Summer hibernation

I may have mentioned this a couple of times, but it’s damned hot here in Texas.

I’ve noticed over the past decade (gosh, it’s so weird to think that as of August, I will have lived in Austin for ten years) that days like this are a psychological mindfuck. Growing up in Ohio, I had a pushy dad who always tried to shove me out the door on nice sunny summer days. “You have no business sitting inside reading on a nice day like this,” he’d say.

Usually, I just took my book outside–I’m sure that dad would have preferred that I take up a sport or something. It wasn’t until I was in college and on the bookish track that my father–in one of those rare moments of reflection–said that he’d always hoped I’d grow up to be a baseball player. (At the time, I was starting to realize that I wanted to grow up to do a baseball player — so close!)

As an adult I’ve become more attuned to things like, “Gee, I’ve been sitting inside for too long” and “The house hasn’t been aired out in months” and I still have that childhood-inspired guilt that comes from sitting inside on a nice, sunny summer day.

The mindfuck of living in the South, though, is that summertime is when we all hibernate indoors, not winter. And that goes doubly so for this year. When I flew back from Madrid on the 23rd of May, the pilot announced as we were landing in Austin that the temperature outside was 97 degrees. Since then, the coolest we’ve been is 95. Most mornings lately, it’s already 80 by the time I get to work … at 7:30 in the morning.

It’s going to be a scorcher this year. The summer that I moved here – 1998 – we had something like 60 consecutive days over 100 degrees. The State had to jump into action to help people who thought they were going to have to declare bankruptcy over their energy bills. It’s sort of looking like we’re off to the same sort of thing — a long, hot, dry summer. Everyone’s worried about rainfall this summer – in the upper midwest, they’re getting too much, and down here in the south and southeast, we’re not getting any.

But at least we’re not in a recession and the gays can’t get married down here! Whew! That makes me so much happier already.

Anyway.

I hope you’ve had a pleasant weekend – it’s father’s day! If your dad’s in town (mine isn’t – I swear, since they retired my parents are never around. Where were these interesting people with exciting lives when I was growing up?)