Out of sorts

It's 113 degrees just now, and could go higher. These temps have been our norm for the past -- oh, nearly a month, I think -- but the humidity has soared this week (okay, 35-40% humidity is nothing in the Midwest where I grew up, but for here, it's very high).

All of California is baking this week, as has much of the country. In this kind of heat, only air conditioning brings some relief -- while we used our swamp cooler even on some of the higher temps last week -- 109, 110, even -- when the humidity rose, we gave it up and turned on the AC. It's hot even at night, too.

The kitties lie panting on the concrete porch, stretched long in front of the door where a breath of cooler air might leak. I bring them ice cubes sometimes, and they'll lick at them half-heartedly before they collapse against the wall again.

It's just too hot.

And I'm out of sorts -- I guess that's the best term for it. Funny how you can go to bed feeling blessed and positive, and wake up feeling just slightly "off," where nothing tastes especially good, your body feels drained and sluggish and lumpy, motivation has taken a backseat to ennui.

It's probably the heat. It's good to have a scapegoat, anyway.

We had one cloudy day this week, where temperatures stayed below 100 until late in the afternoon when the clouds broke up. Made me long for summer showers -- although these would have been warm rains with stifling humidity. And summer storms are scary here because of lightning and the potential for fire. So never mind...

It's supposed to be slightly less hot tomorrow. Maybe my "sorts" will be back in place too.