It’s
not like farming isn’t hard enough these days without it being so darn
hot! Every day, hot weather or not, we
try to do the best job we can in farming our oranges so as soon as they are
ready we can ship them out fresh to all our customers. But when the recent heat wave came to the San
Joaquin Valley, it gave me reason to pass out. Did I say pass out? I meant…pause. Although our valley did not reach the levels
of “Hell” a.k.a. Phoenix, Arizona, where it was a “balmy” 117.F for a few days,
but when our day’s high temperatures reached 108.F for a week or so, oh how it
made me long for the days of 99.F which by the way, is the average temperature
for the month of July in our area.
And
as we celebrated our nation’s independence on the 4th, in a sweat
dripping, stay out of the sun, “what do you mean I’m barbequing the
hamburgers?” haze of heat, I started to think about the people who played a big
part of making this country great, and how they must have suffered. I thought, “How did our Founding Fathers do
it?” Seems to me the days before
electric fans, air conditioners, and frozen margaritas, July would have seem
pretty bloody hot for the men and women who were trying to “form a more perfect
union”. It’s one of those endearing
mysteries to try and figure out exactly how they were even able to think about
democracy without the aid of cargo shorts and short sleeve shirts? In all
the paintings of everyone back then, all I see is long shirts, heavy coats, and
long pants for the gentlemen and nothing but long, full, dresses for the ladies.
Talk about the “Intolerable Acts”…whew! I have been in Boston in August and I remember
how “wicked hot” it was. I was attending
my best friend’s wedding, which of course required me to wear a wool
tuxedo. It was that particular day that
I learned the meaning of the term “heat index”.
Although the temperature was only around 90.F, there was this little
thing called “humidity” which had to have been around 167,000% that day. I still haven’t forgiven my friend for
getting married in July. Anyway, having
that level of knowledge of how hot the east coast can be in the summer, once
again I marvel at the level of determination of the founders to complete their
work in order to give us a democracy. I can’t imagine how miserable the long,
hot days would have been trying to dream up ideas of liberty and the concept of
“America” as more than just a group of colonies trying to be separated from
“Mother England”, but an idea that would resonate throughout the world for
centuries to come. Or maybe, just maybe they were so determined, because they
were able to see into the future. Hmmm…(insert dreamy music here) imagine, a
country filled with air conditioned shopping malls, where they could rest
inside on a comfy bench checking out their new square buckled shoes from Ye
Olde Footlocker, whilst sipping a cold iced drink from Starbucks! Yes, sweet land of liberty indeed! Here’s hoping you stay cool!
I’ll
see you in the groves…
Tony
