As I write these words it is 88° F outside, with a "RealFeel" (a measurement I am convinced Accuweather created to make us more miserable) of 102°. The prediction for today is 95°. This sucks.
Having spent some time in the desert, I can tell you that the old adage, "it's not the heat, it's the humidity," is absolutely true. It's so hot that I cannot walk outside without being drenched in sweat almost immediately. It feels like stepping into a sauna, or the bathroom after someone has taken a very long, very hot shower. I'll take 100° and dry over 85° any day of the week. And it's not set to break until at least next week.
And to top it all off, I'm housesitting for my mother this weekend. Housesitting for my mother really means horsesitting, which means mucking out stalls and hauling wheelbarrows around in obnoxious heat and humidity. And my mother's house is not air conditioned. I basically spent yesterday holed up in the cellar — it's not finished or anything, just a plain old cellar, but at least it's cool. Well, cooler.
How did people do this in the old days? You see pictures of people from the 1800s and they're all wearing wool suits in the middle of summer!