Let Freedom Ring ... and other stuff

For Americans this is a day of celebration, a day that marks are Independence ... our Freedom (relatively speaking). 

As a child I HATED the 4th of July, the fireworks scared me to death. This fear stemmed from an experience where the fireworks were being fired off too close to the crowds. The boom was unbearably loud causing several child to start screaming. If that was upsetting enough as the fireworks would fizzle and fall they were landing on the crowds as well and they HURT!  After I was traumatized at the age of 4 I would just prefer to watch them on TV for years to come. I'm not sure which age these started becoming acceptable (probably high school), but they did and I love them now.  

So like millions of others we will venture out into the heat and "ohhhh" Ahhhh" with the rest of them :)

People assume that living in MN we are always in the verge of a snow storm, this is far from the truth. Not only did we barely have any snow this past winter  the dew point today will make our 99 temp feel like 110! 

While I LOVE summer this past weekend I was treated for Heat Stroke. I along with several other crazy people decided to run the Warrior Dash. If you are not familiar with this, understand it is a 5K set at a ski hill/mountain  filled with mudpits and obstacles that you do in a timely fashion. 

Many people enjoy this sort of thing, I mean MANY people. Our group consisted of 14 people with all different athletic abilities and ranged in age from 20's to 40 (my hubby tops the charts here). I felt ready. I had ran some and while I had no intention of "racing" I felt like I would do okay. 

I was seriously mistaken. I only made it half way before I yelled for my hubby who had stayed behind and went slow for ME. I told him something was wrong, in 95 degree weather I should be sweating, but I wasn't. I had goose bumps and was shivering! I literally could not walk any further and I was starting to fade. The medic came to my rescue and I told my hubby to finish the race and find the rest of our group. 

I then spent 2 hours in the medic tent lying on ice, and working hard to form complete sentences. Once everyone was hosed off and had their pics and celebrations we were able to get shuttled back to the parking lots and head home where I happily watched TV/Movies in the AC. 

I am fine now, but a scary experience for sure.  What is the lesson here? KNOW YOUR BODY. If something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't.

Stay cool this 4th of July!

Oh ... You wanted some art?! Well I do have this little guy I finished just in time for today. While I am not a fan of "patriotic art" per se', I felt compelled to do this.