HOT...HOT...Oy VEY, it's HOT!

There are four people in the office so far this morning and three of them (including me) are sporting haircuts. It's just too hot to survive without tearing off your clothes and cutting off your hair. We are in the midst of a heat wave that is going on nine days and the last three days have seen temperatures of 108, 109, 116 and today it will cool off to 108. The 116 was an all time record for the region and it was nasty HOT. I spent most of the day indoors in 78 degree air conditioned comfort, but spent an hour outside trimming trees and then loading up the jet ski to return to it's storage location in Alicia's garage. We got the ski repaired with a new mirror and I pulled and changed the spark plugs. Darla and I found some relief in the pool at Alicia's, but even her pool, which is perpetually cold, was at 88 degrees and not very refreshing. At least it was wet.

I had a call from Darryl on Friday night to inform me that my nephew, Jesse, had been involved in a serious accident, wherein he rolled his Explorer at 60 MPH and almost died. Jesse has a broken neck, a broken clavicle, a lacerated scalp, and various bumps and bruises as well as ligament damage where he rolled in the SUV. Jesse, at 24, and only a part-time worker did not have medical insurance and his friends have set up an account in Austin to help with his medical bills. He was in ICU for a day and a half, but is home now and trying to survive the headaches and pain associated with recovering from the trauma of a serious accident. I talked to Jesse on Saturday and he said that he felt that my Mom was looking down on him when the accident occurred and helped save his life. Actually, I think it was more likely the Big Guy (God) keeping watch over him. Please pray for Jesse's complete recovery and for his girlfriend and family as they help him regain his health.

I talked to Jennifer over the weekend and she will be heading home in early August for about a month. Her office is in Concord, California and she has never set foot in the building as she joined Dasnet and was off to Korea right away. Check out her blog at the link at the bottom of this page. She has some pictures from her recent project in Korea on the blog.

Darla and Daniel arrived back home safe and sound on Saturday. I was out playing golf (of course). I shot 43+41=84 in the 109 degree heat. I walked the front nine and then got a cart for the back nine. It was brutally hot. The temperature in Sacramento is generally in the 90s and near 100 this time of year, but the difference with this heat wave is not only the temperature extremes, but the fact that it is not cooling off at night. We generally see overnight lows dipping into the low sixties and even upper fifties. With this heat wave we have been seeing overnight lows in the upper seventies and 83 degrees Saturday night. It is supposed to moderate after Wednesday and be back in the upper nineties with normal overnight lows. It is a bit odd when the cooling trend is down to 98 degrees, but I look forward to it. Our electric bill will be about as high as the temperatures this month.

I'm getting close to seeing the need for a pool in our back yard. The koi pond is nice and the trees and plants are great, but a pond of water makes more sense. The spa has finally worn out and either needs to be replaced or junked and Darla and I will be shopping for a pool contractor over the next few months. I am very particular in what I want back there and it will be a pond style pool with no tile or cool decking, but stamped concrete and a black bottom. I love the waterfall in the pond now and will have a waterfall built into the pool and maybe a hot tub with a waterfall down into the pool. We have a neighbor with a corner lot like ours that had a pool put in and we want to take a look at his pool as well.

Well, as always, work awaits like an ever present smell in the air. I must abide by the call to labor. Be well, pray for Jesse, and stay walking in the footsteps of our Saviour. Ciao.