Southern Summer

I’m experiencing my first southern summer and —- uh — yeah—-it’s hot! I know my Florida friends are probably laughing because I’m really not that far south but this is warm enough here in Virginia Beach.

I’m helping out with daycare for my grandson and let’s just say, “Thank God for central air.“ A typical day here is a high of 92 with a real feel temperature of 97 to 100. If you don’t get a walk in before 8 a.m. you have to wait until after 6 p.m. No more mid-morning walks for Grampy and Liam.

I have a vegetable garden that needs watering early in the morning and in the evening and I still think it gets too much sun. I’ve noticed that some people build a little something for shade.

I’m borrowing my daughter-in-laws car while she’s on deployment and let me tell you how that steering wheel feels after it’s been parked in the sunny driveway all day. Yikes!

My daughter, Sarah, has been down here for five years now. She describes the summer weather as “Satan’s Arm Pit.” That sounds about right.

Liam and I go outside to get some fresh air everyday. Lately that’s been lasting about five minutes. I was trying to sit in the sun for thirty minutes everyday to get some Vitamin D. That ended about the first week of June.

My wife feels like she could never move down here because she likes to be outdoors working in the yard. The kids try to tell her that April and May are nice and you can enjoy being outside right up until November as long as you skip the summer part.

It has been interesting to compare but I have to say if I needed to choose between the two there’s nothing like a sunny day at the beach back home. A nice breeze off Buzzards Bay is pretty refreshing. There’s a breeze here too it just feels like it’s coming from your oven.

You do get used to it and adapt. If we had a week of 90 degree days back home it would dominate the news. Here you just kind of roll with it and go from air conditioning to air conditioning. I do miss having the windows open for some fresh air but that would be no relief at all. That “Satan’s Arm Pit” description is pretty spot on.