There's A Heat Wave A'Comin

It's going to get really really really incredibly hot for the next five days or so. Like up to 115 hot. I've really enjoyed the past few weeks, it's been hot but not horribly so, not so hot that you can't have the windows open in the morning and not so hot that you have to have the a/c running all day long. But that will all change, with today getting up to about 95 and then watch out, hot hot hot!

Every summer when all this starts I wonder how people managed back in the days before air conditioning was invented, especially back in the days when people wore all those clothes, the long dresses and petticoats and pants and jackets for men. They must have just sweated and stunk because I don't think deodorant had been invented yet, either, not to mention indoor plumbing so you could go take a shower to cool off.

I don't even care how high our electric bill will get, I'm running that a/c at the first sign of sweat!

Keith is working really hard to try and absorb all of the information he needs to know to pass his rules test at the end of the training period. He's been up until 11 the past few nights studying and writing down answers to questions in his study booklet, and then back up studying and writing at 6 in the morning. Next week he will start training in the yard, doing actual yard work with some rotating shifts and probably more book studying. He's having a hard time with some of it and feels a little overwhelmed with it all, so I'm just hoping it all sinks in so he can pass the tests and keep the job.

I didn't realize it, not really thinking about it, but the train guys all work 12 hour shifts, then off for 12 hours, then back on. There are days off here and there but not scheduled ones, and there is no such thing as being closed for holidays. They get paid very well, but they earn it in long days and not being able to do a lot of family type things because of the weird hours they all work. It's a tough life, but if it all works out Keith will be making twice the money that he was making at all of his other jobs.

Yesterday, Mimi was sitting on the bench in the front window intently staring at something, so I look out and see Lucy in the flower bed also staring at something and I think they are staring at each other, but then I see a bird fly up to the tree with a piece of Lucy's breakfast food in its beak. I have never seen a bird come to the cat dish before and he must not have seen Lucy over there in the flower bed just a foot or two away from the dish. Brave bird! He didn't know how close he was to danger!