Enjoy the Outdoors. Love the Planet.
All about Nature, about the outdoors<>I love it, photograph it and protect it.
Hot Temps and Common Sense
Yesterday I was driving up US Hwy 27, one of the major roads in my part of Central Florida. My girlfriend and I had just made note of the fact that the digital thermometer readout on the instrument panel was displaying that dreaded three-digit temperature. Yes, it was 100° outside and we felt every bit of that even though the car’s AC was blasting.
Not very long after our convo about what an insanely-hot day it was, we passed two people making their way down the sidewalk, each carrying two handsful of groceries.
Nothing too remarkable there. It’s a common sight around here, as it is pretty much anywhere.
The truly remarkable thing is that they both were dressed in all black. Black shirts and shorts. And with no hats, no head coverings, to boot.
Yeah, I was gobsmacked. I’ve been in Central Florida for a very long time, I do/have done hundreds of hours of outdoor stuff and heavy-duty yardwork and I know what the uber-high temps we regularly have around here can do.
To make this even more puzzling is the fact that the closest grocery store was quite a ways back.
Now, I still do outdoor stuff–including camping–over the Summer months but I would never even think about what these people were doing. I realize that they almost certainly had limited options as far as getting to and from the store that afternoon but it still is an unthinkable situation for me.
Folks, don’t just hide inside until September comes around. But when you are outside–whether for fun or because you have an important task in front of you, make sure you look out for your safety. Please don’t put your well-being and your very life at risk when Mr Sun is throwing down this kind of thermal assault on all the denizens of Earth.
“Bulldog Ben” Basile
PS: In case you’re wondering, yes, I did feel awful that we didn’t stop and offer them a ride to their destination. That didn’t hit me until we were a mile or two down the road. And I feel more than a little regret about it.
© 2022 Ben Lawrence Basile
Photo credit windsonglife.com
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Enjoy the Outdoors. Love the Planet. 
Did you offer them a ride?
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I didn’t and I regret it. I acknowledged that in a postscript this morning.
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Oi. Have the summer temperatures in Florida been above average? They sure have here in Oregon, where we live. The 2020 Oregon wildfires came within a 5-minute drive of my parent’s rural house, which is a 34-minute drive from downtown Portland. My parents had to evacuate, but thankfully their house didn’t burn down.
When Oregon is not having wildfires in the North, as they typically occur in the South, between Northern California and Southern Oregon, we have above national average rainfall, which used to make me sad, though I’ve gotten used to it, and now the thought of extra rain makes me thankful to live here, considering how dire the water situations are in some states.
My wife and I bought an oversized tiny house last year and moved to the rural outskirts of Portland because paying $1500ish total for a decent one-bedroom is not economical. We have a pair of rescue rabbits that were staying in a nice and air-conditioned interior of our apartment, in their own play area. However, this summer, I had to figure out how to keep them cool in a covered 8′ x 8′ x 8′ clear siding hutch I built, which happens to be attached to the tiny. Inside the hutch is a 3′ x 4′ x 2′ dig box which has now become a plant box as I placed a water mister over the dirt and grass started growing. I usually keep the mister off unless the temperature reaches 90 degrees. Else, the rabbits have that generic large square fan blowing on their cardboard tunnels when the temp reaches above 80 degrees. We had to cover the rabbit hutch/terrarium with a silver tarp which is the third means of keeping them cool. So between the tarp on the hutch, the fan, and the mister over a dirt box that has turned into a plant box, I think I have created a large air-conditioning unit for our rabbits.
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