Heat Exhaustion

Up at 715am Start coffee and exercise. Freed Frankie at 730am, but she seemed uninterested in getting up and heading out. I spent the next 30 minutes on the PC. 8am, Frankie decides to get up and go out. I stretch for a run at 9am – everyone still asleep Good run but very warm – 4 miles Feeling almost overheated back inside. Mindy & the kids are up. The neighbors are hosting a birthday party for both Makayla and Lillian beginning at 2pm. I want badly to have all of my lawn chores, as well as some others, done before heading down. I head out to start on the lawn around 11am. It’s hot & steamy. After whacking and edging and starting the mowing, Mindy and Jacob head out for Target. I ask Mindy to pick up a plastic tub for old golf ball storage. She agreed. I had to stop a couple of times while mowing the lawn to cool off, towel off, and throw cold water on my back. At one point I felt like I might faint. I was over heating. Ugh! After finishing ours, I went ahead and cut the neighbor’s, David & Becky’s, lawn. I mowed only what I could get with the Deere. That took no more than 25 minutes. After finishing the mowing, I started on other chores. One, I fertilized the lawn, Two, I tried to reinstall the garage door bottom seal that had fallen halfway off during the week. However, I quickly discovered that it was a two-man job. I needed someone to tug while I fed the seal into the cut-out groove in the door’s bottom. I soaked & cleaned the seal in soapy water then greased the groove. That seemed to be working until I got it almost halfway up. I stopped awaiting Mindy’s return. With more chores needing completed, I didn’t waste time. After cooling off with an ice cold 7-Up, I trimmed the over grown English Ivy away from the master bedroom window overlooking the front lawn. I used the aluminum extension to reach it. While at it, I got out the step ladder and trimmed it away from the front porch too. By the time I was finished I had a man-sized pile of clippings requiring the trap to carry it all away. I talked with Mindy at some point. She offered to pick me up some lunch. Nah! It was after 2pm. She was running from Target to Target looking for some classroom supplies and it was taking far longer than she had planned. You’re telling me! I expected her home after an hour. She’d been gone more than two. I shared that I was waiting on her help with the garage door. She estimated being home in 30 minutes. I carried the tarp to the compost pile emptying the debris. Frankie had been in her pen. I freed her and then took her on a walk out front. She liked it. Mindy was home by 3pm. After a brief break we finished the garage door seal. My plan worked well. I was relieved to have that taken care of. It was time for a much needed shower. Mindy was ready to join the party going on next door. But after my shower I begged out for a little R&R (reading and r-napping) first. Mindy understood and headed over alone while I chilled in the calm serenity of home. During my alone time a brief but strong storm struck complete with lightning, thunder and heavy rain. The rain was a welcome relief to the heat & humidity. I must’ve dosed off two or three times. Mindy came home looking for me and my ETA around 430pm, said everyone asking about my whereabouts. She wasn’t pleased when I shared that I might not a head down at all. I was still tired and really enjoying the solitude. I reminded her of my earlier near heat exhaustion. She headed back down on her own. I did a little more reading and napping and drank a couple glasses of Hawaiian punch feeding my huge craving for both sugar and water. Just before 6pm I felt strong enough, awake enough to join everyone at the party. I threw together a 6-pack of my favorite cold beers and walked down. By my late arrival, the kiddie birthday party piece was all but over. What remained was the adult get together. From many, I was told of the party’s biggest controversy, which was Makayla leaving with one of Chrissy’s best friends to go see a Justin Bieber concert. That apparently pissed Lillian off. She, no doubt, felt left out. The ordeal apparently caused quite a rift between Kenny & Chrissy. I kept my opinion largely to myself realizing there is no right or wrong answer. Others shared their opinions openly. Mindy graciously rustled me up some party food, which for the most part was already packed and stowed away. I ate a sub and some chips and washed them down with an IPA. The beer went down easy. At some point, Kenny asked if I was up for Sunday afternoon golf. I was, but shared that I needed to check with Mindy, especially given that our Sunday afternoon was already spoken for with niece Julie’s b-day celebration. When the time was right, I asked. Mindy was initially hesitant but ultimately agreed knowing that I haven’t been able to golf the past few weekends and the fact that I’m in the middle of a period where I am on-call three of six weekends. That raised my spirits. In the background we watched the Browns preseason game against Packers. The Browns won after kicking two field goals in the final minutes, the first being a 58 yarder to tie the score. Although many had long since departed, the party raged on well past 10pm. We headed home around 1030pm and we weren’t up much longer than that at home.