The Fourth of July has passed and the middle of the month is nearing.

This is another month that is passing by fast and the only days that seems to be moving along slowly are the ones that we find it needs three digits to measure the temperature.

We shouldn’t complain because we live in the deep south and that is something that is very likely to happen where we have chosen to live.

The other day I saw a big kid with a red T-shirt on. That was at a distance and the eyes are not so good anymore. As he neared I realized he didn’t have on a shirt at all. His skin was sunburned to the point that I had thought he had a red shirt on.

I felt really sorry for him as I remembered a time when I was 16 that the very same thing had happened to me. The burn was so severe that the nerves in my back started crawling. That was the way the doctor explained it to us. If you have never had this, just know that you can’t be still. You are moving and jumping and jerking and there is no way you can be still. A shot and some medicine is what it took to calm the nerves down enough for me to sit still.

I didn’t know anyone else that had that at the time I was growing up and didn’t until I was off in college. This old boy from Moultrie lived in the same dorm I did and was a generally decent fellow. I came back from class one afternoon and saw him without his shirt jumping and jerking and generally not being able to stay still.

I started laughing at him and he quickly told me that if he was able he would kick my behind. I laughed even more and told him that there was no way that was going to happen as he needed to control his body to attempt that and he had no control.

So I told him what was wrong and he needed to go to the clinic and get a shot.

He said OK and ran to his car. I followed because I knew what was going to happen. He got in and started it up. He had a floor shift with a clutch. He pushed in the clutch and his foot jumped off it. His next jump was out of the car and he said, “Man, you got to drive me.”

I did but I laughed all the way to the clinic. He called me a few dirty names. I hated it for him, but was certainly glad it wasn’t me this time.

Speaking of intense heat, or maybe, the lack thereof, we had a great time weather wise over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. That Friday before it wasn’t so very bad with cloud cover and rain showers keeping the temperatures down. If not mild, at least not hot.

Saturday, the third, was as comfortable a day in July as I can remember in a long time. The temperatures were in the 80s and the humidity was low. That day makes one almost wish he had to work for a living. I do work for a living, just not out in the sun.

Sunday, the fourth, was close to as good as the third and Monday, the fifth was good, but we could tell that the heat was starting to work its way back to our area, though we still had a good day. Three days in July that were as nice as these was more than anyone could ask for and not something we would ever expect to happen again.

Back the first of May when it started acting like true summer, I had thought that any cool weather was over until way into the fall. I was really glad to be wrong and like you I surely enjoyed the respite from the normal July weather. America had a happy birthday and it showed.