The skyrocketing temperatures last week joined with visible smoke in the Riverbank area, making life difficult for those who were participating in outside activities.

The heat was one thing, with the usual remedies employed: finding shade when possible, holding outdoor practices in the evening, after the heat of the day, and making sure to stay hydrated.

Mid-afternoon skies seemed often to be as dark, with the smoke, and dreary as evening time. The sun looked as dark and orange as it usually is close to sunset.

By week’s end, the smoke was clearing some of the larger state fires were moving toward containment. And the temperatures began to peak at less than the century mark.

Some residents also took irregular opportunities to find their refreshment.

On Saturday morning, equestrians Lana Clayton and her friend Kristi Abraham took their horses from the east end of Crossroads down to the shopping center at the west end, utilizing the drive-thru at Starbucks. Not for the steaming hot coffee the chain is known for, but instead, participating in the revitalizing coolness of iced tea.

Yes, they regularly make the trip, getting in line with the cars which wait there. And what if one of their mighty steeds makes a deposit in the driveway, you wonder? Well usually, they come equipped with a shovel, and transport the fertilizer to the nearby shrubbery.

Elsewhere in the Crossroads neighborhood that morning, young entrepreneurs were out on their street corner, selling refreshing glasses of lemonade to passersby, whether on foot, in cars that stopped, or even to those on horseback, on their way back home.

The youngsters sold the cool beverage at a good clip, too, quickly needing to mix a refill batch.

They included Piper Ramirez, 8; Samantha Thorne, 7; and Ryder Ramirez, 3; the young trio earning some money while selling the refreshing beverage.

On local television news stations over the weekend, forecasters were calling for much less smoke in the valley, with slightly lower temperatures, possibly slightly lower than the average highs. But by the weekend, the short-lived reprieve will be over, as the temperatures are predicted to return to the triple digits.