Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A little water would do us good

At the risk of sounding quite the redneck, I must share with you how I spent my Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I’m only telling you because my co-worker, Rich, laughed out loud when I told him how I pretended I had a pool.

On Saturday when I was finished my chores, I thought it might be nice to get a little sun and sit by the pool out back. Although it was pretty hot this weekend, the humidity wasn’t a big factor. The big factor was that I don’t have a pool.

So I asked my husband to rig up the little froggie sprinkler under the shade of the dogwood tree, so that I could sit at the edge of it. At the edge of the canopy, I could feel the spray and then every now and then, go stand under it. Then I would turn it off for awhile and read. Or close my eyes and pretend I was in Maine.

I truly do not think this is weird. It’s using what you have at hand to accomplish a goal. The goal was to get a little sun and be able to get wet from time to time. I don’t know why everyone at work thought this was so funny.

Doesn’t everyone do stuff like this?

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I turned off the sprinkler to take this shot. I’d put a few plants under here that looked like they would benefit from some spray. See how brown the grass is? But not under the tree. Under the tree is like an oasis.

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I love this little frog. And I don’t care if it looks like I’m a hillbilly redneck.

(No offense to hillbillies and/or rednecks).

Every time a breeze blew (which was really quite often), I got the full effect of sitting under a lovely cool spray of water. And then I’d turn off the hose and read for awhile.

So here I sat in my hillbilly cabana under the dogwood tree. And life was as pleasant as pleasant can be.

In an unrelated note, does this pollen make my ass look fat?

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Seriously, do you believe the size of those pollen sacks?

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Sorry I couldn’t get in there closer. I took these with the lens that I had on the camera at the time, which was the 50mm and ran back inside to get the macro but the pollen-packed bee had gone by the time I got back.

So, for those of you who are suffering from all the crazy heat, how did you keep cool this weekend?

Respectfully submitted,

PS~ Just realized this was our turtle sprinkler. I must be so hot I can't even get my animals straight.

52 comments:

Ellen said...

Love the bee photos. And your question - of course those pollen sacs make your butt look big! No specie is exempt from that.

Come for a swim some time.

A New England Life said...

I stay inside in the a/c. High heat and humidity make me feel ill. Every now and then Lily and I venture out to get some fresh air but she can only take it so long. Me too!

I like your little chair and plant set up. Pinks everywhere! So pretty!

Brynwood Needleworks said...

Kate:
You're a bona fide HOOT! It's dog-kickin' hot in FL, so I went to Wisconsin for the weekend. A family wedding and cooler temps than down south...that was my respite. I love your ingenuity, girlfriend. I would have been tickled to sit under the dogwood with you!
xoxo
Donna

Hilary said...

I think you are being perfectly reasonable. :)

Deb said...

we have a kiddie pool we fill up and float around on blow up rings...I guess we are true hillbillies but that's okay when it's 100 or above..being cool is what matters...not what people think...

mrs mediocrity said...

Well that made ME laugh right out loud, cause I am sitting in my studio with my feet in a bowl of cold water because it is so darn hot. We have an air conditioner, but I haven't installed it yet this year because I cannot stand the noise...but I guess it is time.
I would so sit under the sprinkler with you...
p.s. that pollen looks great on you!

Connie in Hartwood said...

Kate, your description of your day by the 'pool' made me smile, and the bee comment caused me to laugh out loud.

To manage in the heat, I do whatever outside work in the morning, and I chase the shade whenever I can. Then I hide in the a/c and do computer stuff (not always blogging, if you can believe that.)

Connie

Kathleen Stoltzfus said...

I caved. I was hoping to tough it out all summer without putting in the air conditioner, but upon seeing that the heat wasn't going to stop any time soon, I wanted to cry. Instead, I put in the air conditioner.

Julie Harward said...

It sounds pretty smart to me...and if it feels good, do it! :D

Low Tide High Style said...

I think your plan was genius! Now I want my own froggy sprinkler/pool system! We kept cool by going out in the kayaks and catching some river breezes along with some toe dipping in the salt water!

And as someone with rather large pollen sacks of her own, I'm not surprised your little bee flew off to escape the paparazzi! ;-)

Kat :)

Reddirt Woman said...

Sometimes you just have to get creative... A now retired teacher friend had ten acres that she lived on and would work on after school and all summer long. She got one of the smaller, oval stock tanks and filled in up and when she got hot she would go plop herself into it and just relax a bit then get out and continue whatever task she was doing...

Country Girl said...

Is it just me or is that a turtle sprinkler? I wonder whatever happened to our froggie? I swear I had one once!

~ C.G.

Tiggeriffic said...

