How hot is it???

original painting available for sale at Rhaynedrop Designs

I came across this painting while looking for an image to depict the crazy heat we've been experiencing here in Arizona.  I found this and love it, as it represents summer so perfectly.

There's a river we can go tubing on not far from our campground.  We're most likely not going because the kids are too little, but I remember tubing down the Apple River after I graduated high school.  Probably not an experience I'd want to go into detail about, but what a weekend my girlfriends and I had!  A perfect way to cool down, have a beer... or two... or three, and relax while floating on our inner tubes.

This Arizona heat has been really hard for me to deal with.  I've never been the type who revels in the fact that the little red line on the thermometer has surpassed the 80° mark.  I'm used to a mild summer with a week or two of intolerable heat.  Back home we had Lake Superior's cool breeze to cool us off or the icy cold waters if you were brave enough to jump in.  And I don't care what you say about humid heat vs. dry heat.  To me, its all the same and it doesn't matter much when the backs of your knees, the bends in your elbows, and the small of your back are sweating like there's no tomorrow.

Yesterday the temperature reached 101°.  The term 'dry heat' sounds ridiculous when it's that hot.  With each breath I felt a sense of suffocation and I wished I could've walked around mostly naked like our little Ginger did.  And the funny thing is, is that it doesn't even phase the girls.  They take naps in their UN-air conditioned room and wake up with a wet head and a damp pillow.  They will run around outside, sweat beads forming on their upper lip, and come inside and not show an ounce of exhaustion.

We took them to one of the many splash pads in the Phoenix area yesterday afternoon.  It was perfect for them.  They burned off energy running around and stayed cool by frolicking in the large sprinkler-like system.  It was easier for us too with no worries of them falling into the pool and God forbid! drowning.  There were other kids there too... I'm suspecting on their way home from school.  It was fun to watch those boys running around (some in their school uniforms) drenched in wet, forgetting all inhibitions and acting like the young boys they were.  You could see the joy on their faces... and my girls' faces too.  I would've felt awfully silly running around with all those kids in my red, polka dot 50's style suit, but in retrospect, I wish I could've lost all inhibitions just like those boys, and went for it.  Instead, I came home and took a cold shower.


We have about a month and a half left here in Arizona, and from what we've heard, June can be a doozie.  So in light of it all I decided to post some silly (but more likely, lame) "How hot is it?" jokes for you all.


How hot is it???

• it's so hot that you can attend any function wearing shorts and a tank top
• it's so hot that the temperature drops below 95° and you feel chilly
• it's so hot when the strawberries are ripe, but the cab driver is riper
• it's so hot that you discover it only takes two fingers to drive your car
• it's so hot, today I saw a chicken lay a fried egg
• it's so hot that the squirrels are handling their nuts with potholders

I'm definitely gonna have to suck it up and get through these remaining weeks, but because of who I am, I'm not gonna do it without a little complaining. :)

On another note, we're heading to San Diego in a few weeks and would love some input on where to stay and what to do.  If any of our readers have lived or vacationed there and would like to share some points of interest, it would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks a bunch!!

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend... it sure is going by fast!