Heatwave

  Anyone who's spent any time in this part of the country in the summer knows the oppressive heat here is nothing to be trifled with. This summer is, according to our local news, going to be a record breaking one.
  Today's heat index is 110 degrees. The actual heat is 101, and you can't really discern a few degrees once it gets up into that range. The humidity here is consistently high, and it makes the air very heavy. When you step outside, you can literally feel the air around you. Showering is completely worthless, and there are actually warnings on TV for people to just stay indoors.
  I got up this morning long before dawn, and it was already 80 degrees. at 5:30, I drove down to the Arlington area to get some pictures of the Marine Corps War Memorial at sunup, and I was sweating pretty good just from walking around. As I was leaving, right around 6:30, a group of about 30 military folk were just showing up for morning PT. I watched them do a couple dozen push-ups, and then their instructor began to discuss the course their ten mile run would take. I started to sweat even more at the thought.
  Most of the rest of the day, I've mercifully been indoors, packing. This afternoon, at the hottest part of the day, I went to take some trash outside, and scared off the squirrel who lives in my front yard. I wondered what he was doing so close to my front door, and then later, when he came back, I realized.
  He was sprawled out on my concrete stoop, in the shade, trying to cool his belly. There was no escaping the heat anywhere, and that slightly cool concrete was the only relief he had. I felt so bad for him that I got a bunch of ice from the freezer and poured it on the front stoop. I don't know if he got to eat any of it or lay in it, because by the time I checked back, of course, it was all melted and dried up.
  I did manage to get a few pics of him, in various poses, trying to stay cool. I would have asked him inside, but, you know, rabies.