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NO BIG NEWS HERE – THE HEAT WAS EXCESSIVE!

PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Like many others, I feel compelled to comment on the heat.

I do so because I know many people care about what I say and write.  Right?

Here, then are just a few tidbits about what we have gone through over the last few days:

  • Record heat in Salem a couple days ago – 117 degrees; yes, 117 – beat the heat in La Quinta, California on the same day.

When my wife and left there about a month ago, we did so to avoid that kind of heat.  Then turns out we brought it back with us.

  • On the day after the 117-degree temperature, my wife and I walked at 6 a.m.  Guess what the temperature was?  62.  Imagine!  55 degrees difference.
  • One of the guys I played golf with this week said he heard that the heat here made it almost the hottest place on earth.  Not sure that’s true, though it was hot.  And I didn’t bother checking anywhere to verify the comment.
  • Speaking of golf, do you know what the hot air means?  It’s good.

It means that the air is lighter and the golf ball goes farther!  Just so you know.

That’s all I have.  Enjoy the weather, including the heat.

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