Slight Detour: Good Riddance, Heat

Ahh! The promised beginning of a break from the heat. Could be we've seen the last of the extreme heat. We've been lucky this summer.

The weatherman on KREM said last night that this could probably be a year when we do not reach 100 degrees.

That would be fine with me. Yesterday's heat pretty much sucked the sap out of me around noon, which is pretty normal on the hot days.

In spite of the heat, the afternoon went by fairly quickly, thanks to a visit to the Lovestead from our neighbors Sean and Becky on the next-door Meserve Preserve.

We had all done pretty much all the outside work we could muster in the heat, so we sat on the deck and enjoyed a lively and fun visit.

A little breeze occasionally blew through, and the deck, with only our mouths doing any work, seemed like the best place to be.

Today is supposed to be a bit cooler with some wind, which is good for peeps but not good for potential fires. Hoping everyone is careful and that if Saturday's rain comes, maybe the fire danger will subside.

Yesterday morning we watched some workers who were probably not enjoying their afternoon hours.

The crew, contracted by Northern Lights, Inc., came by to trim the tops of our cedar trees which run below a power line.

They did a nice job, and we appreciate their respect for our wishes for them to take a moderate approach to trimming these trees, which, for a few decades, have provided the backdrop for the landscaping on the Lovestead.

CB was feeling his oats this morning. Never mind that he hasn't had any oats. It doesn't take much for CB to put on a show.

This Struck Me . . . .

from the New York Times Morning Newsletter

Politicians are in the business of promises. And in the midst of a European heat wave, Marine Le Pen, a far-right leader in France, made a particularly controversial one: to deploy air-conditioners across the country if her party came to power.

Now air-conditioning is political. The head of France’s Green Party said the country should instead build greener cities and more energy-efficient buildings.

A conservative newspaper defended the technology: “Making our fellow citizens sweat limits learning, reduces working hours and clogs up hospitals.”

“Is air-conditioning a far-right thing?” one French talk show mused. Read our dispatch on how a common appliance in the U.S. has inflected debates in France.

Why must virtually everything from wind turbines to air conditioners to shower heads become political?

Now, if our county fair would happen when it did back in the good ol' days, i.e., usually the second week in September, my pumpkin would be ready to exhibit.

Plus, it wouldn't be so beastly hot to enjoy the fair.

I also bet more stuff would get entered and more people would attend the fair.

Yes, in those times, we 4-H'ers got off from school for two days to participate. I don't think missing those two days took away from our education one bit.

In fact, it may have even enhanced our overall well being with all the experiences we enjoyed and the friendships we made.

Just sayin'.