We will inevitably have hotter days, more consecutively, as we go through the next 3-4 months; however, today was the day we REALLY noticed it. We had already shed the Christmas/wintery-day-delivery-food blues 10 pounds, and done some significant hiking to get our wind back, but today just felt HAWT!! Please be especially careful now about leaving anyone/any pets in the car without air-conditioning. Pull the curtains at home, and shut off unused interior rooms/common areas. We will try to find our feature from the archives regarding how quickly the temperature in a vehicle can exceed 120 degrees, and overcome those in the vehicle. Just turning off AC while you aren't home/setting a reliable timer could save hundreds on your home power bill now that no fresh, cool air flows through your windows.If you do not have air conditioning, or access to a pool or a pond {the pond would be good for some of you}, cool showers-filling the tub can be life savers. Plain water, Gatorade is more costly; Pedialyte can be a life-saver, literally, for an adult, even. We also used to be lifeguards, and thought the sun was strong enough then to use at least a SPF10, and zinc oxide..you know, when Laverna Y Shirlita was popular on your 4 channels of black and white/no remote control television. The sun is seemingly getting more direct and damaging each year, whether you are on the beach, the golf course or any zoo/bbq/family hike/community festival, etc. Please apply lots of sunblock-those times we talk about above; Dig this real story-people would go to the beach and apply baby oil with iodine rather than sunscreen. We remember at the end of the day we couldn't distinguish if we were hungry or horny. We went with both. Not necessarily in that order.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/weather/ {It only gets hotter as the week goes on!!}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLaityMWJjs {96 Degrees In The Shade; Anybody else remember when these guys used to play at places like Scandals in Ocean City?? Good times...good times..}