Rain would be nice, but I wouldn’t want the flooding that coastal areas have experienced from Lee… regardless his status. After months of forecast highs in 105+ degree range, I am delighted to see nothing forecast above 96 for the next 9 days.

It’s September – cool weather is welcome!

More likely than crazy is con artist.

The temperature reached 100 this afternoon with a ‘feels like’ of 111. The forecast high was 97. Tomorrow’s forecast high is 100… I hope the error is on the high side unlike today’s error.

And what does my husband decide to do during the hottest part of the day? Mow the lawn. While I’m not known for being a particularly over-concerned wife about most of his activities, I asked him to wait until tomorrow morning to do that. Neither of us are known for being fussy about how manicured our lawn looks, so I figured it didn’t matter much.

I think it rather surprised him that I was concerned enough to take him a glass of cold water while he was out there.

But how hot is it really?

Stolen from Andy’s Place.

Jim at My Bossier has a short, sweet tribute that reminds me why I originally thought Elvis was a fine and talented performer. It’s a clip of two songs from 1954 sang on KWKH’s Louisiana Hayride show. (That’s the 2nd clip.)

The first clip is of the first time the phrase “Elvis has left the building” was used, from the same radio program a few years later.

The most dramatic damage photographically was the steeple atop the First United Methodist Church at the Head of Texas Street being blown off and falling on an occupied car. The driver has broken bones, but is in stable condition and is expected to recover completely.

Photos by Jerry Newman, Shreveport Times. More at link.

Our only scare was when my husband decided, during what we thought was a lull in the storm, to go feed the dogs.  The minute he stepped outside the door, thunder and lightning picked up right over our heads. I’m waiting at the back door for him to come back, trying to see him during the flashes of lightning… and wondering if he’s slipped on mud and fallen leaves or has just decided to spend the night in the doghouse instead of trying to make it back inside.

UPDATE: The man injured by the steeple is in worse shape than earlier reported, but still it is a miracle he survived.

Also, my husband spent the day with the Red Cross in south Caddo Parish surveying flooded homes and providing food to people who are “flooded” in. The homes in this area are accessible right now by boats only.

I fear the flooding in some areas will only get worse, as many rivers, streams, and creeks have not crested yet.

Get used to it, OK? Even the President has mostly nothing important to say. What I lack is his ability to say nothing eloquently.

What could possibly be said meaningfully or eloquently about poor Meghan McCain’s twitter castastrophe… and why is everyone so upset that she has boobs? I have boobs. Some people are boobs. Boobs are ubiquitous, right? Then… the feminist side of me jumps up screaming why are boobs associated with foolishness and ignorance, er… I mean dumb and blonde?

Is there an actual association between hair color and boob size? Or is there an association between women of average or better intelligence who happen to be blonde and have big boobs who have “made hay” of a perceived link?

As a big-boobed blonde of above average IQ who has given birth to a redhead, blonde, and brunette of above average IQ (and I won’t comment either on the boob size or gender…) I gotta ask… does penis size correlate with IQ? Is smaller smarter?

If I remember correctly, women with bigger boobs have more trouble breastfeeding than to do women with smaller ones. In some way this makes a lot of sense since lower primates and mammals do not develop big boobs. So is this smaller breast size and greater ability to breastfeed a sign of greater evolution or a sign of the productivity of lesser evolution?

At what point in human evolution did the appearance and associated utility of mammary development become  important? If only nourishment of the next generation were considered, small breasts with large nipples would be the norm.

Where did humans go ‘wrong’ in their preference? And did males have anything to do with it?

And what are we to do with the incredibly stupid JP in Tangipahoa Parish who will not marry “mixed” race couples?  It’s fairly obvious that this man opposes only black/white marriages. How would he decide on an Asian/Caucasian marriage or on an Native American/Caucasian marriage? An Hispanic/Caucasian marriage?

While we are given little information on his opinions of “mixed race” marriages not of the black/white type, I am not reluctant to “guess” at his opinion of other mixed “race” types.

And… once again, I am compelled to remember my sharing of photos of grandchildren with a black woman. Her grandson had blue eyes and blonde hair while my granddaughter had black hair, near black eyes and “much darker than white” skin.

It’s rather ironic that my caucasian genes might lower the IQ of my Asian granddaughter and that the caucasian genes might raise the IQ of the black woman’s grandson… theoretically, at least…

And while we’re thinking about racism and it’s incomprehensible negative effects, do not forget those who think that Barack Obama’s black heritage is of a higher intelligence than those whose black heritage is through slavery.

There is a cognitive dissonance thing going on among those who think Obama’s blackness is more “pure” because he is descended from an “actual” African and those who think his “African” descendance is less pure than an American African descendant.

Frankly, as “post-racialist” I think it matters not at all. He chooses the background that most helps his agenda. Unfortunately, his lack of understanding of history confuses him in identifying his agenda.

1902: With human comfort the last thing on his mind, a young mechanical engineer completes the schematic drawings for what will be the first successful air-conditioning system.

It was the effects of humidity on paper that he was trying to stabilize and I can assure that paper has been curling in my home the last few days. So has my hair.

Our new unit is on the way and hopefully installation will be completed by Monday evening. We’re not just getting the old one (aged 24) repaired, but installing an entirely new unit, including heat.

The heater part hasn’t worked right in 5 years or so, but that’s seldom a huge problem here.

As noted in the post below, we have no AC. The unit is about 24 years old and well… it’s likely beyond repair.

Plus it’s the middle of summer in the south and getting someone out to look at it and repair/replace it means waiting a while. I think we’re lucky we found someone to come look at ours tomorrow.

But then there’s the weekend… please send cool thoughts our way!