Please, stop refusing to admit it is freakin’ hot outside

For most Coachella Valley residents summer is the season where you do as little as possible outdoors because, and this is a scientific term, it is hotter than balls outside. But, while the majority of people get it, some don’t. Why is that?

In the last week alone, 2 hikers died on Coachella Valley hiking trails, a dog lost its life in Joshua Tree, and 10 people were sickened from heat when a high school thought it would be a fine idea to have its graduation ceremony outside in triple digit temps.

This leads to the question: why do people insist on doing things they absolutely should not do in the extreme weather conditions of the Coachella Valley?

Like many, I get a little stir crazy in the summer living in the Coachella Valley – I mean it is not even July yet, and I have already binged completely through 2 different Netflix shows.  But, this is the price we pay to live here.  Having summer cabin fever sucks…a lot.  But, it does beat the alternative – which involves jackets, driving on icy rods, and shoveling snow, amirite?

But at least in the cold, people seem to understand the danger.  If a hiker wanted to grab their dog and hit the trails in a blizzard, you would do everything you could to stop them and if an Alaskan college wanted to have its winter graduation outside in a blizzard, students and parents would call for the dean to be fired immediately.

For whatever reason, with snow and frigid temps, people seem to get it.  But, with the heat, there are just too many people who don’t and, sadly, might die because of it.

We are all a little crazy to live in a community where people say things like, “it is only going to be 108 degrees today,” on regular basis.   And while so many of us just want things to be “normal”, they just aren’t and they never will be.

The deal is this: you get to gloat to all of your friends that you are Christmas shopping in sandals and, in return, you can’t go hiking in July and your graduation might be in a gym or casino.  And that is a trade-off that I will take any day.

It’s just how things work in the Coachella Valley.