Surviving the Heat

It's pretty unusual to have several 90° days with high humidity in succession at least in the northern half of the U.S.  I suspect that it's more common for anyone living in the deep south. We've been tested this year with the warmest weather since 2012. I recall that we had a long drought accompanied by hot temperatures that year. Many people lost trees and plants that summer. We didn't have to mow for weeks and our lawn was a very crisp brown.

Last Sunday, Ray and I celebrated our 57th anniversary. 💑 💝 (I just found these emojis on Blogger for the first time.)

Instead of visiting a fancy restaurant we enjoyed a potluck meal at church. I was surprised to see Ray holding a small bouquet.

Anniversary Bouquet

These little bell flowers are amazing. They last for days and unopened buds bloom!

By the time we were back home we decided not to go out again avoiding the heat of the afternoon and early evening.

Watching the weather forecast, we chose to go on a hike on Tuesday morning thinking that storms would arrive later in the day. We invited Jayden to join us as we had binoculars borrowed from the library and would try our birding skills. Eagle Creek Park is only a 45-minute drive from our house.

Eagle Creek Park has a great little ornithology museum and outdoor displays.

We were planning about an hour's hike but didn't follow the correct trail marker and doubled the time on the trail. Fortunately, a friendly hiker that we met set us on the right course.

Definitely a surprise to find a hibiscus blooming at the edge of the water.

As we neared the end of the trail, we came across this arrow making
us wonder who had put it there and for what purpose.

Well, that's about all for now. We've had some TV viewing challenges because DirecTV has blocked one of the local channels, but that's another story for another time...maybe! The local cornfields are looking much better but are still weeks behind. We saw one field this morning where the corn was probably waist or chest high. 

Post Holiday Reminisces

We didn't watch any fireworks this year even though there were plenty of opportunities for viewing fireworks on different nights and I could hear them popping in our neighborhood last night as I was getting ready for bed.

Since I last posted, we've had a change in weather. After lots of cool and rainy weather, our neighborhood is finally having typical hot summer weather with humidity and hardly any rain. About 10 days ago we drove to Fort Harrison State Park taking Jayden with us for a 90-minute hike. The week before he had several teeth pulled as part of some orthodontia work and wasn't up to a long hike.

Bart, Christy & Persephone arrived Sunday (June 30) and we loaded our gear in their car for a visit to Turkey Run State Park. We found our rental cabin and then had a small picnic lunch before heading to Trail 3 with a "rugged" rating.

It may say "Ice Box" but it's only a bit cooler on a 90˚ day

Posing

This section of Trail 3 is in a creek bed but we managed to keep our feet dry but, for some, it was fun to wade through the shallow water. We then came to an area where we had to climb three ladders. Some families with small children were challenged when the child was scared and didn't want to descend. I was happy to ascend because it seems easier. You can see the next step.

Climbing the Ladder

We heard some rumbling when we were nearly back to our cabin. Christy & Persephone found the indoor pool and enjoyed relaxing there. Back in the cabin, Ray, Bart and I had to wait out the storm but when the girls came back we asked them to get an umbrella from the car. Christy didn't mind getting wet again. After the rain subsided we had dinner in the lodge and then played a game of Quarkle before finding the game room downstairs.

Air Hockey Competition

Did I mention that our cabin was itsy bitsy? The cabin had two double beds, a bathroom, two chairs, a small refrigerator, TV, and coffee maker all in a space of 192 sq. ft. Everyone had a small bag or two making it difficult to move around since we had limited floor space. Some of us slept better than others but it was for only one night and we all survived!

Artsy spider web photo

The next morning Ray and I were the first ones up. Actually, he was first but I soon joined him in the cool of the morning and snapped the photo above.

Trail 6

After breakfast, we spent a few minutes exploring a section of Trail 6 closest to our cabin. The thundershower from the previous evening had water flowing deeper than I wanted since I didn't have water sandals. The ravine was beautiful and while Ray and I waited, we had Persephone take a photo of us sitting on a log.

We decided not to get our feet wet and muddy

We returned to Greenwood about noon and had a light lunch. I had some coupons for frozen custard at Culver's and treated everyone who wanted one. Later that afternoon we visited Nancy, Joe, Kylie, and Dustin. Nancy has a few more weeks of wearing her back brace after which she probably begins physical therapy.

Back: Kylie, Nancy (with back brace), Christy & Bart
Front: Dustin, Persephone & Jayden

We said goodbye to Bart and family on Tuesday morning as they headed back to Bloomington with plans to visit New Harmony on Friday on their return to New Orleans.