Years ago when I first moved to south Florida from Houston, I thought everybody down here had to be big weenies, complaining about the weather. During the summer the daytime temps are in the lower 90’s and while the humidity can reach high levels, is usually relatively low. Well, everything is relative, I guess, because to me it felt wonderful.

Houston, on the other hand, is the armpit of the country. I remember going out on sales calls in a dress, hose and heels and not making it to my car before melting. I think that’s why I was never big on makeup. It melted, along with my hair and antiperspirant. There’s one day in particular that stands out in my mind… One afternoon in northwest Houston I had stopped at a corner 7/11 for something cold to drink and happened to look across the street at a bank’s sign. I don’t see them too much here, but they’re everywhere in Houston; the signs that flash the temperature? Many of them, as this one did, showed the humidity level as well. [We like to torture ourselves, I guess]
I stood there, sweating, looking at that sign flash 120° and 98%. I was wearing a blue dress and it was soaked, hanging off me like a big blue rag.
But because I grew up there I thought it was normal!

Still can’t believe I used to go jogging in that heat, DVD player strapped onto my side, oblivious to the extreme temps. Ah, to be young again!

Years later after I’d married Arthur and we moved to Houston for three years, I thought I was going to lose the poor guy; if the heat and humidity didn’t get him, I was afraid the extreme smog levels would. He’d tell me: “I can’t breathe!”
We did buy an air cleaner and that worked wonders. Not on the heat, though.

Yeah, I still miss it. [/misty] But I’m now used to south Florida heat and it feels danged hot! If I don’t get something done outside in the early morning or late evening you can forget it, it’s not happening. Can’t breathe in that heat!

I just went to the mailbox and it felt like I was trying to walk across the Sahara… I just looked: Weather Underground says it’s 89°.