Doak, I know what you mean about heat exhaustion. YOu must be very careful, at any age.
I am used to working outside almost all year around. I consider myself a very strong woman, very short, but I can pack a whollop :) I am 54 years old (55 in another month or so). I work in the hot, hot sun, the cold, cold, rain, no sun and have extreme stamina. But I have an experience that I would like to relate. This relates to what I would term as heat exhaustion.
A few weeks ago we had some very, very hot weather for our area, the temperature was around 30 celsius. I had to do some extreme work with all the colonies, checking from top to bottom. I now have 9, as I had to combine two hives. I began at 9:30 A.M., hot already. I worked my way through the colonies, taking my time, drinking lots of water, I was getting down to the last hive and I was feeling very, very weak. Nope, my nature to get the job done was surfacing. I had to get this last colony examined and finished, there was no ifs, ands, or buts, this is what I had to do. I can be rather stubborn.
I finished the colony. Got out of there as fast as I could and took my water to drink under the beech tree by our pool. I was not feeling very good. I kept drinking the water, slowly -- that is important. About one half hour later I was feeling much better, but this experience honestly made me feel very, very sick. I think that I may have been on the brink of heat exhastion. I have never actually experienced this condition, but I think it is a very bad one. This beech tree helped me to heal. It provides very very deep shade and I don't know why either, but extreme relief from heat. Even on the hottest day when one sits under this tree, the air is cool, strange thing, but I thank my lucky stars we have this beech tree.
Right, this beech tree actually has some beechnuts on it this year. I have never seen a beechnut on it previously, we have lived here 17 hears, so I am pretty excited. I googled beechnut and I got the impression sometimes beechnut trees produce nuts, not always. So I am a lucky woman. I am going to pick them soon, roast them in the dehydrator and then attempt to get out the tiny little seeds that are within.
Be careful in those hot places where so many forum members live. My heat in this area cannot even begin to compare to the temperatures in the other parts of the world, we are very temperate. Even today it is raining, after some warm weather. Last year we were 3 months without significant rain, the lawn was brown. THis year I am still mowing my lawn that takes about 2 hours, weekly and yes, it is green. Go figure the weather this year!!!! Have a wonderful day, careful with the sun's heat, great life. Cindi