3 years ago today Mrs. KF and I were motoring along from Ashford, Kent to Bridgwater Somerset, took a side trip to Windsor Castle and the town of Farnborough to see a distant cousin, got a peek at Stonehenge from the A303 I believe, then got lost and another distant cousin picked us up at a grocery store in Bridgwater.
My 4th or 5th cousin Julie-Ann gave us a great tour of Somerset, and among other things on our next to last day we went to a car boot fair, as I describe it to folks here at home, a garage sale on steroids. From what I can remember, that day was the hottest of the summer so far in the UK, I believe about 85F. Mrs. KF and I were amused to say the least at all the people standing around panting, and the young men stripping off their shirts because it was so hot. I am not making fun of anyone, it is just that 85F to us does not seem so hot, just like 105F doesn't seem that hot to veterans returning from Iraq.
From what I gather, our temp today was around 105F. I don't look when it is extra hot or extra cold because knowing for certain only makes it worse. You do get somewhat use to the heat(or the cold in the winter) but you still don't enjoy it. Just like the extreme cold tests the limits, the extreme heat does too. Radiators have to be constantly blown out, hay baler fires are much more easy to start, tires blow out if they are weak at all. Your age begins to show too.
Our TV constantly reminds us of the signs of heat stroke as does the radio, and "keeping hydrated" is the name of the game. I have a gallon John Deere water jug I keep filled with ice water(I also noticed you Brits have a real aversion to ice), that means you first fill it with ice, then let the water fill in the air spaces. On a good hot day I will drink two of those. When you come inside you drink more ice water, or ice tea, or stuff like Gatorade. Sometimes, you just say to hell with it and don't work during the middle of the afternoon, because even if you do have a good air conditioner on your tractor, everything runs so much warmer it bugs you, and your AC doesn't work that great anyway.
Right now I can take this all in stride. Ample rains all summer have blessed us with plenty of subsoil moisture. But every day like today hurts us. Our soybeans are blooming and setting pods, this kind of weather will make them abort. By this time next week I won't be very talkative at all, and in another week my mood will be bleak.
There is a little chance of rain Wednesday night and Thursday. An inch is all it would take to make me smile.