TheBanyanTree: Penguin Dreams

[JNorton]

Right now, I would love to be a penguin, marching on my happy feet
through snow and ice. Or maybe living eons ago when the Central Valley
was a vast inland sea and there were glaciers in the neighborhood
sending icy water down to it.

These thoughts, bordering on delirium, are the result of the
temperatures yesterday. At 8 PM last night, it was 108. There were
reports that Fresno hit 116. While these are Vegas and Palm Springs
temperatures, there are no dim, cool casinos to hang out in, or plush
hotel/spas with sparkling pools and cute cabana boys. And unlike Vegas
with its myriad brilliant lights and heavy duty a/c, there are power
outages in some areas due to the drain on the grid. Evidently Vegas
has some special power dispensation not granted to mere mortals. And
forget sparkling pools here--they're close to body temperature and not
all that refreshing. More like swimming in bath water.

This morning, when I awoke, there were clouds in the early morning
sky. They were quite lovely, tinged pink and gold with the rising sun.
But clouds here in the summer means we get humidity and no rain. We're
in the midst of our 5 months of unremitting sunshine and besides, any
rain that fell would evaporate before hitting the ground. This is
called "virga," not to be confused with Virgo or Viagra. Virga is
often part of a lightning storm in the mountains and is the cause of
wildfires. For some reason, folks in Idaho call such storms, "Mormon
storms."

Back to the reality of the heat here.

My friend Judy and I had planned to go shopping for her a dress for a
wedding and to go out to lunch yesterday. When we heard the forecast,
we decided on dinner and shopping. I picked her up and we headed into
Merced. On the way, the a/c in the Mustang started occasionally
blowing hot air. Then the temperature gauge started going up. Then the
"Service Engine Soon" light came on. I turned off the a/c but the
engine didn't appear to be cooling off much. We had a stop to make
before shopping and were hoping the brief respite would help. It
didn't.

Judy called her husband, Tracy, who knows cars. The obvious
reasons--belt came off, hole in a hose, low oil--didn't apply. The
Mustang was recently serviced, there was no white smoke or hissing
liquids, and it has one belt which, if it had come off, would be
immediately evident when everything came to an abrupt halt. We turned
around and headed back to my house to get the Explorer. Of course, all
the way home, I was checking gauges and listening for rods knocking or
other sounds of major distress. By the time we got back to my house,
the temperature was down to the average range. When I turned the
engine off, nothing scary, like smoke billowing out or coolant
bubbling down on the ground happened.

We got in the Explorer and headed back to finish our mission. The rest
of the evening went well. Judy found what she was looking for at our
first stop. I wasn't looking but I found some things to take to Alaska
that were 60% off, as well as a couple of things that weren't. Then we
had a nice dinner, cold drinks, and lots of ice water. I wanted red
meat, but it seemed too hot for a steak. Besides, I can't eat even a
small steak in its entirety. But they had the perfect answer to what I
wanted--a steak salad! It was this nice, cool, crisp, green salad with
slivers of steak on top. I was happy.

Then we got this wild hair to go look at new cars. Judy likes to buy a
new car every two or three years. I don't--my Mustang is 6 years old
and the Explorer is 13. But I did want to check out the Escape
hybrids. And drool over the new Mustangs with the big engines that go
varoom-varoom-vaaaarrrroooom!

Of course, as soon as we stepped out of the car, a salesman
materialized from thin air right next to us. The dealership was
officially closed but he showed us several vehicles. I wanted to
test-drive the Shelby Cobra GT sitting there but the salesman said
only if the terms had been settled.

I don't think the salesman liked me. I kept asking about horsepower,
cubic inches, and such. He could only give me engine liter size. He
couldn't translate liters to inches. And there were a few other
questions he sort of danced around.

The manager came out and he and Judy talked about her Explorer and its
value. We made him write on his card that if Judy bought a car from
them I could drive the Cobra...... Unfortunately, neither one of us
would buy from this dealer because they're notorious locally for being
in the gray area of honesty and customer service. The local police
departments buy cars from them but have them serviced at the
Lincoln-Mercury dealer. So, now wherever Judy buys a car, my driving
some hot muscle car is mandatory for the deal.

Today is allegedly going to be a few degrees cooler, but it's not like
I'm getting the sweaters out if the thermometer "dips" 5 degrees. I
took the Mustang in to the mechanic this morning with the engine light
still on, but no other signs of a major malfunction. I have a few
errands to run, nails to be done, and lunch with friends. Today is the
last day of my week off and I plan to enjoy it. And I also plan to
keep dreaming of being a penguin lolling on icy beaches and taking ice
plunges.
Jena