This heat wave ...

... is going to be my undoing.  Really it is.

We don't have air conditioning in our home, relying on fans and cross breeze from the many trees that surround us.  Our outside temperature is usually a couple of degrees lower than whatever the city is suffering (and in winter, we are usually a couple of degrees warmer).

But for at least the past ten days the temperature has hovered in the low to mid 30s every day, all day!

With no sign of relief for several days to come yet.

I don't cope well in extreme heat.  Even as a teenager I had trouble with the dog days of summer.

You'd think my joints would love this sauna-like weather.  But not so.

Last night was one very long night.

In spite of the fan that blows constantly, the warm air that it was moving around the room simply wasn't enough relief for me.  At one point, I awoke with a terrific headache and knew immediately it was because I was dehydrated from sweating so profusely (my bedclothes were drenched).  Even the very copious amount of water I drank didn't seem to help though.  It took forever to fall back to sleep.

There was a point at which I found John sitting in the living room reading (so that he wouldn't bother me).  I told him he could come back to bed to read since that's what I was going to do.  Two hours later I turned off the light and tried to go back to sleep again.  Much tossing and turning ensued.

And when I did sleep, the dreams were horrific.  Stupid nonsensical dreams.  Disturbing dreams.

When I woke and it was finally a decent start-the-day time, I was incredibly relieved that the night was over.

Now I can spend my day trying to find relief until again it is time to turn in for another long night of hell.