Dog Days and Long Nights

This has been the hottest, driest summer we've known here in Iowa. I remember summers like this in Kansas, but those miserable summers hadn't really made it this far north since we've lived here. All the grass has died and everything is brown (most people don't irrigate around here - usually no need). The only bright spot in all this is that I haven't had to mow in over a month.

A few weeks ago our stake was asked to provide a bunch of volunteers to the Nauvoo pageant. Tammy volunteered to coordinate that effort for our ward and did an excellent job! She was able to round up almost 80 volunteers from our ward to work this week. I figured I better do my part, so I've spent the last two evenings in Nauvoo. Aside from the extreme heat and the late nights, I had an awesome time.

On Wednesday me and a couple of others brought a group of 14 youth down and turned them loose in the parking lots. When we arrived in Nauvoo at 5:30 p.m. it was 98 degrees and 80% humidity (heat index around 108 degrees). Couple that with all the dust in the parking lot and you'd think it would have been a miserable night, but once you got used to the sweat and dirt, it really was a lot of fun. I think the youth all had a great time - it seems like the youth of our ward are more united than we've ever had - it's really fun to be with them when they're together. I was stationed at the entrance to the parking lot waving people in. That wasn't all that exciting until the show was over and I had to direct the hundreds of cars out into the street. A new and somewhat fun experience. I got home that night around 1:50 a.m. only to get up at 6:00 for work the next day.

After working a normal work day on Thursday, I headed back to Nauvoo, this time with a bunch of friends from the ward. We were all signed up to work security. The day was just as warm (I think they said it was 99 degrees when we started at 6:00) and being security we had to wear ties. It kind of reminded me of my Arizona missionary days. My assignment was to work in the cast area behind the stage and make sure that only cast and crew members went in there. It gave me a good chance to visit with some of the cast members. They have put a tremendous amount of time and effort into the pageant this year and seem like a wonderful group of people. It was also interesting to watch the show from behind the stage - gives a new perspective to what all goes on in the production. I was fortunately able to keep my eyes open while driving home and we actually arrived home by 1:30 am (I think the adults were a little easier to round up than the youth the night before when it was time to head home).

All in all, it's been a fun, albeit very hot and tiring week. We've heard the heat indexes are going to be close to 115 over the weekend, so I think I'll be staying inside and reading a book (and maybe taking a nap) this weekend (Tammy finished the new Harry Potter book, so it's my turn).