Dana Morris.  (Where's your hat, Dana?)  Dana was delivering a mounted route and it was pretty easy to tell he was getting H_O_T.  How could you not, when temperatures are over 100 degrees and the humidity is in the 90s?  Dana is a 16-year veteran with the US Postal Service.  I asked Dana what tips he might have for staying cool in this kind of heat.  He said he uses a "soaker" (you know, the little "wet snake-like" goodies that you can buy at Wal-Mart, or Target).  He soaks it in cool water about every 30 minutes and then keeps it around his neck.  Dana is single and in his spare time (what's that?) he likes to get out and hike.  Isn't that a little like being a glutton for punishment?

Debbie Thahim has been a carrier since 1996 and was a clerk before actually carrying mail.  Debbie uses a wet towel to help her keep cool during those hot days.  That, and lots of W-A-T-E-R.  Debbie is married and is a mom to a 2 1/2-year-old little girl.  When I asked her what kind of activities or hobbies she had she started by saying bowling, then gave me that "look" like, "You didn't hear the first part?  I'm a mom of a 1 1/2-year-old little girl."  Yeah, I get it, Debbie.  That's more than a hobby!  Good luck, Debbie.  We hope you can find the time to get out of the street and into the alley again soon.

Mike (Monty) Hall has been with the USPS since 1972 after a 4-year stretch in the Navy.  Monty is married and all the kids are out of the nest.  Monty is a T-6 or T-7 or whatever they call themselves these days.  You're apt to find Monty almost anywhere in Oildale delivering one of his routes and parts of others on any given day.  Monty keeps cool by soaking a washrag in an ice chest full of ice water...........burrrrrrrrrrr.....   By the end of the day, though, most of that ice water has turn tepid if not downright hot.  I think I got there just in time to deliver a little relief in the form of a soda and a bottle of water.  Monty's "fun time" is spent playing golf.  Funny how one can go from being chased all day by customers, kids, and dogs, to actually chasing something yourself..............like a little white ball.

Yolanda Agredano is a hard workin' little gremlin out of Oildale who started out working as a clerk/carrier.  Yolanda is a single mom who is the mother to a little 8-year-old girl (oh yeah, and a puppy - I didn't forget that, Yolanda).  How does she cool off?  Drinking!  Water, that is..... and a soda now and then.  In her spare time I understand Yolanda spends a lot of time dancing on table-tops at various Postal functions..............no no no.... only kidding.....  Yolanda is taking Mexican Folk Dancing lessons.  Imagine having that much left over at the end of the day.  I know most of us would rather just go home and sit where it's quiet and cool.  You go girl........

Rick Plummer.  Who is that guy anyway?  A special thanks to those of you who let me steal a minute of your time, a smile, and a little advice for keeping cool.