Posted by Mitch on January 9, 2002, at 23:55:10
In reply to Re: Hot summers » Mitch, posted by IsoM on January 9, 2002, at 15:01:36
I wish that MO meant Montana, but it doesn't-it means Missouri! (Montana is MT-postoffice-wise) I used to also live in Northern Arkansas (so I am a "southerner", too). My family is from Northern Arkansas. I call it West Apalachia (it *is* similar to Mirkwood). Interestingly, the first time I saw shrinks and had to deal with the mental health establishment was when Bill Clinton was just elected governor of Arkansas. He did a good job with mental health funding in the state. It was easy to get in, saw prob. three psydocs in about a year's time, plus MSW's for therapy, it didn't cost a lot either. This, in a town with a population of just about 5,000.
I get about 40+inches of rain every year. I *never* water my lawn. It is a little like a tropical rain forest (except of course if there's a drought or heat wave). If that happens I let it go brown too, not for environmental reasons-I just don't want to mow the damn thing! (there is 1-acre of dense Bermuda grass-I get worn out sharpening mower blades). Uh oh, that is like Slingblade! That movie...wow..Robert Duvall plays his Dad and he talks and has mannerisms just like my great Uncle (who was hospitalized in the 50's and had ECT). My Grandma (his sister) also was hospitalized in the 60's and had ECT. I remember my great Uncle sitting on the porch of his house and shooting red wasps with a .22 rifle off of branches, sipping homemade wine and bragging about his marksmanship. I remember him driving a '63 Chevy Belair 4-door sedan. There was a hog butchering that I remember very vividly-blood everywhere and lots of squealing. Very strange, turbulent times. Vietnam was still going on. Nixon was just elected. My sister and I were doing our damndest (at 8-9 years old) to find a rock and roll station on AM radio....
Mitch
> Whooaaaa, Mitch! Sounds like you need to vacation in a cooler, windy place come summer. Why not let the lawn dry up during summer so you don't have to mow? I love gardening & faithfully water my flowers & shrubs, but come hot summer weather, I let my lawn go brown. More & more people are doing that now. Environmently friendly too.
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> Is MO, short for Montana? The Prairie summers I experienced were either hot, humid & still, or very hot, dry, & windy. On the hot windy days, I'd work outside with a hose near me. Every ten minutes or less, I'd spray myself down from head to feet. Only way I could survive outside.
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> > Well, the kind of heat I experience in the summer where I live (southern Mo), is really bad, no wind, and temps in triple digits. When I mow my lawn I have to do it in three or four tries. I get so exhausted I start getting dizzy and tingly-then I dart inside, drink some water, and stand in front of a fan for about 20 minutes, then go back out again. The depression usually strikes in late June, intensifies rapidly through July, lingers and withers slowly through August and into early September. This year was very bad. I was just snapping out of it and the terrorist attacks hit and added another two weeks to it. The timing of the start of the winter and summer episodes is very predictable (I usually can nail it within a couple of weeks). The "movement thing" struck me, because I was feeling better in late September (actually slightly hypo), and I noticed that the wind had kicked up and all the trees were moving and swirling around (with the leaves just beginning to change)-that's when the idea got me.
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> > Mitch
poster:Mitch
thread:16366
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020102/msgs/16578.html