Saw these kitties last Saturday evening in the big city, not far from downtown Anna, where the Annabelle Festival was happening. Just for the sake of the moment, we’ll call the grayish kitty Annabelle. Kitty, as kitties do, tolerated a photo or two.

158 degrees on front porch Sunday night

Please read this...

Goodness, gracious, it sure has been H-O-T in our little corner of the world...

Monday night, I waited until the sun had gone down and things were a little bit “cooler.” I wanted to see the strawberry supermoon, too. As hot as it was, I figured the strawberry supermoon would have been accompanied by fresh-out-of-the-oven shortcake.

At about the time I was crafting this gem, the National Weather Service office in Paducah was reporting on its website the temperature for the 62906 Zip Code was 95 degrees. At 6:52 in the cool of the evening. The heat index was 107 degrees. Which was a little bit better than the 113 degrees which had been posted three or four hours earlier in the day.

Just for the sake of recalling some “cooler” weather, I decided to take a look back about six months ago. To December. December 16 to be exact. Five days from winter. 

Yes, the weather was cooler that day in Union County. In a manner of speaking, I suppose. The high temperature on that day, not long before Christmas, was 65 degrees. The low that day, at 38 degrees, wasn’t even freezing. 

I decided that in recognition of the wonderful temperatures and humidity we’ve been having, I would create something brand new, something with no science whatsoever behind it. 

I’m calling it the Front Porch Heat and Misery Index. We have a newfangled thermometer on our porch which tells us the temperature, the humidity and how late I am for work on any given morning.

My new Front Porch Heat and Misery Index is a combination of the humidity and the temperature. Last Sunday night, at 8 o’clock, the humidity on our front porch was 72 percent. The temperature was 86 degrees.

That made the Front Porch Heat and Misery Index 158 degrees, which is much, much more dramatic than a heat index of a mere 113 degrees. Bob and I attempted to sit on the porch swing for a while. It was not very nice. I did see what were either fire flies or mosquitoes which were exploding. Could not read a book because the pages kept catching fire. 

Monday, at 12:30 p.m., the humidity was 67 percent. The temperature was 90 degrees. That made the Front Porch Heat and Misery Index 157 degrees, which was almost comfortable.

Conditions were made a little better, thanks to a bit of a breeze and even a wind chill, which you do not hear much about when the temperature is around 100 degrees. 

Meanwhile...

 After wrapping up a photo opportunity last Saturday evening in metropolitan Anna, yours truly headed back home...

While motoring along old U.S. Route 51, I decided, pretty much on a whim, to take a bit of a roundabout way back home. I made a left turn off the highway and took a Kaolin Road detour to Cobden.

At the time I turned onto Kaolin Road, the Guns N’ Roses song “November Rain” was playing on the radio. The song has lyrics about a cold November rain, which seems either, A) long, long ago, or B) far off in the distant future. I certainly did not experience any cold rain last Saturday night. No precipitation, at all, as a matter of fact.

There was more traffic on Kaolin Road at the time that I expected, including one sport utility vehicle driven by somebody who was in a much bigger hurry to get to where he, or she, was going that I was. 

I tend to drive rather slowly on the “country roads” in Union County. Mostly because I want to take in the sights that might happen along the way. Saturday evening, I saw two white-tailed deer in nearby fields. And sometimes, I even kind of stop right in the middle of the road to take a photograph. Probably not the smartest thing to do. I do pay attention.

After a rather slow drive through the country, along Kaolin Road...and then Mountain Glen Road...I made it back to our humble abode...just in time for a pre-bedtime nap.

Next time, maybe, we’ll ponder what it was like for The Other Half to be gone for three weeks...and two days...

 

 

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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