
Can you Describe This Sizzlin’ First Weekend of Summer in Shady Pines?
Summer Heat Is Here!
How can I explain how hot it feels this first week of summer around here?
Dear Readers, all I can say is go from an air-conditioned room to outside, and you feel like you’ve been hit with a furnace blast of hot air.
Not only that, but when you add in the moisture in the air, that humidity factor will make you wilt.
Over at The Shady Pines Gazette news office, editor Zulah Talmadge has made a decision. She needs to get out and report on the dangers of summer heat in the South.
“You have to admit this part of the country has all sorts of weather extremes,” says Zulah as she looks for her reporter’s notebook. “I mean we have tornadoes, droughts, fires, and of course we’re smack dab into hurricane season right now. But this kind of heat is a whole other kind of headache!”
Getting The Lowdown from Locals
Zulah heads down Main Street to see what people in Shady Pines Story Town are saying about this toasty start to the summer season.
She figures she’ll start by popping into Maggie’s Diner where gosssip is served up right along with that day’s special sandwich.
But before she gets there, Zulah runs into Kim Dunworthy. Mail carrier Kim is coming out of Cup ‘O Joe’s coffee shop.
Clearly she has her hands full.
“Whoa now,” says Kim. “Oh boy!”
“Hey Kim, do you need some help?” asks Zulah.
“Oh, yes Ms. Zulah. That’s very kind of you,” says Kim as she stoops and tries to collect the packages and letters she’s dropped. “I think I got a little ambitious about the number of things I could carry at one time.”
Zulah leans down and helps collect the scattered items. “While you’re here Kim, maybe you can help me out.”
“Sure. What do you need?”
How Do You Describe It?
“I’m doing a story about summer heat in the South, ” says Zulah. “You grew up in neighboring River City. What’s your take?”
“I look at summer heat as our very own sweat badge of courage,” says Kim. “We seem to cope with temperatures that would be the undoin’ of most folks. As my momma would say, ‘we handle it gracefully.‘
Zulah chukles as she makes notes in her reporter’s notebook. “That’s great. Thank you Kim. See ya later.”
“See ya Ms. Zulah.”
It’s not enough for Southerners to bravely endure the heat. One thing Zulah knows for sure. They love to talk about it. She decides to do some man – and women – on the street interviews.
“Excuse me ma’am. I’m Zulah Talmadge with The Shady Pines Gazette. When I say summer heat, what comes to mind?”
The stately lady in the flowing dress and wide brimmed hat dabs her face with her hankerchief. “As a Southern woman, I say we don’t sweat. We glisten.”
Zulah nods. “Got it.”
Here are some other reactions Zulah heard.
Expressions That People Use
- It’s hotter than Blue Blazes
- Is it hot enough for ya?
- Man, it’s hot as all get-out!
- It must be 90 in the shade
- This one’s gonna be a sorcher
- You could fry an egg on the sidewalk
How Hot Is It Really?
- It’s so hot the swimming pool is boiling
- It’s so hot the ice cream truck has melted
- It’s like a steam bath out here
- I’m burning slap up
- Could I stick my face in your deep freeze for just a second?
Be Careful In The Heat
After listening to all the colorful ways her neighbors talk about extreme heat, Zulah wants her article to include a reminder. “This kind of extreme heat can be dangerous, especially to kids, the elderly and to our pets.
We really need to take some precautions.”
Zulah finds an article: ‘High temperatures and extreme heat can cause children to become sick very quickly in several ways. It can cause dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat cramps and heat stroke, which is a medical emergency.’
For more information go to: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/at-home/Pages/Protecting-Children-from-Extreme-Heat-Information-for-Parents.aspx
Final Thoughts
Zulah is now back at The Gazette office with loads of information for her article. She’s discovered some important things.
“It’s amazing how many expressions Southerners can haul out to explain just how dang uncomfortable it really is in our neck of the woods,” says Zulah. “We seem to use humor as a way to deal with extreme situations. At the same time, we need to take dangerous summer heat seriously and watch out for one another.”
And that’s the the most important takeaway of all. No matter what the temperature outside, Kindness and Caring are always cool in the small Southern town of Shady Pines.