Sunday, June 22, 2025

Working in the heat

Mrs ERJ suggested we go to an earlier Mass so I could beat-the-heat AND still care for the trees at The Property. Sounded like a great plan to me. I drove to The Property directly after Mass.

I changed into my work-duds, drank eight-swallows of electrolyte directly from the gallon jug and set the timer for a half-hour. It was 9:35. I wet the shoulders and arms of my tee-shirt and put it on.

I started with 300 gallons of 300PPM Nitrogen solution (half pound of urea in 100 gallons of water) and I had about 30 gallons left when I finished.

I chugged more electrolyte on the half-hours. At the one-hour mark I sat in the air conditioned truck for four minutes. It felt nice but wasn't necessary. I did not repeat at the two-hour mark, just another eight gulps of electrolyte. 

I finished at 11:58 and drank another eight swallows of electrolyte still had 1/4 of the gallon of electrolyte in the jug. 

It was cooler in the Upper Orchard than the Hill Orchard because of the breeze. The weather-weenies were predicting a heat index of 99F at noon and that is about what it felt like. My clothes were very, very damp from the sweat. 

I did notice 10-year-olds playing baseball at the American Legion when I drove by and they were wearing full uniforms. In June of 2012 the Atlanta Braves played a game where the temperature was 104 when first-pitch was tossed and it got up to 106F during the game. Not much wind in those stadiums, either.

Not too hot to play. Not too hot to work. 

 

A distraction

Most of their material is NOT in English.

They look like they are having a lot of fun. 

Another distraction

Skip ahead to 0:23. It keeps getting better and better.
 

8 comments:

  1. Personally I took the day off and sot 93 rounds of .44 special.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like you had a blast.

      Your own handloads or commercially manufactured ammo?

      Delete
    2. I have the equipment, not the time.
      I have them all zeroed for Freedom Munitions 240 grain rnfp, ¢57 a pop.

      Delete
  2. Please be careful in the heat. Years ago as a young man (never mind how many) I had heat exhaustion. It kind of sneaks up on you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Duly noted.

      The changes I made were to work in the cooler part of the day with the plan to knock-off before the heat-index hit 100F .OR. I ran out of electrolyte .OR. if I felt goofy.

      I also shorted my work intervals between breaks from 60 minutes to 30 minutes and upped my consumption of electrolyte.

      Within the work interval, I varied my walking speed based on how-I-felt, an imprecise and difficult-to-communicate process.

      And quite honestly, thank-you for your concern.

      Delete
    2. I passed out after finishing a 5k last year from heat exhaustion.
      Yup, NOT FUN !!!
      I can recognize it now though......

      Delete
  3. I worked outside yesterday and today each for about 4 hours.
    BRUTAL !!!!
    I literally couldn't drink enough water.
    Came inside and sat in front of the fan in the basement to cool down for 30 minutes half way each day.
    We have 20+ mph winds and can't imagine what it would be like calm....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Joe, what form of electrolyte are you using? I have a lot of
    work to do as well, I'm a old fart & Gatorade isn't what it
    used to be. And I do sweat buckets. Thanks!
    Al

    ReplyDelete

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