Going to a funeral tomorrow. 54 year old guy. He was in an attic working on an A/C during the hot part of the day. Went home and collapsed. Died on the way to the emergency room. The thinking is that he got severely overheated and had a heart attack.

Stay out of the heat in the hottest part of the day. I shredded the last pasture this morning. Started at daylight and finished at 9:30, and it was getting hot fast.

Don’t be a statistic. Stay around here and be a pain in somebody’s b___.

Learned my lesson the hard way about 8 yrs. ago. (age 60 at the time).

Late summer. Bush-hogging a really dense area of Giant Ragweed. It was in an area that is normally a bit too wet/soft to shred.

I was having to go slow in order to really chop it up well. I had been mowing for about 2 hrs and sweating badly. The tractor I was using (my own mistake) was a Deutz Fahr 50 hp. 4x4. Turbo-Charged. Should have switched the mower to the larger Massey. Anyway....whenever the engine begins to get a little hot an electric fan comes on blows all the hot air out from underneath the hood and onto the floorboard which rebounds right up on the operator.

I was nearly finished mowing, had maybe another 20 minutes to go when I started feeling really sick. I could tell my pulse rate had quickened and I noticed I had quit sweating.

I stopped mowing, lifted the mower, shifted to high gear and headed for the house. When I got to within 150 yds. I started feeling faint...so I shut the tractor down and tried to get down off of it. I took about 3-4 steps and fainted. I don't know how long I was out....but when I came to I was covered in fire ants all around my head, face and upper body. But I really didn't care. When I sat up....I immediately vomited. I felt so weak....I just can't even describe the feeling.

I crawled about 10 yds over to the shade of a small tree and was trying to get my breath. Laid down, found my phone and called my In-Laws that live down the highway from us about 1/2 mile. Thankfully they were home. They came in their side by side (don't know why) with water. I was able to get onto that...it took everything I had to do it. Got to the house and wet myself down with the garden hose. Didn't care that the first 30 seconds of the water was near scalding hot.

They called my Daughter who is an RN. She rushed home, put a wet sheet over me and started up a floor fan. Mixed up a glass of cool water and salt and had me drink that....though I didn't feel like I could keep it down. In about an hour I felt somewhat better. The look on her face the whole time told me she had very real concerns.

Some will think this sounds funny....but that experience ruined me for heat exposure. I absolutely can not tolerate heat over about 85°F now without sweating profusely. For a period of time afterward I felt as if I couldn't breathe if I weren't in Air Conditioning. I would start have panic attacks. I believe I was right on the cusp of going from heat exhaustion to heat stroke. And there is not doubt in my mind....I could not have made it to the house on my own. I was very fortunate help was close by.

DON'T get overheated....!

Guys, I get nothing from this

Go to Amazon and buy some LMNT

Sodium, potassium and magnesium

I drink 2 a day

If you are sweating a lot, its far superior than Gatorade

And if you didn't know, just drinking water alone during those times of excursion can actually hurt you

Doesn’t sound funny at all… more scary as heck. Glad you are still around
It comes on fast and maybe you guys posting this will make people remember how important it is to be hydrated, and that we aren’t as young as we once were.

Sad story 603. Looks like it's going to be a extra long hot summer. I'm down to just a couple of hours working outside now. I'm a big guy so if I go down...I'm going down hard!

yea, hear this summer be up there with 1980 and 2011. my poor 11-year Lennox is working HARD to keep up.

I'm still in pretty good physical condition but also a fairly large person. I'm 6'5" and 260 lbs. No doubt when I fainted and fell among the fire ants....they thought they'd hit the 'Mother Lode'. I can imagine their disappointment when I finally came to.

But seriously, you can quickly reach a point of just not feeling very well to being unable to help yourself. This can happen to anyone of any stature or physical condition and its NO JOKE.

In my case it was a 100 degree day and despite being hydrated before going out.....I stayed out too long and knew full well I was getting too hot. I just wanted to finish up what I was doing.... and paid a heavy price for that poor decision.

