It’s Not Even Summer Yet??

By Deanna Kirk – Special to the Navarro County Gazette

I doubt there’s anyone out there more irked than I am about ERCOT’s request for us to keep our thermostats at 78 degrees.

I’m a hot-natured, fluffy, menopause-aged woman and I’m NOT keeping my thermostat at that level. Every year at this time I question why I live in this part of the United States. Don’t get me wrong, I love Texas. I’m a Texan through and through. But if circumstances were different don’t think I wouldn’t have a summer house in Cape Cod.

At my current age, it’s not just irritating or annoying to be hot, it’s dangerous. I have some health stuff that makes getting too hot highly problematic. However, I also have grandchildren playing outside sports and I am loathe to miss anything they do. But when the ball-playing ventures into June, sometimes Deedee just can’t be there.

We were fortunate enough at the end of May to be able to take all our kids and grandkids to Hochatown, Oklahoma for a few days. Mr. Kirk finally hit 50 years of age, and several others had birthdays in May as well, so we hit the road and all stayed together in one big house in the woods to celebrate.

Let me just say summer in Oklahoma sure felt different than here.

We also noticed there were very few mosquitos. What’s that about? It was beautiful up there, and they had received as much, if not more, rain than we’d been having, because Beavers Bend Lake was way up out of the banks. A spot where we had taken pictures together back in December was so far under water I doubt I could have swam out to it. Even the bathrooms at the marina were in about four feet of water.

We played outside, went hiking, ate, grilled, ate some more, ate out a couple times, played games at night, and just generally enjoyed one another for several glorious days. It was the best gift Mr. Kirk could have received, he said.

It was hard to come back and return to our “normal,” but I’m blessed and grateful to have all my little ducklings in the same county. Friends who have to cross the U.S. to see their grandkids or heaven forbid, leave the country – I feel so bad for them. Mine are liable to pop in anytime at the store, but we still couldn’t wait to all go to another state and stay together in the same house.

When I was a kid growing up, all my grandparents lived in Arkansas (at least for a portion of my childhood before the paternal grandparents moved here). Some of my favorite memories are of times I spent with my cousins at Thanksgiving up in the woods at my Mamaw’s house in Diamondhead, just outside of Hot Springs. I’m so tickled my own grands got to experience a little of that too.

So, now we settle in for the long, hot dog days of summer in Texas … Lord, please keep all my air conditioners working.

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