Heat Wave

Welcome to summer in Chicago.  It’s Hotter than a forest fire!  The last 2
weeks have reminded me of summers as a kid when it was always close to 100
degrees outside.  We didn’t have video games as our retreat to the basement, but
it was more like board games billiards or ping pong.

Its been years since we have had sweltering summers. 
Now we get the scalding heat 2 years in a row. 
It might have gone over 100 in summers past, but the last few
years have been pretty mild.  Heat index is something I think folks in Chicago
made up so we could feel miserable and be able to commiserate with other places
with a calculated number.  OK we have a Heat index of 110 or 150, blah blah, I
agree it’s hot out.  Few months ago we were all complaining of sleet and ice on
the driveway.

Hot and cold are not even a technical terms to describe temperature. 
Temperatures are values at present reading based on a scale of absolute zero
Kelvin.  We use the terms “hot and cold” to complain and whine about the outside
environment and how the weather just makes our day worse.  In the fall when its
50 degrees out and perfect for yard work, I hear complaints from friends who
live way down south that it’s too cold out.  In the winter when it’s freezing
outside I hear from friends in Alaska telling me that -40 is cold not 31
degrees.  Hot and cold only make sense for exactly where you are standing, and
probably change when you ask a neighbor.

“When I was a kid”, was what I used to hear when I was kid.

Now it’s the same message.  My Dad had iron bars over the thermostat so we
couldn’t turn down the air conditioner.  Summers in Chicago were “Africa Hot”. 
The old junky thermostat was set and there was trouble if somebody lowered it to
make the house cooler.  Was electricity a jillion times more expensive than it
is now?  No, but I find myself being on light-OFF patrol several times a day to
save my own money on electricity.

As kids we found the coldest spot in the house was the sub-basement by the
pool table.  There was no TV since the rabbit ears didn’t work below ground. 
There was no xbox, Wii or other video games, though a few were lucky enough to
get that new fangled Atari System.  Or for the unlucky, we biked or walked to
Orland Square Mall waited in line and played it at the Sears store.   But the
point is we walked or biked outside when it was hot out!

Go for icecream, there are too many shops to list locally.
Centennial pool serves lunch and cold drinks, go to the pool swim and enjoy
the summer.  You’ll find me in the lazy river, busy as usual relaxing.  Also if
anybody has a pool they are not using, we’d be glad to help you out. 
Contrasting my youth spent “Pool Hopping”, as an adult I will ask permission
before cooling off.  (Reminder to self-find out when my friend Dave on the next block is going on vacation). 

So OK its hot out, bring a water bottle and go to the park.   
In my best Archie Bunker tone I tell my kids..
Go outside and play you won’t melt!