On Tuesday we were out at a very serious and prolonged fire. By the time I arrived on the scene with bottled water, Gatorade and wet towels, some paramedics and firefighters were standing there taking their own pulse and removing themselves from the fire scene because they were so hot it was not safe for them to continue fighting the fire at that time. That's a first---for them to be that hot that fast. I've never seen so many firefighters at one fire on the brink of heat exhaustion, but they were smart and pulled themselves away from the fire for rehab before they went back to fight the fire some more. Anyhow, after a long, miserable fire experience during which every Rehab person on the scene ran out of Gatorade, ice and water and had to go get more, we came home and learned on the 10 p.m. news that two Oklahoma cities tied for the hottest spot in the nation that day, with official highs of 112 degrees. Those two were Waurika and Marietta, and some of us here in Marietta actually had 115 degrees on some of our personal and non-official thermometers. Yesterday our guys were out fighting fires in "only" 108-110 degree temps, so it was a bit better, and today should be better still. Wantonamara, I always say that my weather here just north of Gainesville usually is more like that in Dallas than that in OKC, and this week I wish we were having Dallas's temps or OKC's temps because we've been hotter than both! Scott, You remember the summer of 1980 in Dallas, right? Well, here in Marietta we've now tied their streak of 42 consecutive days of 100 degrees or higher as of yesterday. I'm not sure we'll match their streak for that year of total days of 100 or higher because I think we're only at 52 and they had 66 that year. However, the Oklahoma cooldown this week really hasn't reached us yet, although it might reach us today or tomorrow----our forecast is for 103, I think, instead of 108 or 110. Tim and I really messed up when we moved here from Fort Worth---we found a place in Oklahoma that is hotter than Fort Worth in the summer and colder than Fort Worth in the winter. Clearly we were much younger and stupider then and weren't even thinking about the weather! I love it here anyway, but sure am ready for Mother Nature to give us a break. Rain would be really nice too. We had storms Tuesday but they mostly just brought us lightning and strong winds We've been stuck at 12" of rain this year for ages, and I sure would like to see that number go up a bit. Like maybe up to 30 or 40-something inches (not all in one day, lol). Dawn

I see too, Alisande that you managed to go from the bottom of the heap at the beginning of April to spot #2 by yesterday!! That was quite a feat too... but I didn't doubt you could do it! Congrats to you too.

That's how I feel now, Rosie. Only I'll probably be too busy the next few days with storm cleanup to be able to appreciate it :-( Bummer - news station on constantly gives me only one thing to think about today... which kinda puts the kibosh on savoring this momentous occasion, lol.

Thank you Sherry for noticing and appreciate everyones nice comments. I bought mine from Home Depot, but I know Ace was carrying it too. The colors are wonderful in this cooler weather we are having. A luscious shade of deep orange.............Maryl