Editorial Note – From the desk of Monster
For the last three days I’ve written about “what day” it is, College Colors Day, Trail Mix Day, Frankenstein Day, etc. I know the only one that really belongs here is the post about Trail Mix, this is supposed to be a blog about adventure, the outdoors, camping, hiking, etc. To a great extent, this post also falls into that category. “It’s not the heat it’s the humidity,” is a common thing to hear throughout the midwestern summer, but this isn’t an article about how to beat the heat or anything useful.
In one sense everything’s on topic, as the name of the blog is “Monster and girl” and the posts are all about us, at the very least in a tangential way. But, I don’t plan to go on like this forever. I’m currently writing almost every day, and that’s the point. I need to get into the swing of writing everyday, so I’ve been picking up odd topics to “riff on”, to use a jazz term. It’s pure improv, getting a prompt, and running with it.
I’ve got a lot going on this month (September) so I’m hoping to keep to a schedule of a post every few days or so, that is the best I’ll do for September. How much writing I do in October or November is really dependent on weather. If I’m going to talk to you about being an outdoorsman, well I gotta go outside. Fall is my favorite time of year, the midwest summers are perhaps my least favorite season.
In the end, I’ll have to write where time and inspiration take me, it’s that or not write at all. More than anything, I think those are the essentials of writing, the two things you have to have. Well, that and a way to record what you are writing, pen and paper, word processor, typewriter, take your pick.
Dog Days of Summer
The months of July and August can be brutal in the Midwest. The old saying goes, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.” Well, it’s 100% correct here. During the summer, in low humidity areas like Moab, Utah, hotter weather is more bearable due to low humidity. Because our bodies own mechanism for controlling internal temperature, sweating, is based on evaporation, humidity increases heat index, the measure of how hot it feels.
Back when I visited Moab more regularly (in the 1990’s) I used to get all of my gas from the same little ma and pa type gas station. I’d rather support a true local business like that as opposed to going to a convenience store gas station. I got to know the gentleman who owned the place, he was working the pumps himself.
I remember one day, as an aside he said to me, “The heat sure is awful, the humidity is all the way up to 20%.” I agreed. It was the polite thing to do, and Monsters are generally polite unless aroused. But I had to laugh to myself, and I certainly enjoyed a chuckle driving down the road out of Moab. 20%! Twenty-freaking percent!
Back in the Mississippi Valley, we’d kill to have humidity that low. We had 85% humidity the other day. Today, we haven’t had rain in sometime, the Mississippi River is the lowest I’ve ever seen it, and there is no rain scheduled in our forecast. We could be at the beginning of a drought period, it will depend on how much snow we get, as we will need that to replace depleted soil moisture. Our humidity is 54%.
