These days the thermometer moves faster than we do.

So despite the fact that we went to bed early to get up early to go out early to beat the heat, we never did get past it, but headed right out into the inferno.

We wanted to check out a couple of things. I was hoping to find a pop-up tent (not for camping, but something that would act as an outdoor sunshade) that we could take to see the eclipse, since neither James nor I are supposed to be in the sun. I couldn't find anything last week that was like I was thinking of (the "pop-up" unit Kroger had on sale two years ago, that was like a giant pop-up laundry basket, except that it fit two people inside), but thought the 10x10 popup I saw at Academy Sports might do, and afterwards it could go on our deck, since it's a sunny hell out there in the summer. But because James' back is so bad, I wanted something I could pretty much handle myself. Alas, I couldn't even lift the bag it comes in. Sigh. So we bought some more keep-cool cloths (the kind you wet down and keep on your neck) and found a foldable camp table with cup holders. When we came out, it was barely even noon and the sun shining against the white walls of the store was almost enough to blind you.

Then we made a quick stop at JoAnn where I ran into the store with my coupons and came out with Command containers. I am determined to get all of James' tea under control. Right now you can hardly get to the Hot Shot for the boxes of different types of tea leaning against it because the tea caddy has overflowed.

I asked James if he felt well enough to drive to Cabela's, which was about six miles north. According to their ad, they had pop-up shade/shelters. Cabela's is like a Bass Pro Shop in that it's a huge store devoted to fishing, camping, and hunting supplies. We walked all through the store to see all the gadgets (fishing reels, boat shoes, pistols, bows with crosshair sights, sleeping bags, tents, dried food, lanterns and more, and there, in the middle of the store where it didn't belong, in the middle of the cooking supplies and equipment, was the very sort of tent I was looking for, something light to pop up and made shade. We also went by some "fishing" shirts, with an SPF factor of 50, which were on sale, and bought ourselves one each. We are hoping we can use them after the eclipse in various sun situations, like the Yellow Daisy Festival and the Jonquil Festival.

By then it was lunch time. We had come up through I-75 north, but 75 south was backed up due to everlasting construction, so instead we went west to Acworth via highway 92 and had lunch at Panera. It was crowded and we were going to have to squeeze ourselves in a booth, but a couple sitting at the table next to the booth offered to swap with us. That was so nice of them!!! I had a big bowl of soup and James had his favorite Asian salad.

We crossed over the parking lot to Books-a-Million to check out the magazines and share a frozen hot chocolate for dessert and were sitting sipping on it when thunder rumbled overhead. We took our time drinking it, figuring the storm would break overhead and rain itself out like on our previous vist, but it was still just rumbling and stiflingly hot outside (92°F with a heat index over 100) when we finished, so we rushed to pay, mounted the power chair and covered it, and headed home. Just as I was getting in the truck I could feel, instead of a scorching draft of wind, a cool breeze, and it started to spatter not soon afterwards. We did have to drive through the rain on the way home, but it never got as far as Georgia Monsoon Season, and it had stopped by the time we reached home and the garage, and the temperature had fallen from a stifling 92 all the way down to 75!

After unwinding for a while (and me putting up the Command containers for the tea), we had another fun thing planned: attending Juanita's birthday party. There were a lot of us crowding the back half of Longhorn and at least one man asked if we were some type of special group. Well, yes... 😀 After good food and good conversation we headed home. James went to spend some time in the Mancave and I found Sneakers with Robert Redford and Ben Kingsley (and a very funny Dan Ackroyd) playing on Encore on Demand. Interesting how some parts of this film, especially about the NSA spying on US citizens, are still relevant despite the technology being out of date! Sneakers celebrates its silver anniversary this year.

Labels: books, food, friends, magazines, movies, shopping, weather

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