It’s June and spring has arrived

which is nice since summer was here last month. My problem is I hate hot weather; I do not function well in hot weather and I avoid it.

So I have already begun my annual process of not going outside except when absolutely necessary, like getting into the car, or going to the house from the car. Weekly, or bi-weekly, I will take the trash to the curb or the re-cycling to the curb. Every few days I’ll get mail out of the mailbox, which is fine since I don’t often receive first-class mail because I get e-bills and pay bills on-line.

 

Not going outside, in fact, may not be good for you; even though I don’t want to go outside, I understand that point. If I still mowed my grass, I suppose I would suffer extremely from what seems like excessive exertion pushing a lawn mower in summer heat. Fortunately, I no longer mow my grass.

This week I have grilled hamburgers twice since the temperature was mild. When it heats up again I will probably not cook on the grill again until fall. I prefer fall for almost any outdoor activity, except swimming. But I don’t have a swimming pool and rarely go to an outdoor pool. I can go to the pool at my health club (if only I would!) and suffer no injury from sunshine since it’s an indoor pool.

I’ve managed to wait too long to do more gardening and flowerbed preparation, so I will start again in the fall. I can go out in the morning or early evening and water the flowerbeds, but I will NOT be digging and planting for a while.

I don’t have strong inclination for outdoor activity; never have been one to hike, do lots of gardening, or even take outdoor walks. Hey! You sweat from these things when you’re outside. My inclinations are toward more docile, indoor activity, such as reading, watching movies, and now web-surfing.

No doubt I would benefit from more physical activity (unless, of course, it killed me). I still go up and down stairs at home since my house has a split foyer. But you can take even that to extremes. Caution is the by-word. So trash and laundry go to the basement as required, but with care and deliberation.

This week my neighbors are at the beach (a place I really do not crave to be; you know, it’s hot and gritty) and I’m feeding their cats. I do not mind doing this, even if I do have to leave my house to go to their house. I cannot complain that it’s difficult since it’s a few steps from front door to front door.

The cats are always pleased to see me; at least they greet me loudly. I think they’re saying, “At last! She’s here to feed us!”  Hey, my dogs act the same way, every day of the year.

It’s not that I’m counting exactly, but I have slightly less than seven months until retirement. Met up with a co-worker from another section of our department in the café in our building recently and he told me how many months and days until he retires in late 2013. I think he’s really looking forward to it.

It may be time for me to start reviewing Medicare supplements and part-time employment possibilities. I’m enjoying reading, watching movies, and visiting with friends. But can you really spend day after day doing those things? As lazy as I am, I think it’s better to be doing something useful in the world.

It’s hard to understand how we got out of the mountains and became civilized (assuming that we are). Thank God we did.I had recorded the series, Hatfields & McCoys, and watched it this week. Couldn’t watch it all in one night; each episode being two hours and very intense. It is a well-done production and worth watching, but I’m going to have bad dreams for weeks.  Amazing and terrible to consider how badly we can behave and how we rationalize it.