Dog Days are here again

It's August in Alabama. Need I say more? It's been wicked hot and stifling humid. A casual saunter around the block produces a sweat soaked tee shirt. Not primo cycling weather. Despite that, I got in 2 nice midweek rides last week after work. Saturday was then to be the big ride of the week, and to clear the day of chores, I took the lawnmower out on Friday after coming home from the office. JackWeedy (our excellent biking lawn care guy) put grass growing/weed destroying stuff down last week which was well watered in. This yielded a dark green, dense and lush bermuda grass lawn. Which was very tough to mow with my manual propelled mulching mower (no comments from the peanut gallery!). Especially in the heat. I took two breaks and was still totally whipped afterwards. It took most of Saturday to recover, as I was good for little else all day.
I rose early to go on the club ride, which was to meet at 7, but 1/2 way there, I realized that my cap, helmet and gloves were back on the dining room table. No riders without helmets on club rides allowed. I had to turn around and scrub the mission. Upon arriving back home, there was no energy happening to ride solo.
Sunday afternoon, I put on my Grant P wannabe outfit. Nylon MUSA shorts, silly cycling (longer arms and higher collar than a street shirt) seersucker long sleeve shirt over a thin wool tee shirt and a green (matches the color of the bike) Elrond's cap and slowly rode all the new local subdivisons to see what has been going on lately. About 20 miles all told on the Saluki. First, Grant's fashion sense may work well in San Francisco, where Mark Twain reported that the Summers are cold, but a soaked cotton shirt hangs heavy on an Alabama rider. Ditch that idea. The ride itself was fine with lots of interesting things to look at and folks to wave to and I was beginning to feel normal again. Sunday started early for me, rising at 4:30 to take my son to Birmingham Airport. He is in Washington DC for the week at a college student conference. In fact, I heard (but was at work and did not see) that he was on CSPAN2 yesterday, discussing what books students should read. The mail lady brought a Baggins front rack bag (bought from someone on the RBW list) and I put it on the Saluki, along with the Baggins "Keven" bag hanging from the saddle. The Carradice zip roll has moved over to the Rambouillet. Two larger bags, a Carradice Cadet and an Acorn, wait on the shelf for longer trip requirements. The Ostrich front/rear set has been sold and will ship out when the buyer's check arrives. Anyway, it was hard to stay awake in church (I got back from Birmingham in time to have breakfast and then go over to church) and focused on the sermon (which was supposed to deal with Melchizedek, but which wandered off some) and harder to stay awake once I found my recliner chair following a shower in the afternoon. At least I was awake through Sunday school. Which I was teaching. (Jephthah, and yes I stayed on topic)
The forecast for today is 97F and humid, with T-storms a possibility. I may be reading "Bicycling beyond the Divide" in air conditioning, instead of actually bicyling beyond anything. We'll see how the day goes and all that....