Hot!

Is it hot where you are? Heat waves on the road, leaves on the bushes limp? I-can't-draw-a-breath smotheringly hot?

Welcome to summer in Texas.

The goats are hot, they lie in the shade and pant. The hogs are hot, they lay in the mud. The free-range chickens congregate under the drip line for the air-conditioners. The dogs dig vast holes and fill them to overflowing. The rabbits pant faster than I can count and cozy up to the frozen bottles of water that Sara has provided for them.

This is the season of contrasts...you leave your air-conditioned car to walk across the parking lot to go to the store. The air is so heavy and hot that you have a hard time breathing and your glasses fog up! You walk through the door of the store and are met with the arctic blast that is so cold that you draw great gulps of the frigid air even as your chest constricts. You leave the store only to be hit by a wave of heat as intense as if someone opened an oven. You get in the car and crank the air and before you know it your fingers grow numb in the sub-zero temperature flowing from your air-conditioning vents.

I actually enjoy the contrasts. I like the refreshment of the cold when walking in the store. By the time I am done shopping I welcome the heat that washes over me. I like the sharp, clear differences.

My husband enjoys summer in Texas as well. He says this is what keeps so many living up North, rather than flooding Houston and making property prices skyrocket! Gotta love that man, eternally pragmatic.