Outside My Window ~ 7.24.11

Outside my window…is a thunderstorm bringing wet, glorious rain and cooler temperatures.  Key words there…cooler temperatures!  You know it has been a hot one when I’m thinking 80°F at 10:15 at night is cool.  We tied a record today with a high of 96°F….of course it felt like 112°F when you factored in the heat index.  This past week has been beyond miserable…here and at many locations in the country.  It probably wouldn’t have been so insanely hot if we had cooled down in the evening but on several evenings it was still above 90°F close to midnight.  What is remarkable is how many states have had to post extreme heat warnings this past week.  And how about the dust storm that blew into Phoenix last week?!?  I can’t even imagine how bizarre it must be to look out the window and see a massive cloud of dust coming towards you.  So many states dry, dusty and hot.  A lot of the weather reports I have seen….that dust storm….it brings to mind photographs and stories I have read about the midwest in 1935, the dust bowl era. Everything I have seen says it can’t happen again….farmers today are more responsible with the way they farm the land as compared to the farmers during that era….but when you see those dust storms like Phoenix has experienced, you have to wonder.

I am glad…they are only forecasting highs of the low 90’s for this coming week.  Now if the humidity and dew points would stay relatively low, all will be good.  With the extreme temperatures this week, I have left all my blinds and curtains closed….all the time.  That is not normal for me, I’m beginning to feel like a mole or something….but it is keeping my house a lot cooler than if I had them all open.  Perhaps I will be able to open the curtains again this week.  🙂

I am thinking about…what a day I had yesterday.  I met a couple in Williamsburg to shoot a few engagement photographs for them and lord it was hot…no, I take that back, it was beyond hot…it was an inferno.  I was beginning to wonder if I was going to make it back to my car.  We ended up going inside the Bruton Parish church and cooling off in their air conditioning for what seemed like a very long time.  I think they were a little worried I may collaspe on them…and to be honest, at one point I was a little worried myself.  I was ill prepared for that kind of heat yesterday….I will definitely know better the next time.

I am working on…the engagement photographs from yesterday.  I hope to have them finished by the middle of this week.

I am hoping…we get a break from the heat this week and some rain showers in the late afternoons.  I’m also hoping I will be able to work my scheduled days at home this week.  Last week didn’t work out as planned…my supervisor was out last Monday and Tuesday and my co-worker ended up having emergency surgery on her appendix Tuesday morning.  At one point the Vice President of our department asked me how I was feeling….perhaps a little nervous since I was the last one standing in our Accounting Department.  🙂  My supervisor has since returned to work but my co-worker will be out until August 5th.   Sending get well wishes her way!

I am hearing…the ticking of my many clocks…the hum of my ceiling fans ~ my new best friends during this heat wave by the way.

Plans for the week…include working at home for a couple of days….hopefully getting out and about and taking a few more photographs than I did last week….and whatever else may happen to come along.

One of life’s little pleasures…air conditioning.  I do not know how people survive summers around here without it.

From my camera…it was a slow week because to be honest, it was miserable each and every time you walked out the door.  But I did manage to catch this little guy sharing a zinnia with a honey bee….