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It is currently four thousand degrees here in the manse.  I almost couldn't blog tonight because I got stuck in the kitchen when the vinyl flooring melted and I wasn't quite willing to give up my sandal to escape.  Then, just as I manage to extricate myself, the living room carpet spontaneously combusted, forcing me to battle the raging inferno before I could sit down at the computer.  Just when I thought I was comfortably settled in front of the fan and ready to share with the world my thoughts on the weather, the sun exploded and added another ten degrees to a situation already completely out of control IMHO.

OK.  So maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit.  But I still maintain that it is very hot here and that I don't care for this.

Ever the optimist, though, I like to think that I learn stuff from my trials.  For example, I already knew that I was averse to knitting during this sort of weather, but now I am absolutely certain that the idea of working on a wool sock does not appeal to me at all once the mercury hits 90.  It's good to be sure of one's self.

I have also observed that the length of one's cats is directly related to the temperature.  A cat curled up in a ball indicates anything from a chill in the air to normal temps.  A cat stretched out in excess of three feet means you should are edging into a more tropical situation.

Early in the day.  Only around 88 degrees or so and the humidity was still bearable.  Not at full stretch yet.

Full on crazy heat.  Cat won't even fit in the shot.  His feet are out in the hallway.

Sleep is an interesting thing during a heat wave.  You stay up late, you get up early.  You do these things because that it when it is cool enough to think.  The rest of the time you lay around in a stupor, half conscious and wondering idly if it is possible to live inside the freezer or if all those stories you heard as a kid about there being a killer troll lurking in there are true.

Maybe it's just me who heard that.  Either way, I've chosen to not live in my freezer.  That, I suppose, is really for the best.

I also learned that dumping two packets of hot chocolate mix and ten ice cubes in the blender will result in an interesting concoction.  First, you get this grainy stuff that you have to spoon out and you despair until you taste it.  Then you realize it is cold and chocolaty and you don't much care what it looks like.  After a while, it melts a little in the staggering heat and you have a really nice slushee.  Before too long, it melts down enough to drink with a straw.

I happen to like it in all its incarnations.  I accidentally put in in some of those dried out little marshmallows that come in the packet, but it all worked out OK.  I've been smashing up chocolate ice cubes on and off for most of the day.

I hear good things for tomorrow, however.  It seems as though tonight's weather is going to be just a bit more comfortable and then things are going to take a turn for the better.  A little rain should do the trick nicely.  I look forward to being able to breathe normally and not having to keep a fire extinguisher close to hand to deal with the stupid flaming carpet situations.

I'll miss all the fascinating insights, though...

SA