More School Beginnings

Katie rode the bus for the first time this morning - she gets on at about 6:45. We are very thankful that the bus did not misplace her like what happened to Kris on her first day of kindergarten back in 2004. This school bus has seat belts. The University of Texas started today. It did not look as crowded as I expected, but I was pretty much in my own little corner of this large campus. Yesterday was the earthquake in Virginia. I'm irritated at the local NBC affiliate for calling it a "monster" quake and talking about the large Austin-area faults in its news. (They did say on the news later that the local faults have probably not been active for 20 million years). Kudos to "The Daily Texan" (campus paper) for calling the quake "mild but surprising." The heat continues to be a challenge, but at least it's a dry heat - not Illinois corn sweat. The hottest part of the day is about 5 pm; the coolest is about 7 am. Of course the indoors is air conditioned! Actually, when the temp cracked 100 today it was be the 70th day this has happened this year - the previous record is 69 set in 1925. (August 13 has been the only day in my time here that did not break 100). Other data: the 2009 drought just missed the 100+ record at 68 days, and Texas experienced continuous drought from 1950 to 1957. What is scary is how tinder-dry the area is. Occasional grass/brush fires have been taking out houses. The buses are mostly air conditioned, but touching metal surfaces connected to the exterior can hurt. There was rain to the east of us tonight, but it missed us.