chelsea headingHey! Summer is here in the State of Oklahoma, USA! OK, many native Oklahomans call this “late spring” as the temperature has hardly ever been above 90 Fahrenheit. I know people in the way north of us consider that quite hot but here we know that when summer gets here, then it will be hot. For the people who say there is no climate change, you are wrong! Wrong! Not too long ago, before something changed, I worked outside at just about anything I needed to do and worked however long I wanted to. Now? I can hardly work out side an hour or so at a time during the afternoon before I have to quit for awhile. Oh, that “awhile” can sometimes last longer than the work time. So, you see, it has to be climate change that is keeping me from working outside for very long.
Another thing, just a few yesterdays ago many of us would go swimming in the strip pits not too far from our homes. The word I get is that some person or entity has closed them off so bunches of boys can no longer slip off and swim in these pits left over from strip mining. Modern boys will not have the pleasure or thrill of jumping off a bank about twenty feet above the water. Just as an aside, the first time or two one jumps from that high or higher, one has time to wonder: “Was this really a good idea?” But at 13 – 18 years old it turns out to be a great idea. But now, as I said, the pits are closed to swimming so no modern group of boys will ever feel the thrill of entering the water after falling like a big rock. The water was always cold below the surface because the pit was so deep. The modern boys will also never face the prospect of catching 100 through 1000 different diseases from the trash they didn't know the city was dumping in the pit down at the far end and around the corner. This may sound incredible to many but swimming, jumping, playing water-tag while yelling as loudly as possible was much more fun than staring at a cell phone for hours.
There is another thing that has changed but I do not know whether or not if it is caused by climate change. Vacant lots seem to be vacant all summer. We recently drove all around the town where I grew up (that “growing up” is still up for debate) and passed by more than one vacant lot. There were no softball games, no kids running, no kids having discussions as to rules of some made up games, just lots of nothing (pun intended). We never saw one mother in a car driving from lot to lot trying to find her errant son who was supposed to be mowing or “picking up the yard" or doing other chores. Maybe the change in climate has caused a change in behavior. But, he says quickly, in all the house we passed with large, medium or small yards there were no boys out doing chores. No, I did not check the strip pit as I think one can no longer get close to it by auto and I am not going to walk across a half mile field to check. Oh, that’s another thing the climate has changed. That half mile field takes much longer to cross now and the climate or something makes walking that far hard on the legs.
Very soon, as I read in the news, scientist are going to send a probe to the sun to study the corona. There are many things they can discover and study and, as strange as it seems, I don’t understand all their experiments. Somehow the corona is a zillion times hotter than the sun and may be even hotter than Oklahoma and Texas in the summer. Yes, I know that sounds like they are exaggerating but I read it in a reputable source. It wasn’t People magazine but one just as reputable. Knowing that most of you are smarter than me you may be able to understand a million degrees Fahrenheit but I can’t. I have been camping many times during Oklahoma summers and, even though it seemed like it, it was seldom anywhere near that hot. Now, with global warming and all, I think my long term camping is over. But I do wish that global warming and climate change would stop. I would very much like for my greats (ages 9, 6 and 4) to enjoy some good empty lot softball.