July 2025

 

For many of us, July of any year, represents the middle of summer...   cool spells disappear, summer rains are here, humidity starts to worsen, air conditioners are in full swing, out of school children have become either more demanding or more independent, and we are planning our FOURTH OF JULY celebrations.

I remember the follow slogan:

GET A FIFTH 

ON THE THIRD 

FOR THE FOURTH

Of course, for those who did not drink alcohol ignored it.

But this celebration is not just about alcohol...  it is about family and friends, picnics, parades, remembrances, our freedoms, and fireworks.

For me, JULY IS SUMMER...

By the time this month rolls around each year, I am usually spending more and more time inside rather than outside.  I am beginning to grow weary of mowing and weed eating, the mosquitos force me to wear long clothes or repellant, humidity makes it difficult to breathe, smoke from grilling constantly flows through the air, and there is absolutely nothing new on cable to occupy your time.

Being retired, I do not have to worry about all the additional traffic on the highways and around town because school is not in session.  Colleges are on summer schedules so most of the students have returned home, if you live in a college/university town which I do.

What is most intriguing to me is how light it still is at 9:00 pm or if you are on military time at twenty-one hundred hours.  During the non-summer months, I am usually in bed by 9:00/9:30, now it it 10:00/10:30 because of this light.  Our circadian rhythms change during the summer months, especially during the month of July.

However, July also means, if you have backyard gardens, that you are now eating your fill of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, bell peppers, squash, zucchini, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, and whatever else you might have planted like melons.  There has been plenty of rain for melons of all kinds and varieties.