Flame ON!!!!

Holy crap, it's hot. Not just warm, but that sticky clothing, sweating-while-you're-sitting-still hot. The kind of hot where you want to rip the nipples off of anyone who says, "hot enough for ya?"

It was 89 degrees in my apartment this morning, at 5:30am. EIGHTY-NINE degrees at FIVE THIRTY IN THE MORNING. That's a little better than the past couple of days where it's been 90 or above, but it's still damned hot. Even with an AC unit running at full steam in my bedroom, it's still over 80 degrees in there. My wife is a couple generations removed from her ancestors in Ireland, which is a small rainy island whose temperatures average 70 degrees. Very rarely does it get above that, even in the summer. We've discovered that she is decidedly not built for the heat (as she says, she's the "economy model"). I've a little better tolerance, but not much better. I've avoided biking for the past few days - not that I haven't wanted to - because I don't want to die from heatstroke after a couple miles. We've both lost sleep simply because it's entirely too hot to sleep. We're exhausted, but the heat keeps us from actually drifting off and sleeping.

It's also taking it's toll on our cats. Caerbrae and Manny have spent much of the past couple of days as little furry heaps on the hardwood floor, moving only when the spot they're on gets too warm. I've also caught both of them panting, even when they're not moving. I'm not sure if it's the sleep deprivation or the heat or a combination of the two, but I swear I heard Caerbrae yell at me to shave him. Last night we confined both of them to the bedroom with the AC, and they seemed to be doing much better.

The heat needs to break soon, otherwise I'll start doing strange things...like sitting in a kiddie pool filled with ice on my front lawn, waving at the neighbors. Or run naked through all the sprinklers in the neighborhood. Or start licking mushrooms again...