Talking about the weather

Some boys I talked with last week pose for a photo.

The news says we're having the hottest summer in the last ten years. That's saying a lot, because it was pretty hot those years too. [Update: We've had the longest heat wave since records have been kept, with over 25 consecutive days with temperatures over 100°F. In 1934, it was the actual hottest year on record for us, but even then they didn't have 25 days of consecutive heat.] Daily temperatures are over 100° with heat indexes around 116°F. My electric bill will be scary this time around, but at least I am able to run my air-conditioner. So many others can't run it all day (if they even have one at all). Today I saw a couple of people wearing wet towels on their heads. We've got two more weeks of this forecast before the weather "dips" into the 90s. Most summers, we have torrential rains to cool things off, but there doesn't seem to be much of that this year.

In related news, Chinese people don't talk about the weather much. Once I asked a Chinese man why and he said they couldn't change the weather, so why talk about it? They talk about food quite a lot though.

Oh happy day!

Eighty years ago this evening in a small town a few hours west of Houston, a cute little baby boy was born. (I wasn't there of course, but I've seen pictures.) He, the youngest, made his family of five complete. 

Eighty years flies by too fast if you ask me. I'm sure to him it seems like just yesterday that he was walking through a creek full of alligators on his way home from school. 

Why didn't you say so sooner?

Sunday morning my time, I called to chat with my parents. While on the phone, Mimi decided she wanted to play.

She started biting my jeans, and made ferocious sounds. There was a little nom-nom-nom, and a little grr-ruff-ruff, followed by all-out barking. She was loud. My parents thought I must have been standing inside a lion's cage at the zoo.

So my dad, who has a close first-hand relationship with my little mutt, asked me to put Mimi on the phone. I moved the earpiece down to her level while counting to three so my dad would know when to start talking. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but Mimi seemed very attentive to whatever it was he was telling her.

I pulled the phone back up to my ear and asked him what he said. He said, "I told her to cut that malarkey out and to STOP BARKING!" 

And she did.

I haven't stopped laughing since.

Small world

For the last couple of weeks I was kind of in the middle of nowhere in China. One day I met an American woman from Las Cruces, New Mexico. I told her I had a niece or two who lived in that city. She asked their names. When I mentioned KR, the lady's eyes got big. Not only does she know KR, but her husband performed for the wedding ceremony for KR and her husband when they got married last year. And KR's husband works for this lady's husband! Ha-ha, just another small world story to add to my long list.

My favorite small world story is from B&J Mussey, when they were in a Beijing elevator with two total strangers, and it turned out that one of those two strangers had grown up in Pecos (where we are all from). They didn't know each other, but they knew each other's friends and families. I know. In BEIJING, in an ELEVATOR!

Anyway, I am back in my own abode once again. After two weeks of eating the same thing every day, you won't be surprised to hear I've had Italian food, Mexican food, Subway sandwich and a latte since I got back 48 hours ago. My taste buds have thanked me over and over again. (You're welcome, little buds.)

Summer school

Chinese kids in their classroom ... too cute!

Told ya

As I mentioned before, I'm in the middle of nowhere this week. Sitting on the roof staring at other bored people becomes a weak form of entertainment. There is nothing else to do. There is no coffee, no good restaurant, no public transportation, no TV, no anything. Why am I here? This is a question I have asked myself the last few days. Supposedly there is a good answer to that question, but I'm not feeling it at the moment.

It's old, dull, tropical and monsoony here. And I'm stranded, which is frankly the worst part of it. I'd love to find a taxi or ride an e-bike and go in search of real civilization.

 I can't remember the last time I was this bored, but I think it was sometime in the 70s.

Strolling through town

Hey baby, I like your hot wheels!

Baby seen on the streets of a town in the middle of nowhere. The mom ducked out of the picture.

Location services needed

I turned on my iPad location services so Google Earth could tell me where on earth I was. The good news is that I am on earth. I wasn't sure there for a day or two. I am in some remote place, one of the most backward places I have been in the past ten years or so. It's a place where you can pet a cat while shopping for umbrellas at the market, where you can get breakfast for 16 cents, and where it is possible for a sidewalk pool table to become an actual, well, pool. We've been walking through lots of puddles, because the only public transportation that runs through town is Bus No. 11 (the two strokes of the number 11 representing our own two legs, that is). From the looks we're getting, white people don't walk these streets often.

The housekeeper at the hotel insisted that sweeping up the dead cockroach in my room was not part of her duties, as a dead cockroach laying in my room for another week wouldn't hurt anything. I insisted it become part of her job, and she went over and picked up the dead bug with her bare fingers. I had in mind she sweep it up into the dustpan, but, you know, whatever.

Sometimes I wonder if Twilight Zone is secretly filming my life for a new episode.

And by "sometimes," I mean right now.

I'm mentoring some college students this week. The variety of experiences I get to encounter in my life is a good thing, but I'm missing my little white fuzz ball that is usually underfoot.

This is just wrong

In the above poor-quality photo of my hotel room, can you spot what is wrong?

Bitter realization

Pinterest is full of DIY home improvement ideas. I ran across one such idea for restoring luster to wood furniture. It said to combine 5 parts canola oil with 1 part vinegar and apply to wood with a cloth. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I applied it to the piece of furniture above.

    

Uh oh, here she comes. Next thing I knew, Mimi was licking the oil and vinegar off the furniture like it was an ice cream cone. She was clearly crazed for this taste. I made a fresh batch of oil and vinegar, poured a little over the food in her plate she had previously ignored, and sure enough, she ate everything on her plate. (Yeah, what dog is finicky like a cat when it comes to eating? Apparently this is a Pekingese trait.)

This DIY project didn't damage my furniture, but I don't think I'll use this recipe next time. It didn't do much for the furniture.