Wed. June 19, 2024: Escalating Heat
image courtesy of Tove from Pixabay.comWednesday, June 19, 2024
Waxing Moon
Pluto Retrograde
Juneteenth
Brutally hot and humid
How are you holding up in the heat? Taking care of yourself? Of each other?
Today is supposed to be even more brutal, heat-wise, than yesterday.
Yesterday, we survived, without decamping. That didn’t mean it wasn’t a complicated day, but we survived.
I adapted a few episodes of DD into “A Stylish Death” in the morning, so that I didn’t feel the day was entirely a loss on the creative front. I then switched over to script coverage work, pausing at 10 AM for an hour to do the Midsummer workshop, and then finishing the coverage in time to have a late lunch.
Part of me thought I should push through and do more script coverage, get started on today’s scripts, but that was taken out of my control when the internet started flickering.
I’d already received a message that the internet would be down today from midnight to 6 AM for “maintenance” but I guess they were already having issues.
Shortly after that, we started getting emergency alerts on our phones. The 9-1-1 system was down statewide. We got them every 10 minutes for several hours. Which was unnecessary, in my opinion. Shortly after those started, we got an emergency alert from New York State, with a rather smug message that THEIR emergency system worked. Not helpful.
At 4 o’clock, we piled into the (very hot) car to pick up our CSA. The road was blocked, due to an accident, so we had to take the long way around, meeting the ambulance as it headed for Pittsfield (severe enough they knew that it wouldn’t work to take them to the local hospital, which only has 18 beds for people to stay up to 72 hours).
Got to the farm, loaded up, chatted with one of the farmers. It’s a glorious haul this week, which I will detail in the Thursday garden post. I will share that there’s a Bok choy literally as big as my head.
They were just clearing up the accident when we came back (road was open again), and the cars involved were completely totaled. Scary.
Home, sorted out the vegetables, went over the mail. I owe some on state taxes, which I can pay this week; the ambulance service agreed to my installment proposal. So that’s all sorted.
Went to gentle yoga, which was good. Did not have the mental or physical energy for fitness.
Came home, cooked a simple dinner – using some of the Bok choy – we will be eating Bok choy all week, which is fine, because I really like it.
The apartment didn’t really get hot until the evening, and the hottest it hit was 84 degrees, which wasn’t too bad, considering it was 94 outside.
I finished reading TORN ASUNDER, Barbara Ross’s last Maine Clambake mystery. It was a satisfying ending to the series.
The night was a little sticky and uncomfortable, although I managed to get some sleep. The cats rousted me out of bed before 5 AM. It was still 84. I got the fans going, but only managed to get it down to 83.
We will decamp today, maybe even earlier than originally planned. Since the libraries are closed for Juneteenth, it causes a dearth of options for people. But we are members of the Clark Art Institute, and I intend to make use of that for us today.
I’m going to head to the grocery store early (like 7:30-ish), and then see how much coverage I can get done before my 10 AM workshop. Once that’s done, we’ll have an early lunch (radishes from the CSA with bread and butter) and head for the Clark. I will leave my mom there while I go to tarot (which isn’t far), and then pick her up after. The cats have their burrows of choice, and will have plenty of ice water. I’ll make sure to change out the water in the birdbath first thing this morning, and then again, before we leave.
Stay safe, my friends. It ain’t pretty out there.
