Decades ago, more like half a century ago. We were trying to beat the heat and I was living in Maine. In the summer working on the farm, we started before daylight working in the fields because by noon it was too hot to be working in the fields. I remember as a child laying on my bedsheets in my underwear trying to fall asleep in the August heat, we did not even have a fan. The windows were open, and any breeze was a Godsend. I read the Lord of the Rings sitting up to my waist in the lake trying to stay cool in the summer heat. I know that the weather is worse than it was half a century ago, but the coping mechanisms are not new just more widely necessary. Some of us will survive this, this I believe but not all of us. It is going to be hard and sad. Dealing with Mother Nature as a young adult seemed to be just another challenge but now because it is a self-inflicted wound it seems more painful and less an accomplishment. Yes, you read that right. Maine, we had seriously high wet bulb temperatures in August most years even half a century ago but summer lasted only a few weeks. Oh, but the corn on the cob, lobsters and clams were divine. The heat as not as bad "Down East" on the coast.

TEK