Tuesday Misc.

I hate to write it, but it’s only 78 degrees here.  Since much of the rest of the US is sweltering and 78 would be many degrees cooler, I think I live in the right place today.

However, the heat is moving west and by Friday, we will probably have record temperatures here then.  The current record is 107 degrees.  Day by day, and newscast by newscast, the projected temps rise or fall – yesterday they were talking about 100 plus for days.  The coast will be the place to be- high 60’s, low 70’s.  Hot air will be flowing from the southwest, but a northerly flow will begin Sunday – cooler air from Canada will come down to us.  Temps will probably be in the 80’s next week.

Cool, compared to elsewhere, but I’m not sure that perspective will help much.  My apartment faces south and gets the sun all day and would get hotter if I didn’t have a rotary fan.

Last year when it got hot, the A/C in my van didn’t work, and I – well, maybe not "suffered" but it was very unpleasant, since the driver’s side window doesn’t roll down.  I fixed the A/C myself late last year- the belt was way loose, and maybe it’s not, like, artic, but it is cold.

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I performed my good deed for the day this morning.  As a newspaper distributor, I drive around in the early morning hours, and near the Providence Milwaukie Hospital, I saw a fire, a tree blazing away at the side of an apartment building.  I was just about to call 911 on my cellphone when a firetruck rushed by me.  But, it missed the fire, so I followed it and flashed my lights and blew my horn at the firetruck until it stopped, and I directed it back to the fire.  I didn’t want to be in the way, and I had more papers to deliver, so after I got the firetruck pointed in the right way, I kept going, away from the scene.

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In the Oregon International Air Show at the Hillsboro airport Sunday, a Hawker Sidley jet was on the ground in a static display. It took off to leave Sunday evening and suffered an apparent engine failure, and the pilot was apparently trying to make it to an open field when the jet went down in a neighbrhood, destroying one house and causing damage to three others. 

By all accounts, the pilot, the 73 year old owner, a qualified pilot-instructor who collected and maintained military airplanes, did his best to minimize damage on the ground.  Although his ejection seat had recently been serviced and was "ready to go", he stayed at the controls and did not abandon his plane.  Doing so would have made it crash more severely, and he is hailed as a hero, sacrificing his life to save others.  No one else was hurt.

He apparently did his best to save the lives of people on the ground, although he must have known that he would not survive.

The future of the 19 year old Air Show is now in doubt.  The population of the area around the airport has grown tremendously and the Intel facilities nearby have grown very much.  This may have been the last airshow here.  Regretfully, I did not go this year, although I have once or twice in the past.  Admission for me would have been free, as a Navy vet, but I didn’t feel like I would want to handle the traffic and then go to work a few hours later.  Would that I did though – especially if that was indeed the last airshow.

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George Bush is an idiot.  He never looks serious- as if even the most serious stuff is a joke to him.  He always comes off as a stupid frat boy.  I m ashamed of my country, and so is most of the rest of the world.  He has pissed away all of our good standing.  God help us.

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Two more memes on my list to write.  It’s been fun and productive – I’ve gained readers in Australia, which is so pleasing!  I like Open Diary and the internet.  Even though I am largely isolated here, I have contacts all around the world!  That is so cool!

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I have the night off – time to reseach the next memes and to sleep in the dark.  My van gets to rest too – I’m pretty sure I’m not using it tonight for anything.

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