Random 5 for July 5, 2026 – Tom, HVAC, weather extremes, walking sticks, family

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This is a picture from 10 years ago. He looks the same with just a little more gray

Happy 96th birthday Tom! – My brother turned 96 this past week. He doesn’t look his age and certainly doesn’t act it, but he is getting slower. He still golfs and is active in local non-profits. We are fortunate that our gene pool doesn’t have any severe chronic illnesses. He has all his own parts too!

Speaking of my brother – His air conditioning went out yesterday, the holiday (that’s when you incur extra fees). The HVAC company was very busy, but they eventually made it out and all is well. It was just another monkey wrench in the week’s plans.

My brother at 17 and me at maybe 6 months.

Seriously? – We haven’t had weather like this in 30 years. We don’t typically hit 100 degrees (38C) in the summer but we did this week. It was several days in a row (even more unusual). The nighttime temps were in the 80s (hovering near 30C). That’s not cool enough to feel refreshed in the morning. I watered a lot to keep my flowers and newly planted shrubs alive. Even the birds weren’t as active. The timing was unfortunate as there were so many festivities planned for 250th celebration of the US. Many were cancelled.

Is it me? – After years of talking about it, I finally bought walking sticks. Sometimes I have balance issues walking on the gravelly areas around here. Even the roads are not even. As soon as I bought them, we went into “it’s too hot to walk” mode. They are patiently waiting for their inaugural walk! I have great expectations for them! (I should have bought battery operated set. Do they make those?)

My brother with our niece.

Family – Over the next few weeks we’ll have out of state family visiting. That’s always a hectic fun time and maybe a story or two to tell.

So how was your week?

43 thoughts on “Random 5 for July 5, 2026 – Tom, HVAC, weather extremes, walking sticks, family”

  4. Enough of this heat wave already! It is still very muggy here and right now we have torrential rain and it is rumbling – this is the fourth storm with torrential rain we’ve had today! The weather makes no sense. At least they can’t shoot off fireworks in the hood until 2:00 a.m. now – yay! I have never used walking sticks, but a woman used to use them at Council Point Park many years ago and raved about them. She had issues due to having Meniere’s Disease which made her dizzy at times, so she said the sticks helped with her inner ear imbalance. She walked nine miles a day because she said they kind of sprung her into walking faster. I was amazed – I’d walk five and that was it. She stopped walking though and I ran into her at the grocery store … she was having issues driving her car and so she walked with her husband when he got home from work when he could drive to the Park.

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    • Today is rainy and cooler. Both are much appreciated. We had storms at “fireworks time” yesterday. Some went off very late but many were either cancelled or more likely postponed.

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  7. Very best birthday wishes to your. He’s the same age as my Dad. They don’t make ’em like that anymore. He looks fantastic!

    Bummer on the AC. With extending hot temps, I suspect that’s going to keep a lot of HVAC dealings in business this summer. A heat dome is headed our way, the only difference being ours will only be HOT, with little humidity. It’s gonna make fighting the fires in Colorado that much harder. Ugh. 70 days until autumn arrives…can’t come soon enough for me. Stay as cool as you can and enjoy your company.

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  11. I like the idea of walking sticks. I have thought often that my husband should be taking a cane with him when it’s out and about but he WILL NOT – BUT there are some (dare I say it) beautiful walking sticks out there. I’ll keep working on him! Hope your 4th was quiet and none of us will have more power outages, etc. from this unrelenting HEAT!

    Hugs, Pam

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  13. Wow! Your brother looks amazing. What’s his secret? Zinc? Headstands? Happy Birthday to him and all that hair.

    Yes, the heat has really outdone itself. But cooler climes are on the way. Hope it’s not just a rumor.

    Sticks. See them in the Park. People use them to fast walk. Kinda looks cool, like they’re skiing.

    Speaking of cool, here’s to a cooler week there and here.

    🙂

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  18. One of the volunteers I work with at the rescue has lost her power (including AC) and PPL says it should be back by Tuesday. Ugh. At least temps are less than 100 this week. Last week was brutal. Good luck with the family visits. Is Sasha setting up a vacation spot for herself in the basement?

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    • That’s a long time to be without power! Sasha has been napping in the basement. My thought is that it’s cooler and has a cat tree. For guests I’m sure she’ll hang down there.

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