That best describes this week thus far: frenetic.  Chaotic, hectic, frenzied, wild, frantic… and the list of synonyms goes on.

I miss so much when on call.  Nature slips by me with barely a notice as I struggle to get enough sleep so I can survive the next day without slipping into unconsciousness.

The Kids barely get what they deserve—my time and attention.  Mostly I’m a vagabond to them during such weeks, a virtual stranger spending far too much time in front of the computer or at the office.

By Friday, I’ll barely know my own name.  And that’s during a good week.  Bad weeks bring on such confusion and fatigue by Wednesday at the latest.

I’m almost there but not quite.

Still, I did notice summer finally arrived.  It’s hot and miserable, and far too humid for these temperatures.  Just like it should have been by June at the latest.

Our forecast?  More of the same.  This should give you an idea of what I mean.

Thursday
Hi 99°F (37°C)
Lo 77°F (25°C)

Friday
Hi 100°F (38°C)
Lo 77°F (25°C)

Saturday
Hi 101°F (38°C)
Lo 79°F (26°C)

Sunday
Hi 102°F (39°C)
Lo 77°F (25°C)

All the while, the dewpoint will remain in the upper 60s to low 70s.  That means a relative humidity hovering around 40% during the day and 70% at night.  And I assure you, 35-40% humidity at temperatures over the century mark represent a rather unbearable existence.  Not that 70% humidity when it’s twenty degrees cooler is any more comfortable; it’s just a different kind of misery.

Yet this is summer in Texas, something that gave us a reprieve for two months.  But I do note it finally arrived during what is normally our hottest month.  Gross.

The forecast is not expected to change through the early part of next week.

I can’t help but feel the arrival of our normal hell this late in the season is a welcome respite from what we normally deal with: this kind of heat from June through August (and to a lesser degree in May and September).

It would seem the floods have ended, the rains have moved elsewhere, and the state is enjoying a chance to dry out.  Having received our entire yearly allotment of precipitation in the first six months, however, begs the question of what we’ll get when autumn rolls around.  That is our next wettest season behind spring.  Winter is the third-wettest part of our year, so chances are we’re not done with all the rain quite yet.  Time will tell. . .

Nevertheless, The Man beckons once again, so I must return to the nightmare that is on call.  More soon, or tomorrow.