You know its hot...

...when even the flies don't want to swarm around platters of food at an outdoor political benefit

...when even the breeze knows to stay inside
...when you can feel the sweat dripping down your face and you're just standing still

...when you don't even feel like eating.

On Sat Spouse & I went to our friends Corey & Doug's 4th Annual Summer Bash in Milton, a political fundraiser complete with live entertainment, food, and drinks.

It was hotter than hell.

Milton is about 15 miles inland so it doesn't get the benefit of constant breezes like Lewes and Rehoboth, and a breeze would have really helped on Sat. It was in the upper 90s in the shade and with the humidity and the still air, it was difficult to stay coherent. Seriously, twice I started feeling a little tipsy, as if I'd had ti many martoonis, but it was all from the heat.

I was drinking like a camel. Over the 3 hours we were there I consumed 2 large cups of blueberry iced tea and 3 large cups of ice water, and I never needed to pee even once.

Our friend Ted lives next door to where the Bash took place, so Spouse & I ducked inside his wonderfully air conditioned house a few times for a break from the oppressive heat. Doing that was the only thing that allowed us to be able to stay there for 3 hours. Otherwise we'd have had to go home after only an hour.

We did run into several friends and also met a few new ones. The entertainment was okay; not really my taste. The food was really good, although I hardly felt like eating. I was rather impressed at how well organized and laid out the Bash was. After having attended political fundraisers with uniformed bartenders and wait staff passing hors d'oeuvres in the DC area, I didn't have very high expectations for this little Sussex County affair. We were quite pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. If it hadn't been for that unbearable heat!

On our way back home Spouse & I agreed that when its this hot survival depends on 2 things: staying inside with air conditioning and going to the beach. So after showering and some down time (Spouse took a nap, I watched TV), we headed over to Wayne & Stephan's at 6:30 for Wayne's big birthday party, and although it was designed to be an indoor/outdoor affair, we stayed indoors the entire time. We did have to go outside on the back deck to get food and drinks, but we quickly returned to the comfort of the air conditioning. We figured all the rest of the people hadn't been melting outdoors for 3 hours at the Bash like we had. Again, we spoke with several friends we already knew and made some new ones. We had a good time, and left at 10.

The temperature on Sun was predicted to be a few degrees hotter than Sat, but living closer to the water we had a nice light breeze. Our dog Jordan was in agreement with us; she didn't want to go for a walk either. Spouse just let her out in the yard to do her business, and then she came right back into the air conditioning, where decent people dwell.

At 3:00 we headed to the beach. Its always cooler and breezier at the ocean so we thought we could tolerate it for awhile as long as we were prepared with the necessities: sunscreen and a small cooler full of ice water. I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable it was on the beach. We stayed for an hour and a 1/2 (I would have stayed longer if it weren't for Spouse wanting to go home), and whenever I felt hot I simply walked into the surf and let the chilly water cool me off. I was really glad we didn't stay home due to the heat.

The forecast calls for another scorcher today (95 degrees), but then gradual cooling each day this week, resulting in next weekend being in the low 80s. That's more like it.

Crush du Jour: Kerry Degman