13 July 2026
Why are we doing this in 96 degree heat?
Each classroom has a window unit that cannot keep up.
The Entire Point of Pony Camp is to Go Outside! Playground, science is outside, barn, field and our main event: pony rides.
This is just heat. This is not the dumpster fire country, spiritual apocalypse energy or my age. It's the heatwave.
It was bad last week, we were all melting and frustrated. At one point today's heat was projected at 102 and I could not understand why camp would even be open at that point.
The kids arrived at 8 am this morning in varying degrees of meltdowns, grumpies and "over its". There were several who camped in the mountains this weekend and probably needed to sit in a cool room and read today.
I started coughing almost the moment I arrived, and the headache came with the cough. My co-teacher was out again last week. In June she had an intestinal bug, and last week it was respiratory. She was back and still coughing slightly. It was 75 degrees out when I drove in at seven am. By the time I was finished prepping art at eight, I was already done.
I am starting this so I finish it later, because I'm going downstairs in the cool man cave and taking a nap.
14 July 2026
Ok.
So I came home yesterday, called the bank about getting a new debit, went downstairs in the airconditioning, turned on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and passed out cold.
Pretty sure I had heatstroke.
I got up at about 3pm wondering when Angel came back from hell. I'd missed a few episodes, clearly.
When I left pony camp yesterday it was 96 degrees at 11.30 am.
Today it was "only" 78.
Allegedly not as hot....but now it's 1.30 and 95.
The meltdowns this morning at drop off were epic. Beyond yesterday. Yesterday a kid who loves camp and never has issues melted and needed some extra attention. No screaming, he was just crying.
Today a different kid who loves pony camp turned into a tasmanian devil. Screaming, kicking, refusing to let go of her mom.
Damn.
One of my favorite sweeties arrived with a puffy face and tears, but no sound. I asked if she was OK and she shook her head and sat down on the grass.
Another arrived crying and clutching his backpack. He did not want his nametag, he did not want to sit down, he did not want to talk about his shirt, he just did not want to be at camp. He couldn't go inside to the blue chair to calm down because the tasmanian devil was taking up the entire office and entry.
In addition to our fun at drop off, the "mean girls" have ratcheted it up with the heat. One three year old literally stood on the playground and screamed at the kids on the bouncy plane. They just looked at her, either confused or over it, I am unsure which. I walked over and asked what was up---she said they wouldn't share.
This is day two of this heat and these kids, so I just looked at her and said "Nope," and escorted her away. She cooled down and changed her focus to the kids playing nicely in the playhouse. I counted to 20 to test how long it would take---and on the "twe---" she began to scream like a banshee. I walked over, "What's up?"
"They won't share."
"Nope." Back to the bench and her water bottle, so she could launch herself at the tricylces ...
To be clear--the issue is not that the other kids aren't sharing, they are. They are patiently waiting their turn or playing together. She just walks up and demands to be given the seat on the bouncy plane, the toy, the run of the playhouse, the tricycle, the entire slide---as in she bosses her way to the top of the slide, front of the line, and then blocks the slide and won't let anyone come down because "she's not ready" and "they're not sharing".
And it was only 75 out there today.
One kid from another class just laid face down on the gravel under the slide. She put her hat on the back of her head. I went to check a pulse and she squinted up at me and meowed.
Both days we had to police the tricycles because apparently when it's too hot and we're grumpy, we can just march onto the track and stop people, demanding they "share".
"He won't share" was the rallying cry.
So clearly, when it's above 90 degrees for a week, "share" means "gimme that".
One young man kept repeating "sharing is caring" no matter how much Mean Girl 1 screeched at him to turn over his monster truck toy. He finally looked at me and stated clearly "sharing is caring", because it was the only defense he had in that moment. I intervened---at this point it's not so much "again" as "still".
She doesn't want to share. She wants what you have and she wants to keep it for herself.
Those of us who teach our children kindness and sharing are really done with those of you who do not. Right out of the canon we have issues in preschool 'cause your kid has never been given a boundary, told no or taught to share. This is not a me problem, this is a you problem that you are making a me problem.
I know there is an obvious connection to...politics... you can make it. Unless you also have heatstroke and are struggling with reading comprehension.
Yesterday was rough too, but I had heatstroke so I can't remember much beyond the meltdowns at drop off. There were several disagreements over toys, but I can't remember specifics enough to write it down. I just know the field was utter hell and based on that, we did not go to the field today.
Today one of the ponies had an issue with their foot. The pony wrangler has been working with the ponies all summer and knows their names. I listened over the radio as events unfolded and Trixie was taken off the pony ring because she was limping. We saw them standing with her, she refused to move. Trixie and Rocket do look similar, their manes are different but they are both brown. I didn't look closely enough at the limping pony to note any issues, as I had 14 sqwaling overheated preschoolers.
When we went over for our ride time, Rocket was in the pen and only Taz and Sky were giving rides. I watched the Mustangs and the wrangler and the teenage wrangler throw hand signals and trudge through the dirt---I assume trying to assess how Trixie was doing. Then the wrangler's voice came over the walkie, cackling hysterically.
Apparently Rocket hurt his foot, not Trixie. I am unsure if they were attending to the wrong pony entirely, or just misidentified them. Trixie is female, Rocket is male. The wrangler was laughing her ass off.
It was that hot.
In addition---The Barn Cat has apparently been released from training, and is beheading bunnies and birds. My co-teacher watched a child inadvertently step on a deceased bird and witnessed its insides squirt outside. My heatstroked brain got on the walkie and didn't even consider speaking in code---I just said "Dead bird in the barn". The office manager who responded took the opportunity to suggest we use a code; "the barn cat left a gift". She responded to the bird and found a decapitated bunny nearby. No mice or rats. Aren't barn cats for mice and rats? I would argue his training failed if that was his feline mission.
And the thing is, today was not clocked at the same heat as yesterday. I think our brains all melted yesterday and never reformed, so even though it was not as hot today, we are all done.
At least nobody got pegged with a Leggo. But if I have to ever see Mean Girl 1 again we're going to have issues. Maybe the barn cat can leave her a gift.
I'm kidding.
Scene.
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