At least 13,000 Americans have died from the heat since 2018!

I have Scottish or likely Scandinavian Hair Like my mother which is fine and thick so I still have a full head of hair at age 78 which I think is sort of unusual for a man these days. But, the problem with it has been it is always too hot and better in colder weather than in hot.

So, starting at age 10 I have gotten heat prostration. The first time I was playing on what was then Called G Hill in Glendale which was undeveloped then and we used to do things like Build Tree houses in Big Eucalyptus trees then with a view of the whole city of Glendale from on top of the mountain. One day i was playing there with friends and the whole world turned yellow and white and all other color was gone. I got scared and rode my bicycle home in that scared state and the riding likely cooled me down a little but I had a headache for 3 days after this. AT age 10 this would have been 1958 for me.

Then one time I was tree planting trees with a crew in Quincy, California and it got hot and I had to quit planting trees because I was so messed up from heat prostration I couldn't work anymore and my wife and I had to move back to San Marcos where we had lived before then (even though within a few months we sold my 66 VW Bug and moved to Hilo, Hawaii then in 1974 also with my baby son who was born a few months before this.

 So, the heat is something I always have had to deal with but luckily so far I have survived the heat. Now at this point because of Air Conditioning everywhere it is less of a problem but smoke from Fires doesn't work for me now at age 78 especially at altitude in Mt. Shasta. My lungs aren't adapted to the Altitude usually enough to survive breathing smoke from forest fires anymore in that area.

Even moving to Hilo, Hawaii in 1974 in August I wondered if I could survive the very humid heat there even at age 26 then. But, we spent a lot of time swimming in the ocean and body surfing and riding waves a lot which is how we chose to cool down while living there especially in the afternoons and evenings whenever I wasn't working. 

 

partial quote from previous article: 

Extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the U.S. At least 13,000 Americans have died from the heat since 2018, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Click here for tips on how to stay safe.

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