Summer Puts the "Bake" in Bakersfield

Again, I hate to complain, but man has it been hot. The weather forecast is calling for a ten degree drop for next week, but we're all doubtful that it's going to happen. 

Our humidity is low, thank goodness, but instead of feeling sticky, it feels as though we live in a pizza oven.

NOT the daily high temperature ...

I think the reason this week's heat really got to me has everything to do with my work schedule. During my summer vacation, I get to the barn by 6:30 a.m. and work and ride until 10:30 or 11:00. It's hot by noon, but it happens gradually.

I now get to work at 6:00 a.m. - the coolest part of the day, and alternate between my air conditioned classroom and being outside for P.E. or walking to the library or standing in the lunch line, all of which are outside. It's hard going back and forth between such extreme temperatures. By the time I leave work, I already feel like my internal thermostat has taken a beating. 

I get to the barn by 3:30 p.m. - just when our maximum heat is starting to build. Some days it's around 98℉ while I am dragging the sprinklers out and mixing feed, but within two hours it can climb another five or six degrees. That's what happened on Friday. It was 100℉ while I was saddling just before 4:00, but by the time I was unsaddling an hour later, it was a 102℉.

After an easy 15 minute ride.

I am already "late" for my Saturday barn visit, but it's hard to get up every day at 4:45 a.m. only to do it on the weekends too. Even if I get to the barn two hours later than my summer vacation schedule, it will still be at least 20 degrees cooler than it is at 3:30. I appreciated the slower start to my morning. 

Hopefully your own weekend will be cooler than expected.