Oh I laughed so hard when I read your blog.. Then I had to call my sister that lives in South Carolina.. I told her she just had to look at your blog today.. Then we both looked at the sprinkler ~~ it's not a frog it's a turtle.. LOL... such fun~! It was hot here in Iowa and the way I kept cool was to get into the small pool that belonged to Ben my grandson. We had fun spashing each other and laying down in the water. Today, (monday) it only got up to 75 no humidity and very nice.
Thanks for the giggles~!~!

Alli said...

Haha, the only thing I found funny was that you liked to call the turtle a frog. The rest sounds like a great idea! I love the picture under the tree where you can see the "oasis" versus the rest of the brown grass. We're having that problem in VA too.

Ann On and On... said...

I am so glad you shared your fun yet silly story. I too giggled, but only because it is totally something I would do. There's nothing like creating a little oasis.

In your photos you make ordinary outstanding.

Blueyedjane said...

i think that it seems perfectly normal to sit like that on a hot day. and your chairs are much prettier than the bench that i sit on while i dip my toes in the bright green baby pool we bought for Linus to play in!
Manden

Gail said...

I thought the froggie thing was part of the imagination trip. I was seeing the pool and the frog.

I walk in the creek and cool my feet. Last night I was so eager to be cool that I icepacked my feet.

One summer it was so hot, Hubby dug a round hole in the dirt, large enough for two delighted young girls and filled it with water. Now, that's a red neck pool!

Donna S. said...

I hit inside with the a/c to get cool. Luckily it rained last night & this week is supposed to be better-our humidity here in the midwest is horrible!! I'm glad because my youngest son is visiting Wed-Mon & his 16 mo old son loooves the outdoors. This is my youngest grandchild & I can't wait to get my hands on him.

Unknown said...

ps. I was so brain dead I did'nt notice it was a turtle and not a frog...
lolololol
I've been reading your blog a while and I think you have a mahvelous sense of humor...
stay cool, whatever it takes..
blessings

becky up the hill said...

Stay inside, run out from time to time to spray Hydrangeas, who despite being well watered can not hydrate themselves in this 100 plus heat, in the shade mind you. July and August are not my best months. I feel more hopeful in September.

abb said...

Do whatever it takes! Even if you don't know a frog from a turtle! :)

Mary Lou said...

Oh my gosh, I am laughing out loud. If only I had a frog sprinkler!
I didn't keep cool. I had 2 grand daughters here and we've been on the go the whole time with them griping cause it was hot! HELLOO.
I did make frozen coke in the ice cream maker. That was good.

BB said...

I think we swapped bodies sometime in early May... I was uttering these exact words (ish) about six months ago.
:-)
BB

Peppermint Ph.D. said...

In the deep South there's no option but staying inside...I still gasp when I read your comments about "getting through the summer without the a/c" YIKES! I cannot even imagine! We have a pool, but in these temperatures the water reaches 92 degrees and even more sometimes...when we jumped in Sunday it really just felt like a lukewarm bath :( We sneak the hose in whenever we can...the garden sprinkler floats on a raft in the middle of the pool tied to the rope that divides the deep end from the shallow end. Now, if that's not redneck, I don't know what is:):)

Tiggeriffic said...

Hope your day tomorrow is a cool one..

Artful Gathering said...

You are too funny... I would say your pretty clever... I smiled awful big when I saw your set up but did not laugh out loud.. Something I could see myself doing...
I turned my a/c on and stayed indoors as much as possible... It was very hot and humid this weekend in Wisconsin. I wish I could send you some of the rain we'be had.. I am sick of it.. lol

June said...

I love your pool (turtle sprinkler)hehe. your photos and blog are gorgeous!

deborah said...

Well, I am a redneck hillbilly and did not take any offense..in fact, I think I will try to rig up something similar in my back yard. I'm impressed with the way you rigged up an outdoor cooling system! Mine won't be nearly as chic as yours...

Its been storming here almost every day, but rather than cooling things off, it increases the humidity.

Andi said...

Didn't keep cool at all!! Hosted our local Relay for Life. 24 hours , in the heat....escaped every now and then under the tent, with a spray bottle with a fan...:) I like your idea. I don't think it is redneck at all - ingenuity at it's finest!

Cloudia said...

sounds very smart!




Aloha from Waikiki

Comfort Spiral

Annie said...

Well, it sounds to me like a perfectly normal thing to do, sitting under a sprinkler on a hot day, Kate. That is if we were allowed to use sprinklers...which we are not. Yet.

I hope one day we might be able to do so, but I guess even though our dams are full, they are erring on the side of caution. Actually, now that all the dams are full, I should check to see if we can use sprinklers, shouldn't I? Maybe we are allowed to use them occasionally. Not that we would want to sit under them at this time of year in Australia, cos it is winter...and a bit cooler. It is so hard for me to envisage you having hot hot weather... when I left NYC last time in February, it was still every day below zero...brrr.

Love the photos and quotes. I would have loved to have gotten to see Maine...and a lot of other places. Sigh.

