Don’t let the clouds fool you. It ain’t even cool around here.
Yesterday we roasted another record with 102°, the old mark of 98° having stood since 1952, two years before this old dawg was whelped.
Naturally, being an eejit, I was out for a ride. Nothing strenuous — not quite 30 miles, a couple of hours in the saddle, a couple thou’ of vertical gain.
But I confess I felt a tad toasted by the time I got home. I’m glad I didn’t go for the extra-credit mileage I’d been contemplating. I’d be a rank smear of B.O. and bad ideas in the valley some’eres. Even the coyotes would give me a miss.
“Sheeyit, homes, smells like sunscreen and chamois cream ladled over old scars and regrets. Let’s hit the Dumpster behind Golden Pride.”
Speaking of eats, it should go without saying that I’ve been rooting through my archives for recipes that require a minimum of cookery in this heat.
For breakfast, oatmeal is out, fruit smoothies are in. Lunch is something equally light, either sandwiches or leftovers from the previous night’s dinner.
Last night’s dinner was Martha Rose Shulman’s pasta with cherry tomatoes and arugula. I don’t object to boiling water for pasta; it helps humidify the house.
Night before last we had Melissa Clark’s shrimp salad, layering the shrimp and its sauce over a bed of arugula, red cabbage, red leaf lettuce, sliced grape tomatoes in a variety of hues, and various another crunchables from the fridge and pantry. I foreswore the diced red onion (Herself hates raw onion), but snuck in a few thin slices of scallion when she wasn’t looking.
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s tacos de papa require a little stove time, but not enough to have you sweating into your skillet, especially if there are some leftover taters on hand.
We’ll be revisiting Martha’s recipe this evening, with a side salad. Today’s record high of 100°, set in 1910, might be a goner, too, because by 3 p.m. it was already 100° at the airport.
Mad Blog Media 
Looks like smoke in the Sandias, at least on the eastern side. Was headed down to do some recycling and saw some blackish smoke. Turned around and saw a huge plume over the Jemez. Here we go….
Looks like we have a fire at a plastics-recycling plant on the SE side of town. Nice big wind blowing from the southeast, so we got that going for us, which is nice. The American Mesa fire is cookin’ up by Dulce.
The Journal has some short video of that recycling fire. Hoo-boy, that’s a big’un.
Yeah, wow. I was wondering why the blackish smoke. Didn’t make sense for a crown fire but looked from here like it was coming from the Sandias. I guess it was deceptive wind….now that is an ugly black cloud.
Bad shit, for sure. The state of journalism being what it is, especially on Sundays, we’re not getting much from The Authorities other than “Stay indoors and try not to breathe.”
The outfit concerned seems to be United Poly Systems, “a high quality polyethylene pipe manufacturer.”
Looks like someone dropped The Big One to see what happens.
This is the one brewing up in the Jemez.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F24W40VbIAEWwXN?format=jpg&name=small
The New Mexican reports the Black Feather and American Mesa fires are burning in northern New Mexico. Zero containment and plenty of activity.
Latest from Inciweb
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/nmsnf-black-feather-fire
Don’t bother me with this silly weather and fire stuff. I need to concentrate on important stuff like a Trudeau divorce and must/zuck cage match.
Maybe we can make it a doubleheader: The Battling Trudeaus as the undercard with Mulch and Schmuck as the featured event. Hold it in the middle of the Black Feather fire. Boffo box office!
We had 104°F here in the Metromess, 113 index and senior citizens dropping like flies. We’ll probably have a few dead bodies in the county for Tuesday’s news.
¡Hijole! We only managed 101° here, but that was enough to break the record. We’re not supposed to have 100°-plus temps here in August. The Devil must be working overtime.
101 here yesterday, but about 5pm things started to moisten up. Humidity and dew point starting climbing with a few sprinkles. Temps started to drop and about 1230 am we had thunder and lighting, but no measurable rain. We have a 60% chance today of rain. Our monsoon has been a bust so far with only 0.3 inches since July 4th. Even the saguaros in Tucson are starting to die from extreme heat.
About fusk and fuck, I hope they just shut up. Billionaire brats can’t shut up, but a judge can shut one up. Let’s hope she has had enough and provides free lodging for the asshole. I think there are a few DC cops who would guard him, sorta kinda.
From the forecast summary issued by the NWS. Tucson.
“CLIMATE – The consecutive day streak of highs 100 degrees or hotter in Tucson stands at 52 days. The probabilities each day this upcoming week of NOT hitting 100 degrees is less than 10%.”
We’ve actually gotten a few sprinkles on and off this morning. I didn’t see that coming, and neither did the weatherpersons. At 12:15 the temp is only 83° and it might not get much warmer. This morning’s bike ride was heaven on two wheels.
Well, we went to lunch about 1115 and it started to drizzle after we arrived. Still drizzling when we left to run a couple of errands. At the bank it started to rain, and our next stop was the boozer for some Breckenridge Vanilla Porter and Colbitzen Pils. When we came out, it was pouring rain. All the way home the rain got harder and harder with pea size hail falling as we pulled into the garage. It let up a little while ago. One hour produced 1.3 inches. Temp dropped to 73. Didn’t mean to run off at the mouth, but damn that was nice.
Meanwhile here in the Mitten State we are baffled as it’s 66 and has been either raining or threatening to for several days. Everything is so GREEN! outside it hurts to look at it. Wish we could send some out New Mexico/Arid-zona way. Home gardens here are growing tomatoes and zucchini in grotesquely huge proportions yet assorted peppers are off the back like a Herb from the peloton. It has been dubbed a “mast” year for fruit and nuts and older trees are splitting apart under the weight of the excess fruit if they are not pruned well. All it takes is the added weight of rain and Down Goes Frazier.
Man, our gardening neighbors swung by last night with a couple zucchini the size of bowling pins and a basket of homegrown tomatoes. A few of the bits they’d been able to rescue from our marauding deer. Those tomatoes … unbelievable. Makes you want to throw the supermarket tomatoes at passing MAGA hats.
Meanwhile, for anyone who’s missing Interbike Vegas, we have this Paris Review essay from a writer who lives in Sin City.
Meanwhile, here in the Black Forest near Bibleburg, we’ve had cold weather, rain, and hail. Two inches of pea-sized hail last night made it look like a winter wonderland this AM ….. and shredded our veggies and plants/trees. High of 67F currently with a low of 50F projected tonight ….. and we’re under a severe T-Storm warning until 9PM local.
Farming for a living? Praise and thanks to those brave souls who do!!
O, man … hail? Strafed the garden, did it? That is a tragedy. I recall a hailstorm that made a tossed salad of our front yard down in the Greater Patty Jewett Yacht & Gun Club. I was afraid that might be it for the big maple we loved so much, but it bounced back.
Moisture is good. It’d be nice if we got it a little bit at a time, and not in pea-shaped pellets, but I guess we have to play the hand we’ve been dealt, even if it looks more like a foot.
And yeah, farmers. The Duck! City was once a hotbed of agriculture, and some family farms survive, but man, what a tough racket. Every day a fresh toss of the dice with your whole roll on the line.
PO’G: Mother Nature is a dispassionate, non-political benefactor of this, our planet Earth, eh?
She plays the long game (Billions of years …. more to come?) and lets the “winners” prove themselves.
Would that we Homo SAPIENS could do the same. 🙂