my work the sauna

For a few weeks every summer, Manitoba draws about as close to the sun as it concievably can. The big prairie sky of which I am so fond unleashes the heat of our closest star without mercy onto the unprotected vistas and the hairless, defenseless mammals called humans. Forests dry to kindling, all the while praying that the storms that always follow the scorching heat won't smite them with lightning to ignite their vulnerable branches. Animals hide in what shade they can find, reducing their movements as much as possible to survive the weather's onslaught. Crops dig deep with their roots, sucking up as much moisture as they can find there while they sway and twist in the wind in a kind of rain dance.

And people, well, people are the most vulnerable, with only the things they (or others) have built with their hands and devised with their minds to protect them from the blinding summer sun. In the 100-year-old building in which I make my living, everything is sweating - even (or especially) the old wood bannisters. This is my fourth summer working here and I am not unfamiliar with the way this place turns into a sauna for at least two weeks during the year so at the beginning of the summer I always ask for my favorite technology to be installed in my office - an air conditioner.

I wonder sometimes what I would do if I didn't have a way to escape the summer's vicious heat or the winter's brutal cold. How did the native Canadians who used to roam these lands survive the crazy extremes? Did people acclimatize faster? Did they simply shut down and not do any work during days like this to preserve their energy?

I admit that I'm a total wus when it comes to extreme heat or extreme cold. I admit that I'm a slave to technology and revel in my climate-controled environments. I admit that I will look at you funny if you tell me you don't have or don't believe in air conditioning. You know what? I don't care. I don't know how else to get cool (or warm) without my gizmos and gadgets. I think I might actually be cold blooded in the end.

Anyway, I can't wait for the summer storms that'll follow this heat wave and then the break in the heat that usually follows. Five or six degrees cooler, that's all I ask - and hold off on the humidity, please and thank you! The pressure of this hot, muggy weather is giving me a headache.