Isaac at the beach

Summer is here to stay for awhile anyway.  In this part of Texas, we do not have the traditional four seasons.  If you aren’t paying attention to the subtle changes in weather, then you only think that we have hot and cold.

We experience incredible humidity because of the Gulf of Mexico.  The humidity makes the hot weather feel sticky and sometimes unbearable.  On the worst days, the air is so heavy it feels as if you were suffocating in the heat.  On the other hand, the humidity makes our cold days feel much colder than the thermometer indicates.  The cold penetrates all of your layers of clothing and goes straight to your bones.  These are our weather extremes.    Most residents are happy that we do not have to dig our way out of the house through snow.  We have few icy mornings and mostly enjoy moderate weather.

That being said, summer is here.  I try to enjoy each season for what it brings.  I love summer because of swimming, fishing, harvesting squash and tomatoes, making jalapeno jelly, and watching fireworks.  I love homemade ice cream and ice-cold watermelon.  I love watching my son, Jake, play baseball and spending the day at the beach.  I also enjoy our short break from schooling.

As nice as these activities are, summer is also full of potential dangers.  Snakes are out and about.  Children are playing in pools and drowning is a real threat to a very fun activity.  The sun can bake you very quickly without protection from its rays.  Sadly, every year children die from being left in a parked vehicle.

Last year my husband, Lane, suffered from severe dizziness.  The doctor diagnosed him with vertigo.  It lasted for weeks and really affected his life.  He could not work like he was used to working.  Small tasks were difficult to accomplish because his whole world was in motion.  Lane’s illness was caused by dehydration.  Lane followed the doctor’s orders about drinking plenty of water, some Gatorade, and eating breakfast everyday.  Slowly, Lane’s health was restored.

It is extremely important to stay hydrated.  In the book, Breakthrough by Suzanne Somers, many doctors agree that one should drink half of their body weight in ounces a day.  So, if you weigh 120 pounds, you would drink 60 ounces of water a day.  Following this formula, you might be surprised how much water you should be drinking.

My great-grandfather, Walter Holliday, worked in the elements all his life in Texas.  He taught my dad to always wear a hat, a light colored long-sleeved cotton shirt, and a cool, damp handkerchief around his neck.  The hat protects your head from baking in the sun.  The light colored shirt protects your skin and reflects the heat.  The cotton fabric breathes allowing your body to cool itself.  The process of cooling itself off is aided with the damp handkerchief around your neck.

Another tip is to do your most labor-intensive work in the relatively cool of the morning or evening.  Try to rest in the shade.  Luckily, we found a nice, shady place to let Isaac play at the beach.  Stay hydrated and protect your skin.  Find ways to stay cool in the summer heat so you and your family can enjoy all the good things that  summer has to offer.

Tags: beating the heat, drinking enough water, hydration, staying cool

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 7:37 am and is filed under Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.