James Etheridge

It’s hot outside. I realize the response will be, “No kidding, Sherlock,” only you’ll replace “kidding” with a word that begins with the first two letters of Sherlock. It’s too hot to sit on the deck and read. It’s too hot to have a beverage on the porch and watch the birds. It’s too hot to cook on the grill. It’s too hot do anything outside. About the only thing that it’s not to hot to do is sit inside and write about how hot it is outside. The exception is golf. You have to draw the line somewhere, although we tee off at eight in the morning and generally finish around eleven-thirty. Then it’s home to the air conditioning.

My front and back yard both look like toast. I water them daily, but to little avail. What we need is one of those good soaking weeklong rains. According to the weather charts, rain’s not going to happen until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest. About the only saving grace is the humidity is low, most probably because the tropical storms in the Gulf and the Atlantic sucked all the moisture out of the air, at least in this part of the world. So what we’re experiencing in Georgia is a dry heat. But the high today will be around ninety-nine degrees, and ninety-nine is ninety-nine anyway you slice it.

I’ve never been one to complain about the heat. I was always able to handle it when I was younger, probably due to the fact that we had a swimming pool. It’s much easier to tolerate the dog days of summer on a float in a swimming pool or an inner tube on the lake. I was fortunate enough to spend a good deal of time on the lake when I was a youngster. Our neighbors across the street owned a cabin on Lake Jackson and I spent a good deal of time with them there. That was where I learned to water ski. My father was a City of Atlanta fireman and the fire department had a recreation area on Lake Allatoona. There were cabins available, a boat dock, a beach area and a lodge. We spent numerous Fourth of July holidays there, as well as Boy Scout camping trips. My grandfather had a fishing boat and we took it up there one weekend when I was around eleven or twelve. My mother couldn’t swim, was terrified of water and screamed at my father to slow down the whole time we were riding in it. That year over the winter, Daddy bought plans for a ski boat and began purchasing materials to build it with. I was very excited and eager to help him build it. He was always one to complete anything he began, but he never started on the boat and sold the plans and materials to one of the firemen he worked with. I always wondered why. It took me years to figure out.

When I was a kid growing up in the Sixties in Gresham Park, nobody in my neighborhood or beyond had a swimming pool in their back yard. So we did what we did back then, we improvised and played in the sprinkler. The oscillating type was the best.  We would put on our swimsuits and play for hours in the sprinkler, jumping through and letting the water rain down on us. It was just like going swimming, or so we thought. One thing’s for sure, it would cool us down.

I’m trying hard to take care of the birds through the heat wave. I’m keeping the feeders full and water in the birdbath. They are still coming to feeders, mostly in the mornings and evenings. I haven’t seen the hummingbirds much. Maybe they’ve decided it’s too hot here and headed back to Mexico early. I’m even temporarily giving the squirrels the benefit of the doubt, keeping corn on the feeder for them and not shooing them out of the birdbath. The dogs aren’t even bothering to terrorize the chipmunks. They stay outside for about ten minutes, then stand at the back door panting and demanding to be let in. Once inside they head straight to the water bowl. I think the chipmunks must be deep in their dens trying to stay cool. I haven’t seen any for a couple of weeks. As soon as it rains, however, the gravy train ends, at least for the squirrels. It’s back to the ongoing battle between them and me for control over the suet feeders. But until then I will keep running the sprinklers and trying to keep whatever moisture I can on the grass and plants. Maybe I’ll multi-task and play in the sprinkler while I’m watering, at least in the back yard. The heat hasn’t made me crazy enough to do it in the front. At least not yet.