Even the cats are over it
It’s finally here – the miserable and sticky summer of the deep south.
People are slowing down, and time is following suit.
No one is where they say they’ll be when you expect them anymore. Everyone is moving in slo-mo to avoid working up more body heat than necessary from the extra exertion. Traffic is slower, checking out at the store is more costly of your time, and even conversations have slowed to a crawl. It’s pretty funny to me how the human species copes with extreme heat. I suppose it’s just an animal condition that we haven’t outgrown with all our fancy industry and technological advances. At the end of the day, you still need to go outside. There are certain animals that I expect to be affected by the heat, but cats really are not one of them. Dogs, of course, get lazy and reliant on loads of cool fresh water when the temperature climbs. You’ll see wild animals like birds and squirrels chilling out lazily or diving into puddles of water for relief on sunshiney days. But it’s pretty rare that you’ll see a cat avoiding the sun or panting from the heat, you know? For me, that’s the real indicator of a dangerously hot day. When Garfield is over the sunshine, so am I. I’m loading up with layers of sunscreen, layers of flowing clothing, floppy hats, and sunglasses. And after all that, I’m not going outside unless I absolutely have to. As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t enough sunscreen in the world to offset the pounding sun and miserable humidity on those cat days of summer.