2011 was brutal....!

Dry, pastures all burned up, 100+ degree days one after the other.

August 4th 2011

And age isn't the driving factor. I was in my late 30's and had just finished a 5k event and went straight home to build an extension to my fence to surround my ac unit after my neighbor's druggie adult son huffed the freon out of it previously. Was digging holes, setting posts, etc in the blazing sun when I stopped sweating and almost keeled over. Luckily, I made it in the house and was able to rehydrate and cool off. Took me a couple of days before I could get back out there and finish the job.

I was in my early 50s.

Out fishing one morning, during one of these heat waves. The temp got up over 100 on the water and the wind died. I stayed, I've caught some giants in the hottest part of the summer.
I started feeling weak and my head started spinning. I thought I was going to pass out.
I dropped every thing, tossed a life jacket into the water and jumped in the lake.

Whatever it was, I have to be very careful these days. Anytime I get a warning sign, I head for AC immediately.

When I was 18 I poured concrete for a living in this type of weather with no issues. Now I get overheated trying to do just about anything in this type of weather. I’ve gone nocturnal for the summer already.

My warning sign is when I am out in the heat to long it feels like my heart is beating/throbbing in my ears, when that starts I take a break.

They are forecasting a hot one this summer. I am betting mid July that pattern breaks with some early tropical depressions coming in out of the gulf bringing much need rain and cooler weather to a lot of the state

This is what gets me in trouble! Comforting to see I'm not the only idiot! (no offense intended)

Hope you are correct, that rain is very needed.

Starting my outside work now and will quit around noon. A/C and TV will be my afternoon chores.

'Hate this time of year more and more each year. We have got to rent a place up north and let the kids check our mail.

I’ve been trying to talk my wife into this.

My wife's family has been in Texas since back before the Republic. Summers are tough, but they always stayed here.
Then our daughters both moved out of here as soon as the got a chance. One to Missoula the other to Ruidoso.

When the forecasters predict 100 degree+ temps, I shut down outdoor work around noon. Except for work that can be done with the cab tractor.

Makes me wish I had one of those wave runners to hit the lake with. I know hot is hot and ain’t sure y’all deal with humidity as bad out there but my goodness here 98 feels like 110. Bye the way I hate summer.

More and more I get to thinking about a cab tractor. This heat wasn’t as hot when I was younger.

You want to talk about stoopid - I took a tennis lesson in Houston when I was in my 40’s, and the temp was 108. The pro called to ask if I still wanted to take the lesson, and I said I did. Thought I was pretty tough. I made it about 45 minutes, then lay down and had folks pour ice water on me. Pushing physical limits and common sense could’ve killed me.

And it isn’t just me being stoopid. Around that time I’d practice my tennis for hours, even in the heat. I was in great condition back then. A friend’s wife asked if she could practice with me, and I was fine with that. We hit the ball in the heat for maybe 2 hours. What I didn’t know was that she was big into female empowerment, and no way was she going to quit before I did. Her tennis started getting a bit loose, so I suggested we quit. Later I found out that she went to the emergency room and they put an IV in her arm. She never was able to handle the heat very well after that.

Anyway, I think a cab tractor is in my future as I get even older. I’m not the man I used to think I was.

The funeral his morning was sad. 54 is too way young to die. The church had maybe 200 to 250 people. He was much admired and will be much missed.

Sorry to hear 603. Condolences on the loss of your friend.
That is sobering. I should pay more attention. I’m 61. I spent from 1:00 till 5:30 this afternoon alongside TFS and the local VFD fighting a wildfire in already 100 degree weather. It was ef’n hot. Those men are studs. At 61 part of me says I should slow down. The other part says use it or lose it…

Wound up in the ER in my mid-20’s due to not paying attention to the heat-related warning signs. Doesn’t matter how much of a stud you think you are, heat and dehydration will take you down. Learned the hard way, and I do not tolerate heat as well after that incident.