Help Me... I'm Melting.........

Could it be any hotter?






I realize we live in a desert here in Southern California, but Jesus H. Christ it's hot. We live and die at our house based on the weather because we spend so much time outside with the horses. This weekend was seriously unpleasant and we did very little work during the middle of the day. Basically it was a parade to and from the wash rack, just soaking the horses (and ourselves in the process) to keep everyone comfortable. We did get a bit of breeze here and there, which only felt good if you were damp. And I believe we now own at least 50% of the Coppertone company due to the amount of sunscreen we buy.

I have a busy life with a day job as well as the horse business, so I like to sleep in a little bit on Saturday or Sunday if possible. But in this weather, we get up really early (5-ish or so) to ride and work while there is still some semblance of cool in the air. We also ride very late in the day as well to take advantage of the cool-down in the evening--assuming it isn't still 98 degrees at 7:30, which it was yesterday. At that point, you try to make the horses as cool and happy as possible (food helps a LOT in the happiness department), and then go home and stand in the shower to get the 20 gallons of sweat off your body and out of your hair. Fortunately, we have AC at home, so the evening TV time and sleeping are tolerable.

We're moving our practice to Moorpark in August, and it's always a lot cooler in that part of suburban Los Angeles than where we are now in Canyon Country. It's closer to the ocean, so we will be catching the afternoon breeze straight off the Pacific. Most people don't really realize it, but the ocean off the southern California coast is a lot colder than the Atlantic almost anywhere on the east coast. Unless you have a breakwater offshore, it's usually not too fun to swim in the Pacific Ocean here. You have your die-hard swimmers and surfers of course, but the Arctic/Alaskan current makes the water too cold (for me) to swim in, but makes for a marvelous cool breeze.

We're looking forward to getting away from the heat next month, but will be sweltering in the meantime. Drink a lemonade and think of us.