[Kate, I don't understand if you work at a school why you are not allowed holidays like everyone else? I thought you were all on long summer school holidays]?

Jayne said...

OK, so I'll pretend I am not telling you that I filled in my pool last year and planted a lovely garden area...lolol! Like Sharon, I stay inside in that kind of heat. It's been too hot and humid to breathe here lately. They say we'll get a reprieve this week with highs ONLY in the high 80's. Add that to the humidity and well... sprinklers don't begin to touch it.

Thistle Cove Farm said...

As one who has a long Appalachian lineage of many generations, this doesn't look, so much, like hillbilly to me as it looks like suburban/urban trash.
No offense meant, of course -grin-.

Laura ~Peach~ said...

love the pics and we sweatted our collective butts off it was MISERY

GailO said...

Hehe!...I think you are brilliant:) I can't use the sprinkler for too long or we run out of water in our shallow well....but the wading pool isn't just for the grandkids on a hot day:)...But I am lucky to live near the ocean so if it is truly hot I go to the beach or talk Mr O into going for a sail:)

The JR said...

You know I read froggie and didn't even catch it until you said turtle.....duh...

No offence taken. Us rednecks be what we be!

My friend bought her a kiddie pool a couple of weekends ago.

I've seen bees like this. Makes me wonder how they can even fly that loaded down.

Mental P Mama said...

Um, Kate, that would be a turtle...and I am a redneck;)

Lori said...

This sounds so much like something I would do. yeah, maybe a little redneck but who cares?!?

Linda said...

That bee has some serious saddle bags!
As for the redneck sprinkler, I think it's brilliant! Sometimes it the simplest things that give us pleasure. What a great way to spend a hot weekend.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Sounds a great idea to me - might try it myself if we get another heatwave Kate.

Carolynn Anctil said...

I think it's an excellent example of thinking outside the box and shows that you have a creative mind. If it helps you visualize, then the reality is brought all that much closer.

I wish we had some heat. It's been so cool and cloudy.

Lucia said...

I'd do the same thing if I thought of it. Looks lovely.

Daryl said...

Eons ago when we lived on the 6th floor and had a short 2 flights to walk up to the roof we also had a kiddie pool and sprinkler .. tho the pool belonged to our BFFs' son (who is now a father of his own little one) ... he was happy to share it with me ... so I have to applaud your imagination and inventiveness and tell Rich to shut the front door, ok?

Daryl said...

And does it matter if its frog or a turtle? Both are green and love water.

Hilary said...

When I was a teen (about a century ago), my friends and I would set up our lawn chairs in our back yard and then position one of those swaying sprinklers so that it would keep our legs wet and therefore cool. So yes, of course I think you're nuts. ;) Nah!

I'm in catch up after being away for almost two weeks. I enjoyed reading your Maine posts.. it was like being back there again. I'm sorry you got hurt shortly afterward but you're right.. it's so much better that it didn't happen before holidays. Your story of Tutu was endearing and that stir-fried shrimp looks scrumptious! I'll play along with your questions post next time. :) Oh and I'm about to send you an email with a suggestion about the sunflower photo.

kay on south coast of oregon said...

I think that sounds like a grand idea that you did to get wet and sun .....When it gets over 80 here (not that often ) I fill up my kiddie pool and sit in my chair but feet are in the pool to make me think I am up the river... I have to be near the water when up there, as it is always 7-10 degrees hotter.....

beth said...

okay...totally cracking up here !
and to stay cool...well we lay on the ice that gets thrown out of the cooler when the beer is all gone :)

Anonymous said...

I completely stayed indoors other than doing my weekly shopping trip for the groceries. Also had to take our dear pup, Missy, out a few times but otherwise I just vegetated inside.

Personally I love your oasis under the tree. Hope you didn't get your book wet from Mr. Froggy's mist!

Di

becky up the hill said...

I forgot to say how beautiful your impatients looks, in that three tier planter, the shawl, it was all a beautiful composition.

becky up the hill said...

I forgot to say how beautiful your impatients looks, in that three tier planter, the shawl, it was all a beautiful composition.

wildbanshee said...

I don't know if you know this but 1I am a nurse, and nurse's have a very different sense of humor, well the other morning one of my co-workers accidentally sprayed herself with a syringe of normal saline, and I jokingly said she was trying to have a wet t-shirt contest. So I came up with a contest for that afternoon, we would all stand in the middle of the nurses station and squirt each other down and have a wet scrubs contest. Of course this did not happen because we are professionals. So there is my way to cool down.

The pale observer said...

Hi Country Girl - found you through Bonnie's art blog. I loved your idea to cool down on a sunny day!!! Also the photos are great.

Although I am living on the other side of the world - in West Africa - we all understand the need to cool down - especially when we don't have a pool!!!

BTW - I'm your newest follower :)