Just Trying to Keep (Our) Cool
Because it’s 99 degrees right now and it’s not even sunny!
So, we were just about ready to die of heat most days. Like it is hospital heat-stroke hot here, as we have previously posted. It got to the point that we were not sure we would be able to continue with our dog rescue mission.
But then, out of the hot haze, somebody sent us some cooling gear! It is so bizarre from an existential standpoint that this gear would make the difference of hundreds of dogs living and dying but if we had to shut down because it became too dangerous to work outside , that is what would have happened.
The first thing that arrived was an ice cube vest. Not joking. The vest has panel inserts that are really nothing more than sewn-in ice cubes. You pop them in the freezer overnight, then zip them up in the morning.
There are always 4–6 people laboring outside at BMAR every single day, so once it was established that the vest worked to keep us cool, we were gifted with four more.
But then the really critical thing happened and one fine day we received replacement ice cube panels so we can switch the warmed-up vest inserts out for new panels at lunch time! Once again, the whole operation was saved with $200 worth of gear.
You know what they say about the power of one butterfly flapping its wings.
Whoever our anonymous donor is out there — we think it’s probably a middle-age woman, but we don’t actually know for sure — next sent us some cooling neck gear. These are neck fans that blow cool air on our faces. You charge the dang things via a USB port. Ain’t technology wonderful.
We hear through the grapevine that we may be getting solar-powered sun hats with tiny fans on the brim. And those gel face masks that you can freeze and use for migraines. We’d roll those babies up and use them as freezie watch caps if we are so lucky.
This gear all works and while it doesn’t make us completely cool and comfortable, it makes it as least tolerable to work a greater percent of the time.
But the mental relief is almost more important than the physical relief. Thermal stress is tremendously hard on humans and compounds all psychological burdens. Even just a bit of cooling relief helps with the anxiety and distress of doing the difficult work we do, day in and day out. It makes interpersonal relationships easier and gives us more time to work with the dogs. And time is what these precious babies need the most. So, that’s the final answer for us here at BMAR. Cold is in and hot is out.
Besides, none of us look that great in our bikinis anyways.
BMAR’s Sissy, in her ice cube vest and neck fan, channeling her inner chill
