Memories of Heat

This heat wave that we have experienced the past few days........well it is surely stirring up memories. I have always said that it is the heat and humidity that makes southern writers go to the edge and if my theory is correct, there should be some amazing writing taking place in the south about right now!

Today thoughts of 1980, Rick had been sent to Mobile to help restore telephone service to the area after Hurricane Fredrick struck in 79. He and the crew were at the Howard Johnson's when he called and told me it was going to be a long stay, several months. So, I packed up some clothes and drove to Mobile.

It was a long hot dry summer. The guys would work 10 to 12 hours a day, I would just hang out at the pool. After awhile that got to be boring, so I came home, got a grill, a crock pot and a cooler.

Went back to Mobile, and started cooking dinner every night for 5 or 6 guys.

I cooked every thing from venison roast to chili in our room, and served home cooking to Rick and his friends.

As the heat became more oppressive, we began to drive to the beaches in the evenings. Sometimes to Pensacola, sometimes to Biloxi. When the nights no longer grew cooler(as it is doing here now) we found even better ways to amuse ourselves and stay cool. There was a Krispy Kreme donut shop down the street from the hotel, at 11:30 every night hot donuts rolled down a conveyor belt. We were there around 11:25, we'd pick up a couple of dozen, add a couple of six packs of cold beer, and drive out to the causeway. We would watch shooting stars, drink those cold beers, eat hot donuts and dangle our feet in warm gulf water.

One evening we decided to drive over to Fairhope and hang out. Fairhope was a quaint little town, with a small city park and beach area. We had just driven up, and started to walk down to the water, when people from all directions came running, yelling Jubilee, Jubilee!!!!!

Turns out some sort of strange tide, moon/stars thing(there is a scientific explanation) and the fish all swim to the beach.......not just a few, but every fish, shrimp. crab in the area comes inland and all you have to do is reach down and grab handfuls of them! People came with garbage cans, bags, buckets, anything they could grab to land themselves a seafood feast. I had never seen anything like it before or since!

We also drove down to New Orleans and had quite a few adventures, but I will tell those some other time . As a teaser, one story involves red cowboy boots, another our German Shepherd and well, like I said, I will share those on down the road.

So tonight, hot donuts, cold beer and feet dangling in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, maybe not your idea of cool, but don't knock it til you've tried it.