Thursday, July 1, 2010

Hitzefrei!

The high school kids in Wuppertal got Hitzefrei yesterday! That's when they say it's too hot to learn, go home. Where I come from we never got that.

It's been between 85° and 90° all week, and the only time I'm comfortable outside is before 7 AM or after 10 PM. Otherwise I'm a sweaty dusty grouchy mess. I prefer the 60s and low 70s. Currently it's 13:40 and 89° on the shady side of our house.




As hot as it gets, I cannot help think of Seattle's hottest day ever last year - 104! The day we all thought we'd die from the heat.






If July 1 is this hot, I'm scared of what will happen in a few weeks. (The photo is my man keeping hydrated on Seattle's hottest day.)






I made more smoothies from our currants.




Baasha is doing well in the heat - he hangs out in the shade and amazingly, his eyes look great. I keep the mask on all the time now.





Every night at about 10:30 pm (twilight), I get my own light show in my yard. FIREFLIES! I spent the first 36 years of my life never having seen a firefly, and I just love them! (Not *on* me, but flying around me is OK.) They are like fairies, they are simply magical! The first time I ever saw them was in DC for July 4th. I didn't want to watch the city's fireworks display cuz behind me were a bunch of fireflies. I remember trying to capture them on film, ha, right.

Trimming Baasha's feet is so difficult in this dry weather, the other day I decided to just spray his feet with the hose for 20 minutes first. I don't have a pool for him to stand in but I learned that as he stands in the grass with water hitting his feet, he eventually makes little hoof pools of his own from his weight. I wonder what he was thinking as I made him stand there and sprayed his hooves for so long. I wonder if it was refreshing at all? He's an Arab, a born water hater, but it's so freaking hot out. It worked; the rasp actually shaved some hoof off!

Of course I sprayed myself too.

10 comments:

Jason said...

Welcome to Tennessee ! We stay warm from May through September although it's very pleasant today; 81 degrees on my back porch at 1:40pm and we are enjoying the heck out of it !

AmityBee said...

How come that your pasture still looks so juicy, lush and green?! Ours here in Muenster (NRW) look like the savannah, dry and dusty after 5 weeks of no rain.

Jen said...

I think we had a couple days last week here in Alabama where the index was around 104 (blech!) I can handle the 90s okay as long as the humidity doesn't get too high - that's what wilts me the fastest :o)

lytha said...

Jason, just now they are making hay in the field in front of our house. This is the second field that I've seen where the farmers switched to hay rather than haylage because of this weather. It's good for them, they will get more money.

AmityBee, Thank you for visiting my blog. I had to bring Baasha to Muenster to visit their eye doctor, and although they weren't able to help him, the abstrich they took was helpful later. Our field is only green because it was harvested in early June, so this is the lovely aftergrass. It is always totally brown right after they cut it. 5 weeks with no rain? Ah but that was just 5 drops, I counted.

Jen, we expect it to get to 100 this weekend and so I'm spending the day making ice cubes in preparation. Ice cubes are known to cause bladder infections and other illnesses in Germany, but my favorite thing on a hot day is a bucket of ice water for my feet. The Germans say, "Just you wait..."

Sonya said...

It is warm isn't it..it's currently 28 celcius in the house! Today the boys got out early due to the heat. They can have u driving on black ice during the winter to get your kids to school but the instant it gets warm everyone is freaking out here..lol PLUS noone turns a darn fan on! I dont feel sorry for them. We have our giant ceiling fan running on high and our small portable A/C in the bedroom waiting for us when we go to bed.

Fireflies are awesome. I never saw then before until I took a trip as a young kid to nebraska I think it was. My grandma gave me a jar and told me to go and catch some. I ran around laughing all night trying to catch them. There is something magical about them:)

Stay cool my friend and drink lots of water with ice!

Funder said...

Hitzefrei, how funny! It wasn't until 2008 or so that Memphis got all its schools air conditioned - and it's still THAT HOT in August when school starts again. I'm sure those kids would've done anything for a Hitzefrei.

My husband, who lived in Kitsap as a teenager, was appalled to hear that it was 104 in Seattle last year. Wow!

Marla said...

It's been in the 100's here. 90's would seem like a cooling trend. lol

lytha said...

sonya, i have my bucket full of ice water and lots of kool aid and i've been making more ice all day. i'm good! but it's freaking 35 out!

funder, schools with AC? cool! i guess down south you should expect that.

your husband lived in kitsap county?! my dad lives there now, retired happily to the country. that's why my man and i were able to spend so much time on the coast, up and down 101. the olympic peninsula is really something great even before the vampires and werewolves (but they help).

~lytha

Leah Fry said...

We have been blissfully cooler courtesy of Hurricane Alex in the Gulf. We even got some unheard-of rain here in North Texas on July 1! Crazy, I tell you!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Yikes! I don't know why, but I've always thought that Germany is cold in winter and slightly warm in summer.
We had a blast of close to 100 degree temps a few weeks ago, but it only lasted a few days, gah! That's good, because we don't have A/C and we're not used to temps above 85 up here. Of course, we have no humidity, so it's always feel cool in the shade.
But because we have no humidity, that must be why we don't have fireflies.
As a kid I called them lightning bugs. lol!
You're so lucky to have them. They are like a magical faery garden party. They bring the party to you! :)


~Lisa