And it's Tuesday

Wow. Things are crazy around here:

* The bridge over the lake is closed again. (No piano lesson this week; my teacher can't make it in. That's okay; I have enough stuff to work on for another week)

* One of the bridges over the Red (a smaller one, to the east of here) is closed because part of the approach to the bridge got washed out. (There's also another bridge here that was closed for a while because CHUNKS FELL OUT OF THE DECKING. Not this summer, last year, but still - not taking that bridge any time soon)

* Rain was falling at a 3" to 4" per HOUR rate on Sunday.

* The closed the big bridge (69/75) over the Red for a little while. Not entirely clear why but a friend opined that when the water gets high and has a strong current, it can make the bridge sway, even if it's not over the decking. (Eeeeep. This summer is reigniting all my old driving-over-bridges fears. I was afraid of it when I was a child, a combo platter of a fear of deep water and perhaps vague memories of riding on the causeway in to Cedar Point (a road with water on both sides, and water close to the level of the road) when I was very small and being scared)

Weird thing: I periodically have dreams where I am either a driver or a passenger in a car driving on a causeway where the water is lapping at the road. Now I wonder if that is a result of those vague early memories. (We went to Cedar Point a couple times when I was a kid; I just barely remember it)

* There are other various rural roads washed out. I had a number of students frantically e-mail me yesterday morning going, "I can't get out. What do I do?" My response: "You stay home and I give you an excused absence, that's what." I did a review in my one class because so few people were there, I figured it was better not to start new material.

* We didn't do the field lab, mainly because it's a dirt road to get in to the site, and I didn't know the status of the road, and the landowner - the only guy I know out there - is out of town, so I couldn't call him and ask.I didn't want to risk bogging down the van.

This is also one of MY field sites; I need to get out there to do a sampling. I'm a bit apprehensive for doing it Friday (the best day); I probably won't be able to park near the sampling area (too much risk of getting stuck) and with as hot and humid as it will probably be walking back and forth won't be fun. And there's no one I can grab on short notice to help me. (I think, with slight frustration, this is where an Adoring Boyfriend would come in handy. He wouldn't even have to DO that much: just hang around out there with me and maybe carry stuff back to my van and make sure I drink enough water)

It's extremely, extremely humid. They're predicting heat indexes of about 100 today because of the humidity. Breathing is difficult. I think I hurt myself working out yesterday; at any rate the muscles in my upper back ache so I'm taking a day off to let them recover. And my hair is a mess: it does not like humidity; it's like it swells up each hair strand and makes them tangle worse. (If ever I could use a hair ninja, it's now. Not that I could ever get my hair to do anything approaching a perfect "flip," even in dry weather)