It's HOT!!!

I have to ask myself who am I kidding when I say I like the heat with this god awful attrocious humidities??. I always say.."Oh I love the heat" Yeah!!! Right!!!. I tell myself this during the other months of the year that ain't like it is now.
I went to work on Tuesday to trim a sea grape tree. Not a complicated operation. I've maintained this tree for the client for years. A couple of hours on a tall step ladder with some pruning shears, DONE!!!. Fairly easy work if you ask me. However as I set out Tuesday to do it the air temp was in the upper 90's and dewpoint was close to 80 degrees. The noon sun burning down relentless under the tropical July sky. It wasn't just HOT!!!... it was totally gross!!. Felt like being inside a steam sauna with a massive hot light shining on you. I had confirmed with the client what she wanted done. In those few minutes my tshirt was soaked.

Gathered the needed tools for the tree trimming, got the step ladder set up. By this time my sleevless tshirt was dripping!!!. Oh this just sucks!!!. Well at least I'll be under and in the tree sheltered from the sun. I worked about 30 minutes and my shorts were getting drenched. Time to get a drink, change shirt and rest a spell in the shade. I'm a profuse sweater beyond the point of normal in my opinion. I see many dudes workin outside and they don't sweat anywhere close to what I do or so it seems.

I peeled off my totally saturated shirt and wrung it out in the street with about 2 cups of water equivalent worth of sweat. Placed the tshirt ontop of the corrugated steel toolbox in pickup truck bed to dry in the sun. Toweled off my soaked body and put on a dry, clean sleeveless tshirt.

The heat shimmered off the pavement amongst the palacial multi million dollar homes on the Gulf of Mexico. The tropical hardwood hammocks buzzed with circadas, even the vegetation looked as though it was screamin "It's HOT!!" I noticed not a branch, a palm frond was even moving. The air was dead still. Even the clouds over the water were boiling from the intense tropical heat.

Last I looked my truck thermometer said 97 degrees when I as driving on the Overseas Highway to the clients house. I mozzy'd on back to the back of the house on the Gulf to continue working on the tree. My t shsirt already starting to get wet. Another 45 minutes in and around the tree and I was done. now I had to clean up the mess!!. I had zero energy left and my body was a hurtin real bad.

I was again totally drenched. It's a fact of life I have to accept doing the job I do in the climate I live.

I was going very slow. The heat year after year is starting to take a toll on me. Too many years of heat exhaustion, excessive dehyrdation; my body just isn't holding up well in the heat like it used to. Folk tell me to drink water... I drink gallons of it a day!!. I'd have to stop and drink every 10-15 minutes to keep my body half way hydated in this climate. Many times on the job this isn't always feasible nor productive. I went to the truck to get a drink and my previous soaked thsirt was now dry. I took the soppin wet shirt off and replaced it with a dry one, this is a common feat fer me on a given workday about every 30 minutes of shirt changin. Drank a good bit of water and went and had me a sit down.

I wasn't feeling well, not good at all. I rarely have a day I feel good anymore. I think years of working in this heat has taken it's toll and my body no longer favorably responds.

Outside there just ain't no place to cool off. The shade offers some relief if one sits quietly. Most of my work is in the sun and even movement in the shade???... it's just hot!!! and do I ever fuckin SWEAT!!! The heat wouldn't be all that bad if it weren't for the god damned sweating I do!!!.

Today another day of not a stitich of wind. A morning tropical downpour just added to the thick, suffocating, stifling steam already in the air. It was impossible to keep anything on me dry today. Even my shorts were so soaked they were dripping, the insides of my legs chaffed... yep..this sucks!!! There ain't no relief in the heat until sometime in October when the October trade winds start to blow again and in November when the cold fronts start blowin in. That's a LONG time to wait.

Ya know it's funny. Each winter it's normal to get cold snaps in south Florida and the Florida Keys. When I say cold snaps??... morning low tempertaures in the 40's for the Florida Keys... that's about as cold as it gets here. I've seen it drop to 39 degrees once and that was a record low and folk literally freaked out.

Usually 44-45 is about as cold as it gets. The news makes a huge deal bout it like it's never happened before. Yours truly is pissin, bitchin and a fonchin and a fumin about the god damned cold fronts!!. Thing is it's not that it's cold!!. It's actually PERFECT weather. Morning low temps in the low 50's maybe even high 40's and afternoons in the mid to high 60's, the deepest, bluest skies?? and DRY air... OMG...it just can't get any better than that...can it???

