OKAY, DAMMIT: I AM USING AN OLD LAPTOP LOCATED AT MY BORREGO SPRINGS PLACE, & THE DAMNED THING WON'T LET ME POST PICTURES. I will keep trying. And I will post multiple pictures. Don't abandon ship!
It is Saturday, March 8th, 2014 and I have been
at my place near Borrego Springs CA for nearly three days. The high temperatures each day so far have
approached 90, which seems pretty darned hot to someone accustomed to winter in
the Pacific Northwest. I have been
telling everyone who asks that I will re-migrate when it gets too hot down
here. That nearly occurred about this
time Wednesday as I descended from the San Gorgonio Pass (elevation 2216 ft.)
toward Palm Springs (elevation somewhere in the negative range.) My jeep doesn’t have air conditioning, but it
does have a thermometer that purports to give outside temperatures. I watched as it rose from 81 in Beaumont ,the
summit of the pass, inexorably upward toward 90. Something in me kept saying “You’re going to
go home when it gets too hot: if it hits 90, fling a U-turn.” Fortunately it topped out at 89, so I
continued on my way. I’ll get used to
it, I guess.
Incidentally, they are making a movie here right now,
starring Ewan McGregor. There are about a half-dozen big vehicles (and many
small ones) parked at the entrance to the Font’s Point wash. Nobody
seems to know what the movie is about.
Maybe a sequel to Lawrence of Arabia?
Or Dune?
Unrelated trivia: I
have been here three days and soon will have been out to dinner for the third
time. Don’t feel sorry for me.
Bad news: The outfit
I attempt to help at Fred Hutch has had its grant-renewal application
rejected. The main problem, I am sure,
is a tight budget. We will press
on. I hope to help.
More bad news: The
number one ace in my old racket – paleomagnetism – has just died. His name is Ted Irving, and for many decades
he has been one of the people in this world that I most admired. I had the privilege of working with him for
many years. He was 88. Bladder cancer.
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