Mother Nature can be mean....

My gazanias are so pretty already!

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could take tropical storm Debby, grab it by the tail and drag it over to the fires in the West.  That sure would solve a lot of problems, wouldn’t it? So many people are having difficulties caused by different kinds of weather right now, you really wish there was some sort of magical solution sometime. It breaks my heart to turn on the news in the evening and see the folks down in Colorado and now, even in my own state, being ravaged by fire. Having cable TV, Denver is my “local” news, and I’ve had a front row seat to all the loss.

All the technology we have now and we still can’t save ourselves from Mother Nature. You know she’s gonna win in the end, don’t you? The best we can do is be prepared for whatever particular natural disaster each of our areas is prone to, but being human, we rarely think that far ahead.  It always reminds me that we are the only species on the planet that doesn’t seem to know the rules of Nature’s games.

It got up over 100 degrees here in Buffalo yesterday, and that’s very worrisome for this time of year.  Rob and I were up on the mountain this weekend and the snowpack is already looking pretty pitiful and the forest floor is getting really dry.  I sure hope this isn’t the year the Big Horns gets trimmed with fire. While we haven’t had the absolute devastation of pine beetle infestation that Colorado has had, we have been hit pretty hard, too.  There’s whole areas of dead trees everywhere, just waiting for a careless camper or a lightening strike to start off a major fire. That makes those prayers for rain a double edged sword, since they are frequently joined by cracks of lightening that could potentially start the very problem we are trying to alleviate with the rain.

I spent pretty much all day indoors yesterday. I’m one of those people that doesn’t really sweat, weird, I know.  It’s been a problem all my life. Oh sure, I get the little beads around my lips and a few drops on my forehead, but for the most part I just get really overheated and red in the face. I can’t get cooled down without submerging myself in cold water.  Heat makes me positively ill, sick to my stomach, even.  I went to a therapist a few years ago who had me using a FAR Infrared sauna to try to teach my body to sweat. I even bought a portable one to continue the treatments myself.  But, evidently, I just don’t have that capability to sweat very much and that’s dangerous when it gets this hot. So, I stay inside a lot when it gets near 100, unless I’m out where I can dunk myself in water, like the swimming pool or the lake.

Thistle didn’t seem to mind too much yesterday, though.  We had a grand time playing inside the house.  We have several “games”, which of course, I don’t quite understand the rules for, but she does…the one we were playing yesterday required me to chase her back and forth in my dressing room.  I’m so glad we built that dressing room when we put in the addition!  Jason, the contractor, laughed at me when I asked him to finish it in, saying I was going to have a very odd “closet”,  it’s 28 feet long and about 8-10 feet wide.  But, it’s great for running up and down with the dog! Not to mention we were able to take all the dressers and such out of our bedroom and put them in there.  Thistle thinks it’s her play run and every morning, when I’m getting dressed, we have a wild time in there. She can get quite a head of steam going, running back and forth in there.

Our monster closet & Thistle's play run area

Thistle is in the throes of heat and we’re stuck finding imaginative things to do around the house. I can’t take the chance of taking her for a walk and having a stray male dog find her inviting right now. I’ve got another 2-3 weeks before this is over and I can take her to the vet to get spayed. So, we’re spending our time playing in the backyard and inside for now. She’s a little upset that we haven’t gone anywhere, although we did take her up on the mountain with us this past weekend and got a nice walk in up there.  If I have time, I may try to do that today.  It will surely be cooler up there, anyway. I just have to be sure to go where there are no chances of running into other dogs, right?

Well, I’ve droned on long enough, I guess.  I hope that wherever you are, the weather is cooperating and you aren’t burning or drowning!  We’ll all make it through whatever Mother Nature has to dish out and we’ll be stronger for it. Just keep your wits about you and remember that others are having difficulties, too.  Be compassionate with your fellow earthlings! Love & Light!