Change of clothing plans
Tomorrow is Memorial Day, meaning I have a parade to march, then a performance afterward. That's all fine and dandy. I enjoy getting to participate in something like this, as it reminds me of all the veterans in my family (who, at this point in time, have all passed). There is a great turnout, which is wonderful to see. Except...it's going to be about a thousand degrees tomorrow. Or ninety. Either way, it's hot.
Today's high at O'Hare? 97F. Our normal high? Flip those numbers around and subtract a few. I think I heard someone say our average high right now should be 73F. We were above that at about 7 this morning. Just...sheesh. 97F was a record high, tied, and is the second-highest May temp on record, with the other going back to May 31, 1934--that's the Dust Bowl if you recall. It's also the warmest temperature this early in the season, tied with May 27, 2012. That was also a Sunday.* It was also the hottest it's been since July 25, 2012. Yep, definitely felt like July outside today. Dad really wanted to do yardwork, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do much before he got tired, so he skipped it. Grandma also called today to talk about yesterday, and mom reminded her to put her air conditioning on, in part because she's had some leg swelling as of late and she needs to have a consistent temperature in her place.
(Sources: @NWSChicago and @MikeHamernik--and a commenter here said, just last weekend we had to turn on the heat. True! The high was only in the upper 40s! Holy crap.)
I've been waiting to hear from band. The last we'd heard, we were wearing full-on marching uniforms, meaning wool pants and wool jacket. That's not gonna fly. I figured they'd let us swap out our jackets for our white marching shirt. When I checked my email a little bit ago, they'd completely revamped the uniform--we're now going with our red summer polos, and any solid-colored bottoms, with solid black closed-toed shoes and short black socks. Black or blue bottoms are preferred, but any solid color will work, and they can be pants, shorts, skirts, skorts, or capris. Because the shoes I have won't really go with a skirt, I'll likely wear solid black pants, but we'll see. It's more the socks--I don't have solid black socks that are short, and ankle socks will look weird with my black skirt. That may end up being a game-time decision, but it's nice to have the option. Also, we can wear any light-colored hat we want. Bucket hat, come on down! This is quite the departure from normal, but it's nice that the band powers that be are so concerned about us. It helps that so much of our band is middle-aged and older (remember: At 40, I'm still in the younger third of the band). We were reminded to start hydrating tonight, bring a water bottle, and they'll have water for us as well in the car that drives along with us, and if we start feeling weird in any way, we're to stop marching immediately. I'll re-read that in the morning to make sure I have everything I need, but I'm really glad this got addressed. Tomorrow could get interesting, and not in the best of ways. Fingers crossed.
*I remember mom's birthday was a Saturday in 2012 because that was the Mr. Heath retirement concert. And I do seem to recall it being blazing hot that day, so it's fitting it was just as hot, and likely hotter, the following day.
(Random edit: This is my 5678th post.)
Today's high at O'Hare? 97F. Our normal high? Flip those numbers around and subtract a few. I think I heard someone say our average high right now should be 73F. We were above that at about 7 this morning. Just...sheesh. 97F was a record high, tied, and is the second-highest May temp on record, with the other going back to May 31, 1934--that's the Dust Bowl if you recall. It's also the warmest temperature this early in the season, tied with May 27, 2012. That was also a Sunday.* It was also the hottest it's been since July 25, 2012. Yep, definitely felt like July outside today. Dad really wanted to do yardwork, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do much before he got tired, so he skipped it. Grandma also called today to talk about yesterday, and mom reminded her to put her air conditioning on, in part because she's had some leg swelling as of late and she needs to have a consistent temperature in her place.
(Sources: @NWSChicago and @MikeHamernik--and a commenter here said, just last weekend we had to turn on the heat. True! The high was only in the upper 40s! Holy crap.)
I've been waiting to hear from band. The last we'd heard, we were wearing full-on marching uniforms, meaning wool pants and wool jacket. That's not gonna fly. I figured they'd let us swap out our jackets for our white marching shirt. When I checked my email a little bit ago, they'd completely revamped the uniform--we're now going with our red summer polos, and any solid-colored bottoms, with solid black closed-toed shoes and short black socks. Black or blue bottoms are preferred, but any solid color will work, and they can be pants, shorts, skirts, skorts, or capris. Because the shoes I have won't really go with a skirt, I'll likely wear solid black pants, but we'll see. It's more the socks--I don't have solid black socks that are short, and ankle socks will look weird with my black skirt. That may end up being a game-time decision, but it's nice to have the option. Also, we can wear any light-colored hat we want. Bucket hat, come on down! This is quite the departure from normal, but it's nice that the band powers that be are so concerned about us. It helps that so much of our band is middle-aged and older (remember: At 40, I'm still in the younger third of the band). We were reminded to start hydrating tonight, bring a water bottle, and they'll have water for us as well in the car that drives along with us, and if we start feeling weird in any way, we're to stop marching immediately. I'll re-read that in the morning to make sure I have everything I need, but I'm really glad this got addressed. Tomorrow could get interesting, and not in the best of ways. Fingers crossed.
*I remember mom's birthday was a Saturday in 2012 because that was the Mr. Heath retirement concert. And I do seem to recall it being blazing hot that day, so it's fitting it was just as hot, and likely hotter, the following day.
(Random edit: This is my 5678th post.)