I do a bit of coccooning on some winter days, usually invoked by bitter cold and prolonged heavy snowfall. Reading, naps, baking bread.
But summer cocooning makes me feel uneasy. It is not a natural state of being. Well, four weeks of continuous high wind, desiccating air, hot temperatures, and blinding sunshine finally hit the point at which I feel it’s better to stay indoors as much as possible, with curtains drawn.
Time to download some podcasts. Pollen, dust, too much sun mean “do not read too much”. Signing off…
Though not as bad as parts of NY, the wildfire smoke limited strenuous outdoor activity here for several days recently. It’s gone now (AQI = 44), at least for awhile.
It is odd summer coccooning. Since May 15, four days with sun and those were when it hit 80.
It has rained every day other than those four and it has been cool. Biking doesn’t work. The trails are mud and the roads have no shoulders as many have been undermined… Being run off the road into a six foot trench seems not fun.
No smoke at all. Our worst AQI was 47 usually 3. That low that has taken up residence has sent any smoke ( and the fires are not far away in QC)to the Midwest.
Swimming is possible as the water temp and the air temp are about the same. but this suntan thing isn’t working. No sense in sitting out at 64 degrees under the clouds
At least we are not in VT which has tons of road closures as roads often parallel rivers.
We have been in flood for 2 months in Nevada… We just lost 2 kayakers this week.
Pikabike started the thread. You are not there either.
People can give up if they want to, but I will never agree with it.
That’s like me in winter mode. “They” said print books would be obsolete. HAH!
I did like being able to borrow e-books during the pandemic, though. No contact, no driving required. But as soon as libraries cautiously reopened, there I was again.
We are plagued with an unusually large hatch of so-called cedar gnats this summer. Normally, they’re hell in June and then fade off. I expect this year they’ll torment us right up to mid-September, like they did 4 years ago after a winter of heavy snowfall.
There are no cedar trees in this region. I don’t know why our junipers are referred to as cedars; juniper wood is the opposite of cedar: Extremely hard. Besides, these horrible biters actually are more prevalent in sagebrush and tall grasses. They especially love the eyes, ears, and scalp. My head feels like a mass of tiny itching/burning points.
Nobody is giving up. Just taking a break from various torments.
My break lasted exactly one day, yesterday. Taking a day off to recharge is good.
Today, I escaped the cedar gnats by paddling somwhere about 1000 ft higher and amidst a different ecosystem than my usual places. It was still hot, though not as hot. Best thing was no friggin’ wake boats, which have shot up in numbers since 2019. Tiny lake…did multiple laps to make 9 miles.
I thought you were referring to insectivorous birds. Lovelovelove our swallows, flycatchers, all of the bughunters. My husband saw a nuthatch nail a grasshopper! I give them peanuts a few times a week, so I guess they hang around for all the bennies.
Disturbingly, the bats have been scarcer and scarcer each year.
