DON'T TEST THE LIMITS OF A HEAT WAVE

You know it's really hot when golfers stay indoors. And a lot of folks who otherwise would be making the most of the outdoors this summer are forgoing most activities except for getting to and from work or other obligations.

Southeast Missouri, like much of the middle part of America, is suffering from high temperatures. Why? Most of us expect it to be hot in the summer. So what's the big deal this year?

The big deal has many facets. One is the fact that we really haven't had long stretches of near-100-degree weather for about four years.

Another is the fact that we have truly become creatures of air conditioning.

Some older Southeast Missourians recall the days before air conditioning had become a way of life. Most homes had no cooling systems, and only a few businesses had refrigerated air. Those stores -- a movie theater here and a drug store's soda fountain there -- were popular havens for the heat-weary.

Over the years, though, everything became air conditioned: our homes, cars, workplaces, restaurants, churches and shopping malls. The only time we feel the heat is when we get in and out of our cars to go from one air-conditioned place to another.

About the only thing we do anymore that isn't air conditioned is go to an occasional ball game or drive to a water-themed amusement park whose biggest attraction is getting wet to stay cool.

So when a genuine, humidity-laden, breezeless, fog-up-your-glasses heat wave strikes, we simply aren't conditioned to handle it.

There is a tragic down side to the heat wave: serious illness and even death. For some reason -- and this seems to apply mostly to our elderly neighbors and friends -- some people won't turn on their air conditioners. Is it cost? Or just a lack of awareness of how hot it really is and how the sweltering temperatures can harm us?

It's beginning to sound like a broken record, but please take care of yourself during the hot weather. Drink lots of water. Stay indoors as much as possible. Use the air conditioner. Look after your pets. Check on your neighbors. Share your swimming pool.

In short, this is a time for us to look out for each other.

And wait for autumn.