But It's a Dry Heat

Yes, I'm still alive. It's just that I've decamped to Maradi for a month or so where I'm pretty busy and don't have regular internet access.

I suspect everybody who's lived in hot places has about 10,000 stories like this, but they never get old. If you pay any attention to the little weather sticker on the right side of this page, you will have noticed that it's pretty hot here these days. We're not yet in the hottest part of the hot season, but we're not too far off, either. Mercifully it seems to be a few degrees cooler here in Maradi where I've been for over 2 weeks than in Niamey.

Anyway, yesterday evening I left the compound where I'm staying at about 6:00 to go look for something to eat. The guard at the gate came out of his little patch of shade to open the gate for me and I waved to him on my way out. When I came back around 10:00 the same guard was bundled up in a fleece jacket, a knit hat, and gloves. To confirm my suspicion that the next ice age hadn't arrived during the previous three hours, I checked my little thermometer/alarm clock when I got back to my room: 94 degrees.