Summer time and Livin's not easy in this heat!

Vonda’s views June 21, 2010
Summertime, an' the livin' is easy
Fish are jumpin' an' the cotton is high
Oh, Ya daddy's rich an' ya' mama’s good lookin'
So hush, little baby, don't you cry
Mercy me! It’s the first day of summer as I write this. Its already so hot all I want to do is find me a kiddie pool to fillup and lay in it under a big shade tree with a cooler full of iced tea ( we live in dry counties so that is all we can talk about!) and a good book to read. Unfortunately for me and other adults I know, we have to put on work clothes and get out in this wretched heat plus humidity and work while the kids are able to sleep late and then get up and forage for some food in the kitchen and then go and get in a pool somewhere.
If you saw me you would know that I don’t do swimming pools in the day light hours. I am about as fair as one can be and not be an albino. And I just don’t do heat well. I have always maintained that I don’t like cold weather but I CAN put on enough clothing in the cold months to keep myself comfortable. Now in the summer time that thought cannot be reversed. You cannot take off enough clothes to get cool. You are still hot and sweaty and running around in your birthday suit is still illegal in Mississippi.
I was talking about the heat to a California transplant just last week. We were both working in a store and I asked him how he liked living in the southern part of the US so far. He said “what is the deal with this heat? It’s so Hot!” In true Mississippi fashion I answered him with “oh this is nothing. You just wait until the Dog Days of Summer hit. Now that is hot!” he looked at me with fear in his eyes at the prospect of even hotter temperatures.
The dog days haven’t even gotten here yet and my poor Mary the wonder pup and her remaining litter of girl pups are all laying around in the shade and lapping up cool water in copious amounts. Bless their little doggy hearts, when the Dog Days of summer do arrive they will be begging me to shave their already short hair off.
My husband gave them all a bath over the weekend and even though their daddy was a Labrador, they have their mothers’ absolute fear and loathing of the water. They will swim but and they don’t like it one bit. You can see the gears working in their little heads when they see a puddle. I can just visualize a little devil dog on one shoulder whispering ‘jump in! you know you want to’ while the little angel dog on the other shoulder is whispering, ‘you know you don’t like the water except to drink it. walk around it and go rest under the hydrangea bush’.
I understand their dilemma. Part of me wants to stay home and paint or read a book in the cool comfort of my home while sipping tall glasses of iced tea while the other part is poking at me telling me to get up and go on out in the heat and do some work because there are bills to pay.
Too bad Summer time can’t be easy for everyone and we just work in the cool hours and rest during the hottest hours and then get back at it after the heat of the day has passed. But then again this is the South and the heat of the day seems to go on into the night!

Another thought occurs to me as I contemplate this heat. Perhaps there is a reason the Bible Belt has so many churches. It’s hotter than blue blazes in the South. Maybe some folks realize this is as hot as they ever want to be!
One of these mornin's, you gonna rise up singin'
Then you'll spread yo' wings an' you'll take the sky
But till that mornin', there's nothin' can harm you
With daddy & mama standin' by