Frustrated with the heat!

[MuddyEddie]

Here in Texas we're baking to a crisp in this heat! In the area where I live (near the Red River) the temperatures have been over 100F (38C) for 54 days and counting! We've even seen a couple of days over 110F (44C)!

Along with the heat, we've had no rain since March! The Red River is completely dry, and most of the mud holes have dried up. However, the few mud holes and ponds that are still around are getting too dangerous to play in. Why? Well, this heat has caused a major algae infestation of the ponds.

Most of the time I don't care about getting a little slimy in the green goo! But this year the algae isn't just the normal gooey mess. Instead, it's a very dangerous form of algae that is highly toxic! Even the colour is different. Instead of being the rich green colour, it's a lighter greenish-blue tint. According to the experts, there have been nearly a hundred cases of poisoning from contact with the algae by people that are boating. If they can become ill because of their close proximity, imagine how bad it would be if someone is playing in chest deep mud with it all around them! No one has died from contact with it, but two people have developed major respiratory problems because of it. I already have very bad bronchitis so I don't need any other problems, thank you very much!

So I guess this year will be a bust for me and the mud. I got out a couple of times, but nothing all that great. It really makes me want to head up north and hang out in Nessie's little slice of heaven that she's found!

[Nessie]

I'm frustrated with the heat because I've had three days of very hot weather, nearly 100 for a few days now, but I've had to tend to a bunch of non-mud life issues (and they're serious, so I can't put them off for quicksand).

However, yes, my mudpit is okay. In fact, Poison Sumac Bog has been in really good form this year. Despite the fact that we're being pounded by rain rain rain, that little mudpit is stubbornly remaining real mud.

That's because it's on a weird little elevated patch of land, and I can get about an extra foot of water without really affecting it.

You are quite correct that too much algae is toxic. Fortunately, it warns you with a nasty stink. I only sink in mudpits with pleasant aromas.

Everybody wish me luck. I have a day scheduled on Saturday with Poison Sumac Bog and Camera-Baby. Perhaps I can slither out sometime Friday to check things out beforehand.

Massivia ("Great Big Frozen Mudpit") is just plain flooded, though. I'm disappointed. I got only one good visit in and it was nice stuff too and then the rain fell and now I need scuba gear to sink in that.

But Yahoo Weather is muttering, "scattered T-storms" for my Saturday and that just might get me a little hacked off.

Nessie

[bart1997]

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[bbjohn]

I live in the low desert of Arizona, and I know all about the heat. You've probably heard the desert is a "dry heat," but you can believe me when I tell you that anything about 105 degrees Fahrenheit is HOT!! to make matters worse, we have a "monsoon" during the summer months that also brings humidity. I'm glad they decided to put a roof on the ballpark in Phoenix.

I've lived in Arizona for almost 30 years, so you might think I'm used to the heat. I'm not. In fact, I think I handled it better when I was younger than I do now. This summer has been especially rough because I'm taking medication that makes me more sensitive to the heat.

I guess these summers are the price we pay for our beautiful autumns, winters, and springs in Arizona. I can see why so many "Zonies" from the low desert head for the high country in Prescott, Sedona or Flagstaff during the summer months. Given my limited income, I crank up the a.c. and brace myself for when the electric bill comes.

Big Bad John

[Boggy Man]

For me, here in BC, it is the direct opposite! Since mid-February, we have been consistently below normal, with a few exceptions, during which I took advantage of, and did some sinking. Everything is around a month behind. It has been two weeks since my last sink, and it looks like I am going to have to wait a little bit longer. After some rain Thursday, things should start to improve, and perhaps I will get another shot at sinking in less than a week. Hopefully, my Crescent Road pond will be ripe for the sinking! They say that summer weather is expected to stretch from coast to coast, starting towards the end of this month, and I certainly hope it comes through. It is annoying to have a warm air mass move up from the south, only to shift to the east of us just as it gives us a brief taste of it, giving places to the east of us record heat, while we get thunderstorms (with some humidity that was much higher than what we typically get), and then rain showers, and cooler weather. But, it did give us some interesting storm clouds on the 17'th:

Ominous Storm Cloud.JPG

Looks Like A Funnel Cloud.JPG

I am glad that all the real heavy rain over the past months has been way up north, in central and northern BC, so water levels aren't rising at my sinking spot(s), but are instead dropping (at my Crescent Road pond, at least). I feel rather excited when I think about what my sinking spot will be like whenever the weather breaks, and we finally get our Okanagan heat!

[PM2K]

Over here in Eastern Ontario, we're in the heat and humidity zone... today, it is heading to 34-38 C with a humidex approaching 50 C in some spots. Major ugh! Too hot for sinking, strangely, not so much the mud itself, but the effort to get there without collapsing from the heat.

My main issue has been the bugs this summer... a wet spring brought them out with a bloody vengeance, especially deerflies. In late June, I was forced to flee when clouds of them descended on my person... despite heavy duty bug repellant. At one point, they seemed to be biting through the mud to get at me... (had three-four walking on my glasses at one point... and there isn't a lot of room on those...) Haven't seen them that bad in a couple of decades... A month later, their numbers are thinner, but still pretty ugly. Hoping to brave the bastards next week.

Guess I'll have to stay under longer...

[Raptor90]

Bug seem horrid at the best of times... I'm in Nova Scotia and the second I set foot in a wooded area or boggy area, the horse flies are out in mass, they could probably fly off with me because there are so many.

[MuddyEddie]

Not many bugs bugging us in Texas. Been too hot and dry. In fact, this is the first year I've lived in Texas that I've not had to deal with wasps! They just aren't anywhere to be seen! We had a few mozzies here, but by 9:00 in the morning they've all headed back into a cooler place to be.

The miller moths are still around, but not nearly in number as in years past. And the grasshoppers and locusts only come out when it's cloudy, and those days are few and far between.

[Nessie]

Boggy Man:

EEEEK!

That sky doesn't look nice at all!

I've often wondered if tornadoes can ssssssssssSUCK all the good mud right out of a good quicksand pit.

Nessie

[General Woundwort]

That is an extraordinary photo, Boggy Man. Thanks for including it.