Oh, man, am I ever an idiot.

I finally got my hands on some boxes big enough to move my stereo from the old house (no a/c) and take it home. So I did, on Saturday.

Now, mind you, my CAR has no a/c either, thanks to the broken compressor. And even though I parked it in a shady spot, plus put the windshield screen in place to block out even more sunlight, the car was still sweltering hot by the time I got in it.

When I was packing the stereo in order to move it, I had a fan on. So that wasn't toooo bad.

But getting everything out the door, down the front steps, and into the car, I started to get very overheated and tired. My heart was racing really badly, but I chalked it up to too much exertion and figured it would go away soon.



I had my hazard lights on while I was loading the car, since I had to double-park to load the stereo (and speakers and wooden stand) into the back of the car. Dang, was I out of breath by the time that was over. And still had a rapid heartbeat and was feeling REALLY tired, kind of like I'd just woken up. But hey, it's only a few minutes' drive to get home, right? No problem... right?


I made my few minutes' drive home with no particular problem, THANK GOD, other than feeling ill the entire way.

When I got home and parked, only then did I realize that the hazard lights were STILL on. Not only did I not turn them off, the tick-tick-tick noise that accompanied them never once registered with me during the drive home. I was still out of breath, my heart was still pounding, and I was still tired, and now I was thinking, "Gee, I probably shouldn't have been operating the car feeling like this, should I?"

No kidding, I shouldn't have. I just looked up the symptoms of heat exhaustion, and NOW I realize that I was about this-close to a medical emergency.

Geeze.

Thank God, nothing disastrous happened. But the cat must have known something was amiss. After I got home and had Mark help me bring the stereo inside, I hooked it all back up and wilted onto the sofa for the rest of the day. Harmony never moved more than six inches away from me the entire time. Smart cat. Dumb me. Live and learn.