Weird weather makes for gorgeous sunset

It was a strange and potentially discombobulating day today, but it ended fairly well. Naturally, on the hottest day yet (I think) or at least one of the hottest, we wake up to the certainty, only suspected the previous night, that our home air conditioner isn't working. This leads to hasty consultation with a couple of home-handyman books (most of which say for anything really complicated you better call a professional) and some online sources, and a determination to stop by the local electrical supply store on the way to or from the appointment with the radiation doctors at 1:00.

Hot? Our car thermometer may read a degree or two above actual, but it's not too far off. It showed about 101 at our house as we got into the car, and 114 at the doctor's office in Wildomar. Pretty hot. I went in for what was planned to be something of an orientation session followed by an actual treatment. They lined the machines up on the dots the CAT-scan lady had tattooed on my belly and took a couple of X-Rays to make sure my internal organs hadn't moved significantly since the CAT-scan about a week ago. Then as they were setting up for the actual treatment, the power went out -- all those air conditioners pulling more than peak power could provide, I suspect -- and befuddlement reigned. It was probably compounded by the news they heard from their office in Hemet, that there was a terrific thunderstorm there, with rain coming down heavily. Finally, since the power outage made it so they would have to reboot all their electricity-run machines, presumably including the radiation gun, they told me they wouldn't be able to do an actual treatment today that we would have to wait until tomorrow for the first one.

Leaving the office we were accosted by evidence of storms, with heavy winds and the occasional clap of thunder. We got some drizzles on the way home, including at Four Corners, and at the electrical supply store. The guy there was helpful, suggesting we bring in a fuse box from above the compressor outside. We did that, Jen took them in (noting there was a downpour at the store about a mile from our house, while we got just a couple of sprinkles at our house) and the guy just replaced all the fuses. Twenty bucks. Fortunately, that was enough to induce the air conditioner to work properly again. Thank goodness! We weren't looking forward to paying somebody a bunch to fix the compressor or even replacing our vintage system for several thousands.

The climax of the day came with the sunset, all pink clouds with deeper orange hues spread all across the western sky. We love cloudless hot days, but such days usually produce fairly boring sunsets. You need some clouds for the falling sun to reflect against from several different angles before darkness finally overtakes the scene and puts the lights out for truly spectacular sunsets. Tonight's was a humdinger!

Red sky at night, sailor's delight!