Losing my Jealousy of You

I must confess that during much of the year…especially in the winter,(which by the way, is too damn long) I am quite jealous of where many of you live. But lately, I read your posts about how hot it is where you live, with temperatures in the 90’s and even over 100, every single day, and it is making me lose my jealousy. It didn't even make 80 here over this past weekend but it was warm enough.

While it does have the potential to get good and hot here in Minnesota, it is not the norm and if it is hot, very seldom does it last for long. I do like it warm and even like it hot, when I don’ have to work outside and can be sitting in a lake or lounging on the shore of one. Having done farm work in the summer heat, I can't imagine doing it in the heat that you experience on a daily basis.

I like to be outside doing things(you already know this if you read my last post) and could not imagine doing all those things we like to do in such extreme heat. Is it something you just get used to? To live in the high heat day after day would get very old for me…especially now that I am experiencing these fun hormonal changes taking place. Seriously, how do you people handle it? How do you menopausal women handle it?

Like I said, it does have the potential to get hot here. We have had some really hot summers and it seems to me, that I was usually pregnant and/or had a little baby to try to keep cool. I remember being very pregnant and having little ones to take care of and having no air conditioning in our house. It would get pretty hot inside the house because I was still using the stove and the oven since it was during this time in my life in which I made everything from scratch. And I used cloth diapers and hung out all the laundry on the clothes line. Oh lord, how the heck did I do it?

So anyways, I just remember how flippin hot it would get in my house and there were days that I just had too much work to do or couldn’t haul that many kids to the lake or didn’t have enough energy to do so. Just about every day, I would fill up their little pool first thing in the morning and when it got to the point I couldn't take it anymore, I would get right in there with them. Or I would run through the sprinkler with them...actually I think it was more that I stood there and let the cold water shower me… Anything to cool off. Oh how I must have looked to those that passed by. I am sure we(I)was quite the sight.

I remember being pregnant with my youngest child and I was a week over due. It was the beginning of June and we were actually having a hot summer(hotter then this year anyways) and my oldest daughter comes into the house and says “The cows are out.” Dear Lord help me. My husband was laid up and unable to help us get them in. So, here I am, big as a house, chasing cows through the fields, while trying to carry my 2 year old daughter, along with my other little ones, in 90 some degree’s. With the promise of ice cream, pop cycles and running through the sprinklers, my children kept running after those damn cows. With the hope that just maybe this would start my labor, I was intent on getting these cows inside their fence without calling for help.

We did get them in eventually(without having to call for help), but by the time we were done, we were wringing wet with sweat. And to think that now day’s, I exercise as hard as I can, every single day, to work up a sweat like that. Go figure. Yes, I know I must be crazy. And no, it didn’t bring on labor. In fact, I went another week before I gave birth to the 10 lb bundle of joy. It's hard to believe that bundle of joy, is now 20 year old. Time sure flys when you're having fun.


So anyways, when we were finished getting the cows back in the pasture and sure that they weren't going to get out again, I dished them up an ice cream cone and there we sat in the middle of the yard, under a tree, eating ice cream cones…ice cream melting all over them. I hooked up the sprinkler and the little ones just stood under the sprinkler until they couldn’t stand it anymore. I was so tired I could hardly move, so I had them fill up their sand buckets with water from the sprinkler and gave them permission to pour it over me. Talk about pure bliss.


Now day’s, it’s not so difficult. Times have changed. I'm not trying to do farm work outside (no more chasing cows)...thank God. While I do make a lot of things from scratch, I am no longer making everything from scratch like I used to...thank God for that too. I'm no longer getting pregnant. Can we all shout "Amen" to that? We just turn on the central air conditioning when it gets too sticky and hot, which isn‘t that often and mostly at night.

Most of the time, we just have the windows open and run a few fans. We spend so little time inside the house when we are at home, that we just don’t turn it on. But, it sure is nice to have that option. Thankfully we have lots of lakes around us, so when ever we get the chance, we can go jump in one of them, if it’s too hot to do much else. And if I'm having one of my hormonal hot flashes, no amount of air conditioning does the trick anyways, so I just stick my head in the freezer, where I keep my dark chocolates. Does the trick every time.

So tell me…I really want to know…How do you cool off? How do you beat the heat?