The heat has been so bad lately I feel I’m trapped in the air conditioning. Finally, we had a little rain and a cold front come through
dropping the temperature to only 98, making the mornings bearable. That’s when I grabbed my camera and took a drive.

I was visiting a friend’s office one day last month when I saw one of their co-workers art project; a collection of staples formed into a crude dog shape. It was enough to spur my interest in finding other art oddities.  

And I found some good ones: trees with delicate carvings, this one sits in front of a lawyer’s office.

At the entrance to a cemetery

In my town someone came up with a great idea to the abandoned houses problem. We have a lot of houses that are out-of-state owned. They are usually purchased as rentals and used until they become unlivable. Until the city can make contact with those out-of-state owners and secure rights to tear them down they board up the doors and windows to keep out those who would use it for criminal activities. Instead of using plywood, they turn unsightly abandoned houses into works of art.

Whenever that heat drops get out of the house! You might surprise yourself at what you find in your own backyard field trip. 

My husband took the rest of the July 4^th week off for vacation. We decided to go to the zoo to see the much advertised Penguin
exhibit. I was so disappointed. It was 91 degrees at 10 in the morning, but the Penguin exhibit would be cold, right? It wasn’t. Penguins live on snow and ice, right? Not necessarily.  Admittedly I was expecting something a lot different than what I found.

The exhibit was a small glass window peering into a black box of rock, a small pool of water against the glass to see them swim, and five bored Penguins who appeared to be as confused as I was. I felt so sorry for them. Children were gathered around the window watching, waiting, hoping to see something they have never seen before, but the Penguins did not get the memo saying entertain above all costs.  They looked scared. The hesitation to jump into the water was evident in their approach and retreat from the edge of the rocks. They could see those faces peering at them and they just weren’t sure it was safe. Finally one brave soul ventured out far enough that he either took the plunge or slipped in, but there he was swimming around to the children’s ahs. Then it was over. The magic was complete and the crowd moved on. 

My husband complained about the cost of admission just to watch a swim routine, so we decided to give a once around the park walk. I became more and more depressed with each animal exhibit.

They looked miserable lying in their spaces. The attempt to create a natural environment is a nice thought but is it enough?  They
still looked like convicted prisoners to me. Eagles sitting on perches instead of flying to the top of trees and soaring across vast open fields in search of their prey.  A beautifully manned lion lay alone in a corner instead of stalking in high grass on an African plane.

I guess I’m confused as to why we still have zoos? It’s not like we can’t look them up on the internet and watch video’s in their real natural habitats or tune into National Geographic or Animal Planet to watch. The world is too open and available to necessitate the need for a zoo.  What benefit is there to capturing animals and condemning them to a life of confinement?  We can’t touch them; we rarely catch them doing anything other than sleeping or walking to a new spot to sleep.

I think it’s time for zoos to go the route of the drive-in theater and the scarecrow. We could use the money for research in protecting and helping the endangered species of the world.  

I am a hard-headed person. I know that because my parents told me so. My husband tends to agree with them; probably a couple of my old teachers are nodding their heads with agreement. I think my children would say I was stubborn. So what’s the difference between stubborn and hard-headed?

Stubborn is a person who knows their fight is impossible, yet they refuse to give up. They refuse to acknowledge defeat of any kind. I’m not sure how this guy would measure up—stubborn that he refuses to admit he needs brakes or hard-headed that gravity will pull objects down a hill.  

Hard-headed is a person who runs full blast into a brick wall to see if it’s brick. They will stick a slice of pizza fresh from the oven, even after someone sitting next to them says, “careful, it’s hot”, into their mouths burning their tongues. 

Both my parents are gone now, but their legacy of helpful teachings lingers. I still hear their voices in my head warning me that I am
being hard-headed.  Most recently it happened when I was gardening. I do my work early in the morning before that horrible heat sets in. Lately, the horrible heat is setting in earlier than I’m getting out there to work. I should have waited for the heat wave to pass, but oh no, I went out anyway and did my hour of gardening.

In that short period of time I managed to make myself very sick. Too much heat can really take a toll on the human body and cooling
yourself down is something else to be careful about. You don’t take a glass dish out of an oven and set it in the refrigerator without expecting an explosion.  The worst thing I could do would be to try to cool down too fast.  I sat down with a cool washrag and wiped down my arms and the back of my neck.

Be careful out there in this terrible heat wave, even with early morning hours comes complex heat issues. And Have a HAPPY 4^th! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

And THANK YOU to all the service men and women, Thank You for your service.