I reckon I get all bent outta shape cuz on the mainland some areas get down to the low to middle 30's with damaging frosts and freezing temperatures. I hate to see or think all the beauitufl vegetation getting damaged. I saw a devastating freeze back in the mid 90's up in the Naples, Fl. Two mornings in the high 20's fried all the tropical vegeation, turned the palm trees brown..it was really sad. In the Miami area the agriculutural areas on the mainland are naturally colder so winter vegetable and tropical fruit tree crops get threatened during such outbreaks with even some slight damage on occasion. That is what I bitch and complain about!!!!. Dunno why I worry and fret over it, I really don't . It's not like I live up there.. Just one of my idiosyncrisies I reckon.

We are now in the midst of summer. The night time temps no longer even drop below 80 degrees and won"t until sometime in October. I'm the type of dude that really doesn't like wearin shorts... what the fuck am I doin livin in the Florida Keys where 99% of the population wheres shorts?. I like my Wrangler jeans and boots however I have no choice with the way I sweat but to wear shorts when I work during summer. I still wear my jeans though when I'm not working. Perhaps sometime in October when the winds start blowin I'll be able to don the Wrangler jeans and boots again fer work.

I'm a total outdoors type person. I love the outdoors. My idea of a good time is sittin in front of the fire and playin with it. Yeah I got a bit of pyro in me..LOL. Good people, good conversation, a few beers, some nice music playin in background, some good eats off the barbeque...now that's livin!!! Sure ain't no fun to sit in front of a fire when it's still 87 degrees at midnight.

What's a real scream is during the winter when it actually does get cool for a the few days here and there that it does. I can't get anyone to sit out with me. The north winds and temperatures in the middle 50's...yes...I said middle 50's and it's now 'TOO COLD"!! Whatcha ya'll talkin bout??.. this is perfect to build a big ole fire, put on a hooded sweat shirt and the fun really begins. Yet for most Keys folk that's too cold and I can't get anyone to sit out with me... so I sit alone.

The comfort of my youngin days comes from the smell of burning wood from wood stoves and fireplaces in cool, crisp air. Love to go campin and really rough it. I don't mean those luxury home on wheels type shit , those are for old folk and sissies. A good ole tent, a camp fire where you have to cook yer food. A crick to gather drinkin water and then you zip up in a sleepin bag to keep warm as you listen to all the critters out and about.. now that's campin!!

The Florida Keys truly are paradise. It really is beautiful here but unless you are really into fishing, boatin, divin there really ain't squat to do here. I don't dive, don't own a boat nor do I want to. Fishin??... the fishin I know and remember was in a mountain stream or lake as a youngin. I personally don't really care fer the taste of fish. Had a bad experience with it once when in my youngin years. Sure wish I liked it though. It be somethin to do here and some good eatin too.

The vegetation is beautiful and many songs and poems written bout it. Even our yard is almost like a tropical botanical gardens.

I feel I done what I came here in the Florida Keys to do. All my life my dream was to live in Fl and I fullfilled that. Will I spend the rest of my life here? Well my heart and soul is beckoning me back to the mountains. My desire to see seasons change, to be able to put on a coat more than 3-4 times a winter. Like I said I love the outdoors. I could spend more time outdoors doing alot more things than I do down here. I woudln't mind seein a few snowfalls, seein the leaves unfold in spring and the trees turn color in the fall. The smell of wood burnin in crisp air. I can sure think of alot of fun things to do up in the mountains. Someday..... Someday.......

For now I'll sweat it out. At least my job is outdoors so I'm not cooped up inside of some place. Fact of life is the heat and deal with it I will like I have all these years. Folk need to remind me this winter. When the local news says "Big Chill Coming to South Florida" and the forecast low temps in the 40's and I start pitchin a fit??... "Hey remember how you bitched last summer about the heat and humidity?... You yearned desperately for a crisp day in the 60's and a night in the high 40's to mid 50's. You so badly wanted to build a fire to sit in front of while you slugged down the brews and wear yer favorite Carhartt jacket?

Remind me of that folk and slap me upside the head come January...

Night Ya'll

JD