Wringing Wet

Hard to put into words the feel of temperatures in the mid-90s with the humidity in excess of 50%. It rained yesterday in the afternoon. After the shower, I walked outside to enjoy the freshened environs. The sun was out and the trees were dripping from the rain. I was not prepared for the sauna that was Welch. Immediately, my mind associated the experience to the time I spent an incredible weekend at the Grand Hotel Spa. It was the stream room all over.

We do have an expression that sums up the effect of an Alabama summer day -- wringing wet. As in, you walk up to The Old Goat's house and by the time you get there, you are "wringing wet." Sweat is pouring out of every pore in your body. You are comparing yourself to a fish, sucking in and expelling water. Your hair is dripping, sweat drips from your fingers, and perspiration rolls down your legs, filling your shoes.

Fearing wringing wet, we have developed strategies to avoid the misery. We slow down. Dry region residents and Yankees thak we are lazy because we do things slowly. We are not disturbed by their views since taking note of them certainly trigger wringing wet. The exception to slowing down is our driving. We speed up. And, we drive with the windows down. Using the basic physics of evaporation, we figure that the faster we drive and the more wind blows into the vehicle, the combination of heat and movement of air will yield cooling to our sweat-saoked bodies. We speak slowly. Fast talking is a heat producing activity. There is no reason to exacerbate a trying situation. We get up early and take to the shade before midday. Getting up at 4:30 am sounds exacting but the pure joy of the cool morning makes it worth the effort. By 7 am, breakfast is over, the dishes are washed, the garden is hoed, the dogs fed, and the flowers weeded. It is then time to find some shade or get under the air conditioning. Most activities will be held in abeyance until much later in the afternoon, maybe even tomorrow. To avoid wringing wet, you have to be prepared to amend plans, temper ambitions, and tamp down expectations.

A guy from the power company was by yesterday doing some work on the line. We talked for a while about the Airstream. He admired it and enjoyed his tour of the trailer. His retirment plan is to travel the country and we talked, slowly, about adventures that were to be had on the open road. As he was leaving, he asked out of his window, "Why did you come to Alabama in July? Why aren't you somewhere cool and dry?" I tried to respond to him with my reaons for settling in this sweat-lodge but felt perspiration beads breakiing on my brow, the first sign of wringing wet. Fast thinking, like fast talking, spealls trouble. We both realized that to offer to an explanation would be painful. He drove off shaking his head. I retreated to the shade.