresh fruit, watermelon and tomatoes (that is a fruit as well ?) dripping down my chin and arms. Homemade ice cream. Longer daylight hours. No rain. Watering down my dogs and myself (as well as the grass and plants) with a hose, nothing quite like that nice rubber flavor while you are taking a drink (which is rare, usually it's a cold beer, or two, or three, for me).  Less clothes, especially for the ladies (did I say that out loud... oh well....can't blame a guy for being honest), baseball games (TV or live). Some of those TV summer replacement shows are pretty good. Parties in a park. Less cloth..... Damn I already mentioned that one.... oops, well I guess that's all I can think of for now.

I'm mad and I'm not going to take it any more.  Getting up before it gets too hot tomorrow and taking off for the cabin..It's about 80 degrees up there and cool on the deck under the umbrella.  I have a twin bed on the deck and that's where I sleep.  I don't have the web up there so I can only play computer games. I will get a chance to catch up on my reading.  I will think of all you folks while I am having a cool one on the deck...

You just HAD to rub it in didn"t you Roy?  Pffffttttt...  ;-)

My friend from England, calls Bakersfield summers, a hostile environment.  I too, refer to it as hostile.  Kind of like winter in Chicago.  You don't go outside.  We have a pond out back of our house (with a pool filter) and hubby jumped in and said it was hot on top but cool on the bottom.  I got in up to my thighs, and found no difference.  It felt like tepid bath water, yuck.

Laughed reading your recent blog;  is the alley cat still operating?  Havent been to Bakersfield since 2000 for my fathers funeral; Roger Walsh,,saw you had been a fireman and had to drop u a note,,,Keep up ur writings,,they made me laugh and reminince.,,

Hey Panzerat..Must have me mixed up with someone else. I have never been a fireman, but the Alley Cat is still going strong anyway..

Bakersfield summers are the one thing I am not looking forward to when I move home.  UGH.  I too remember sleeping outside simply because you could breath.  Or laying in our long "T" hallway under the "board"!!  When I was small I would climb the walls and perch up by the ceiling, feet against one wall, back against the other.  That way when the cooler wind hit the board it would blow right at my face.  I hate summer.  Virginia summer is no better.  Hot, humid like you wouldn't believe, skeeters as big as house flies, house flies as big as bumble bees.  I hate summer.  The kids scream that their car seats are too hot.  My husband and I sigh, at least we have air conditioning in the car.  When I was a kid we brought towels out to the car with us so that we could sit on the seats without burning ourselves, and we rolled down the manual crank windows because 50 mph air conditioner was all there was.  And that's only if we had to take the interstate.  Just driving around town 35 mph isn't enough to keep an old oldsmobile 88 cool.  Did I mention I hate summer?

I HATE SUMMER!  And right now, the building that I'm in lost its AC on Friday.  It sat and baked in the heat all weekend, my office windows face east, so there's added heat.  Right now, my office is 101 degrees and climbing.  If there isn't some improvement by noon, I'm taking the afternoon off.