At 10:30 this morning, the outside thermometer sensor, which was still in the shade, said 97 degrees. That’s just WRONG. I have lowered all the blinds in the house, even some we hardly ever touch, in my attempt to make this place as cave-like as possible.

I used to have this foot-tall wizard candle. A few years ago when it got this hot, I arrived home to see that it had melted in half, as if the wizard was magically and painfully bent 180 degrees to the side – hat touching the ground right next to his feet. Very sad. *sniff*

Addendum – this from a news article on weather.com: In Oakland’s fire-prone hills, officials asked residents to avoid opening fire hydrants for refreshment, pointing to three grass fires in the past two days. A bird ignited two of those fires Monday in Livermore by hitting power lines and catching fire, starting blazes that burned more than 70 acres of grassland.