Not that this should come as a shocker – the South is HOT! North Carolina is roasting today at 92 degrees but feels like 102. It makes me want to hug WIllis Carrier, inventor of the modern-day air conditioner. However, Carrier died in 1950.

Every state I have ever lived in seems to have extreme-heat summers. In Montana, for example, the heat was different. It was scorched, and the sun seemed closer. Clear skies made it dangerous. No cloud cover. Very little humidity. Fires in the mountains were a problem. There was an actual “controlled” fire season to eliminate the danger of an actual wildfire. The sky would be filled with smoke… a constant smell of burning trees & grass suffused the air, you could taste it.

Houston, TX was simply a different world. And I mean that in every way: the weather, the people – everything. I dubbed it the Concrete Jungle. That’s what it was to me. Temperatures would rise & rise, the atmosphere full of moisture – a concrete jungle/swamp. The heat of a big city with asphalt & concrete baking exacerbates the discomfort.

(I was happy to leave Texas.)

Ohio is just Ohio. It is hard to explain that state & its schizophrenic summers. Growing up there, there have been many changes over the years. So much so, that I can’t pinpoint a “typical” Ohio summer. I remember droughts. I remember summers where it seemed the rains would not stop, flooding the fields… stuck farm equipment… hairy-ass pin oak trees… deerflies & mosquitoes & ticks galore.

Each state will have its summer struggles, discomforts, as well as joyous highlights. I can’t wait for the highlights of my first North Carolina summer. 4th of July, fishing and, hopefully, moving to a house where there are trees shading the area.

Just today Tara suggested we go on a date to – hopefully – our new house. Technically, it’s trespassing. (An illegal date. What fun! Does not take much twisting of my arm to do something a little questionable.) But we have money down on the place so I don’t see the harm in us bringing a bag of food & drinks to consume on the porch. We have done it before, about two weeks ago, & with no incident.

I just hope our luck continues. Then again, that is The Prayer of the Outlaw… we always are praying for luck to be on our side.