Summer Arrived!!!

I guess you could say that summer has arrived in Oregon. We went from a nice beautiful Spring to "Hot" in one night. We have already turned on the air conditioning here. LAst week we were having days ranging in the high 50's to mid 60's then on Friday it jumped to high 80's and yesterday we were in hte mid 90's. I know for those of you in the other states it does not seem like much but for Oregon it is quite a jump. At 11:00pm our time last night it was still 80 degrees out. It is 57 degrees out right now but is supposed to get into the high 90's again today.
Sure makes me thankful that we have air conditioning.

At least it will be nice for the Boatnik. For those of you who do not know "Boatnik" is the jetboat races held on the river here every memorial day. It is a carnival along with the races. I for the life of me cannot figure out why anyone would want to race down the Rogue River in nothing more than a piece of plywood with a motor strapped to it!! These guy's have to be totally nuts!! :) The race starts and ends at the Riverside park (a couple of blocks from us). The racers go to a bridge 12 miles down the river and then turn and come back. Their average speed is 100 + miles an hour. And they are in a tiny boat that is just big enough for them to fit in. ( Like I said - these guys are nuts!) It does bring a lot of visitors to the area and this year this area can really use the money these people spend here. The area we live in is one of the hardest hit in Oregon with the economic downturn. Anyway the highlight of the event is when the fighter jets do a flyover at noon. Everyone in the area stops and watches in awe as the fighters pop over the mountain and race down the river just above the tree line then shoot straight up into the heavens. And just when you think it is over they are back heading in the opposite direction. Again at tree top level. It is a site that everyone stops and observes. Sure thankful they are on our side! It is interesting to also watch the effects it has on the people around here. After the boatnik and flyover the town sort of develops a new energy about it. It is like people are snapped out of their sleepy duldrums and given a reason for being. It is interesting to watch. However it does not last long, within a week things get back to the normal routines. For me the flyover is a poignent reminder of how fragile life really is, and how utterly fast things can change.