We are in the midst of a killer heat wave. Unfortunately, weather gurus are comparing this heat wave to the heat of the 1950s--a pattern that lasted about 7 years, as I remember. The difference between now and 50 years ago? Well, there are a lot of differences. Air conditioning then was a novelty, not a fact of life. The one place that you could count on as being air conditioned was a movie theatre. Of course, when the movie ended, you had to drive home, where it was still hot. And in the 1950s I was just a kid and had that resiliency of childhood. Nevertheless, I remember those summers as miserable, and the heat here now has gone beyond unfomfortable to miserable. The weather forecasters say that there is a giant high pressure cell directly over the central part of the country, and there is nothing in sight that will nudge it away to let cool air come in.
And did I mention that it is dry? There are various classifications of drought--from "dry" to the most severe--"exceptional drought." We are now in the last, worst category: this drought is exceptional. We are spdnding a lot of our time keeping our new plantings alive and then retreating to the house where it is, mercifully, cool.
