Last Heat Wave – Heading to the High Country

I can clearly remember some HOT September days growing up in Sacramento.  Although most of my classes in grade school were in air conditioned rooms, there were also some which were in the dreaded School Bungalow classrooms…today I think they call them “pre-fab temporary learning centers”, so something like that.  Back then they were made of wood, no air conditioning, windows on one side, and to bring in a breeze one would have to open the door across from the windows.  Every September we seemed to have a few of these hot days…as we would in May or very early June.  So each year we would have three to six or more days of 100 degree weather during the school year. 

     

I can still remember the “duck and cover” drills in case of an Atomic Bomb going off nearby.  By Junior High a teacher showed some atomic bomb blast films, talked about the destruction zone, the fire outside of the total destruction zone, and it did not take long before a student, not me, ask, “Why do we have these duck and cover drills when there won’t be anything left of us after the “bomb” hits the state capital?

The outlook for Tuesday and the next ten days is HOT HOT HOT, especially for the next seven days.  Tomorrow dad has a doctor appointment in Sacramento which I am going to drive him to.  Mom has her after surgery check-up tomorrow morning, and I think the surgeon is going to be very pleased about things.  So we will be putting up with one HOT day…

…but Wednesday morning we are headed up to the 6,000 foot level…which will bring us back to the Truckee / Donner Lake area.

In anticipation of being in a National Forest Campground for a week to ten days, I loaded both of our Kindle Fire HD-7’s with Amazon Prime movies to watch.  Last time we were up there we watched two movies “on-line” and ate up 8 gigs of our 40 gig aircard for the month.  This way we will watch movies “off line” and just occasionally bring the Kindle online to communicate with Amazon.  Once you start a movie, you have 48 hours to watch it…then Amazon needs to “talk to” your Kindle to verify that everything is ok…then you take it off line again.  “IF” we want, we can go to the McDonalds or the Public Library and delete items off the Kindle and load new ones on. I have items in a “want to watch list”, so downloading is all I will need to do…which depends on the speed we get.  

So back to Granite Flats National Forest Campground we go. 

Now those temps we can handle”! 

Three Kids Together Again

Had dinner with my three children, along with mom and dad and two other special guests.  Mom, dad and I drove over to the Bay Area to meet them for dinner at the Elephant Bar and Grill in Emeryville.  This was my first visit to a Elephant Bar and Grill / Wok Kitchen, and it was pretty good.  So around the table we go….left to right.   Dad, mom, Stephanie (daughter), Anna (Michael’s girlfriend), Jenny (Stephanie’s roommate), Michael (oldest son) and Ryan (youngest son).

Mom had asked before her surgery that “IF” she was up to it, would it be ok if they came along with me to the dinner.  I had not asked them figuring that a) she would not be up to it, and b) that she might force herself to go even if she was not up to it.   Well, she was up to it…all effects from her recent surgery are essentially over other than getting a couple of stitches out.  So here they are, mom and dad in front, and left to right, Ryan (youngest son, in college to become a Chiropractor, lives near Kansas City), Stephanie (only daughter, lives in Salt Lake City, works in Park City for a firm that rents out high end homes for vacations…especially ski vacations), and Michael (oldest son, recent graduate from U.C. Berkeley, current employee of the City of San Francisco, and so sick today that he missed work and felt real bad the entire dinner).

Michael and his wonderful girl friend Anna…both graduates of U.C. Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.  She graduated one year ahead of Michael, and they met at the school.

Stephanie and Jenny.  They have shared apartments off and on for a number of years now…they are a real “Hoot”. 

Ryan has just finished his first of four years at the Cleveland Chiropractic College in Overland Park, Kansas.  The college has been in operation in Kansas City area since 1922, and is one of the oldest Chiropractic Colleges in the nation, and has a real good reputation.  Dr. Cleveland, the first president, a pioneer in the field of chiropractic and chiropractic education, was a vocal activist and provided expert testimony, forming the basis for the passage of the Chiropractic Practice Act that legally defined the profession in Missouri.

Marcia has been battling a slight case of her Diverticulitis….nothing serious, just enough that she did not want to take he 2 hour drive through traffic to the Oakland area, and just under 90 minute ride back to the Sacramento area.  Wish she could have been there…we all had a great time.