First day of Summer

Summer officially arrives at 7:09 PM EDT today and it will surely feel like it.  For a little fun on the morning show we are giving unique ideas on how to cool down.  I am reliving my college days by wearing a hunting vest I got back in college.  I REALLY dislike things in my pockets so I wore the vest to keep my belongings in the vest pockets instead.  I rocked that vest all over campus and my wife, then girlfriend, would be able to keep an eye on me from a mile away with the bright hunter orange.

Just for a bit of history... it started long before the vest.  I was Christmas shopping for my brother at Dick's Sporting Goods and I saw a fowl winter hunting coat on clearance while I was waiting in line.  It was normally $120, I think, and it was on sale for only $20.  It was Black Friday and I thought... what the heck, I needed a new coat and hunters have to stay warm in the cold while hunkered down... cheap, warm, fashionable?!... ehhh, I didn't care too much about fashion... I was in college.  I loved the coat.  Around the entire sides and back there is a HUGE pocket.  When you are hunting fowl you can put your hunting reward, birds, in your coat and just keep on hunting.  DISCLAIMER: neither the vest or coat have been used for this...I just loved the set-up of pockets.  I have even went on weekend trips where I put my toiletries, and clothes for the weekend in the coat... who needs luggage?!  So once winter passed I needed a vest to keep cool and keep my pants' pockets empty.  I couldn't find one on clearance so I had to pay full price...but worth it.

How does this relate to the first day of summer and how hot it is going to be today?  Well the high today is expected to be 92... the high temperature when I graduated THE Ohio State University...92.  (I just looked it up again to double check)  So to stay cool I bought 300 freeze pops and put them in my hunting vest to stay cool and hydrated.  I then put my graduation gown over it and you could hardly tell... just look like I put on 40 pounds.  I was actually getting really cold with the ice around me...everyone else was sweating crazily.

Throughout the three hour graduation I kept handing out the freeze pops to everyone around myself and the other meteorology students and it was a huge hit.  Later that night, random people were shouting out to me: "You're the freeze pop guy!!!"  Fun times and a unique way to stay cool and have a fun time in the heat.

So today I am sharing that story (and freeze pops) and we are having a little fun on the morning show since it is the first day of summer and we are coming up with unique ideas on how to stay cool since we will be back in the 90's.  Tomorrow we will be back in the 90's with clouds returning and then rain rolling back into the area in the evening and overnight as a cold front pushes through.  This will cool us back into the low-mid 80's for Friday and the weekend with more rain Sunday night into Monday morning... cooling us off even more.  So hot, warm, then mild.... and rain really only for Thursday night and Sunday night/Monday morning.  Stay cool today...vest or no vest, freeze pop or no freeze pop...and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael