What do you expect?

I was real close to not writing this week's blog.

It's just too hot.

I took a quick look at a post I wrote nearly a year ago to the day about the weather and how hot it was. I mentioned something about walking early in the mornings to beat the heat and the insanity of it reaching 80 degrees by 6 a.m.

We're in the middle of another oppressive stretch right now complete with record-setting highs. If the temperatures themselves have not reached the triple digits, the heat index certainly has — and it's been this way for nearly three consecutive weeks.

"What do you expect," said my ever perceptive wife through her beads of perspiration. "You live in the South. It's July. This is what you wanted. It's supposed to be hot."

I guess so. How can she be so calm about it? Even indoors, with the A/C blowing nonstop, it's been uncomfortable.

On the Fourth of July, Kim and I spent the morning trying to catch up on our yard work. I mean, really catch up. We still have leaves in our backyard from last autumn. We haven't weeded our garden since April. In fact, unopened bags of mulch dotting the garden keep reminding me of the promise to finish a job I never really started. Our tomatoes are in serious competition with the dandelions. Yes, we've fallen way behind.

So we got our garden gloves, rakes and wheel barrows and went to work. We started at 8 a.m. (77 degrees) in the shade and toiled until sunny noon (98 degrees). We got a lot done, although there's still lots more to do. But I felt pretty good about myself. At least now the tomatoes can breathe.

It's now July 8 — I haven't done any yard work since the Fourth — and we're likely to reach the 100's again today. In fact, it might be the hottest day of the summer yet. But we have a plan. We're going to the annual family reunion in Yadkinville in a few hours, where we gather in the cool basement of a relative's house and listen to hours of deer-hunting and NASCAR-watching stories while taking long gulps of ice-cold homemade lemonade.

 We'll overeat all the casseroles and chicken pies and overindulge on the brownies, caramel cakes and apple pies.

And we'll try to stay cool.