Today, July 28, 2009, started out like a typical day except for one thing; my house didn’t cool down overnight from this crazy heat wave we’re having. I slapped the alarm 2 or 3 times before deciding to get up. Eric slipped out of bed shortly after the alarm went off to go take his shower and get ready for another day of work. Breakfast was a quick fix of oats and fruit. Eric was driving on to the ferry today so I made his breakfast portable so he could eat it during the crossing. Then I fixed his lunch with typical stuff; sandwich, tortilla wrap with veggies, fruit, cookies and loads of water. It’s a challenge at times to keep him full. Amazing how much food this guy can put away and he only weighs about 170lbs…Just 5 to 10 more than I.
Since Eric drove his own vehicle to the ferry today, as soon as he left I went outside to give the gardens and plants some extra water; let the chickens and turkeys out, hosed out the ducks’ sleeping box, gave them a fresh pool of water and then took off for the coffee shop for my daily dose of caffeine!
Once I arrived at the coffee shop, I received my usual fun harassment from Bobbo. He always asks “What do you want?” in a playful way. He and Angela, Bobbo’s wife, own the coffee shop and have become icons on the island. Bobbo & Angela’s great personalities and the fun atmosphere and not to mention the great coffee keeps islanders and visitors alike coming back time after time. Then we play this game where he guesses what I want (usually totally off the chart) and then finally he’ll turn around and go in and prepare my “usual” which is a Vente rice milk mocha latte half-caff extra hot with a little shot of Irish Cream (no wonder he has to ask every day). While sitting in the drive-thru, I observe locals coming and going. One of our most colorful locals is Mr. C. As Mr. C was leaving the coffee shop, he said hello, bragged about having an AC and then jumped in his SUV and drove off while yelling “Whoo Hoo”. Next thing I know I hear this faintly familiar puttering off in the distance…..It was Mr. B on his little red scooter. Now Mr. B is very special to the islanders who know him. He’s quite the character; fun, smart, big heart and full of surprises. When you look at Mr. B one would expect him to ride up on a beefed-up Harley Davidson sporting all to doo-dads a biker would normally have. But, Mr. B has a fun little Red Scooter adorned with stickers and jewels he loves and adores (they scream of his personality). He always says “hello”, is great for an “island” hug and conversation. It was at this moment I decided to write about a day in my life on Anderson Island.
Then I was off to go feed a stray kitty that was left behind when some people moved away from the island. It hurts to see an animal lose their family and be left to fend for themselves. I’ve only seen him/her once and that was a quick glance. The kitty is very shy, possibly feral or just simply freaked out without its family. Every day for a week now I’ve left food and fresh water. I’m surprised the Raccoons haven’t eaten the food so I’m sure the kitty is eating well. The water is clean when I get there so I’m sure they aren’t bothering the kitty.
While sipping my latte, I drove home with the windows down in the car as I could feel the heat coming and I wanted to savor every moment of this fresh, cool air blowing all around me. I saw lots of people out walking, mowing and doing things during this cool opportunity before the heat hit hard. Weather forecast is for temperatures in the mid 90’s, very humid and poor air quality. YUCK!
Now that I’m back home, the doggies and kitties all want to be fed and let out to go potty and play. Believe it or not, right after Jolie ate her breakfast she went and laid down right outside the back door where the sun was strong. She’s out like a light and the sun is so strong. She’s black in color so she has to be just cooking…Yikes! Ladybug is trying to hide from Skipper…the normal daily routine.
Next I decided to follow up with Facebook only to discover my friends necking again…long-running story. Anyhow, there’s lots of stuff going on, political updates, what’s this, hey it’s hot, the kids are growing, you know…all the good stuff you rarely get to hear about but since the inception of Facebook we can get up-to-the-minute updates about our friends and family. Even upload video and pictures. Gotta love that!
Later in the day I went to get a smoothie from the coffee shop….Yum Yum. It’s now 90 outside but we have a slight breeze which makes it just a little bit more tolerable. On my way home I thought I would call my son, Paul. He’s in California helping his father who has had 2 strokes in the past month or so. He’s doing well now. Paul is still hanging out, not sure what he wants to do with his life, you know the story. Yadda yadda yadda!
All the animals are very quiet now since it’s so hot. Everyone has found a quiet, shady space to take a nap in. Jolie took a dunk in the kiddie pool, Ladybug has laid herself at my feet and Skipper is upstairs somewhere….probably trying to dig up a crumb from under the rug. Around 2:00pm or so the UPS driver shows up with a package – new business cards! I hate running out of them. I stepped out onto the deck only to discover that it was very hot on the feet and I couldn’t stand still. I must have looked as if….well, you know the danceJ
Okay, it’s 4:15pm and now it’s 96 out! I’m as low to the ground as I can get and just sweating profusely. I know, come winter I’ll be dreaming of a day like today. Today has been pretty quiet. I’ve received phone calls and e-mails regarding sales transactions and so forth, worked on my clock hours to renew my license in October and drank (drinking) a lot of water. I can’t help but wonder how Eric is doing at work. It must be so hot there in the big metal buildings. Oh, and I just called him to see where he is as he usually calls me to tell me he’s on the ferry. Well, I just discovered he’s sitting in a nice air-conditioned hair salon getting his hair cut! Smart guy! I’m so jealous.
I just got off the phone with a new client that is very interested in one of our beautiful properties listed on the island. These types of calls make my day! Can’t go into detail but I know it’ll work out perfectly. In fact, come to think of it, I got two calls like this today….pretty darn good day.
Eric just got home and gads, it’s so hot! We spent the rest of the evening trying to stay cool, water the plants, animals, etc. Late in the evening I went to get our scrap buckets from the general store deli for the chickens. The chickens will not let me forget. At about 7:30pm or so they all crowed at one end of their run nearest our driveway with expectations of the juicy scraps! Absolutely hilarious how they are such creatures of habit and they produce fabulous eggs. While at the store I was tempted to buy some soft-serve ice cream. I think it was the biggest sales item for the day. I sure hope she has lots more for the rest of the week. Yum yum!
At about 10:30pm when we were ready to turn in for the night, it was 91 degrees in the house. We had so many fans running, we just couldn’t cool off. Eric I think took two cool showers, I took one and was still sweating when I went to bed. Absolutely unbelievable and relentless heat.
The best thing about today was that I have my health, Eric, my family and friends. They all show me so much love and consideration. Thank you allJ
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