READING THE CLOUDS

MORE THAN JUST SUNSHINE

Working in television news in the midwest we

would joke about weather forecasting in

in California.

"More sunshine and blue sky followed by 

blue sky and sunshine....etc."

Now I know better.  There is probably nothing like the 

weather extremes in the heartland-tornadoes, blizzards, thunderstorms, scorching heat waves, floods and rapid changes.  Still the weather from the Pacific, influenced by

mountains, winds from the east or north west, and the 

changeable currents of a coast make for our own

fascinating weather.  True many, many days are 

sunny with blue skies, but we do get interesting

cloud formations from time to time.  And that is unusual.

 The mountains on the horizon and mostly in the clouds are Rocky Butte, Black Oak, Vulture Peak and Red Mountain.  They top out around 3,200. They can get an icing of snow this time of year.
You may recall and wish to link here to the June post when we took you to the top of Rocky Butte

 THE QUESTION OF THE CAT'S TAIL

Wonder why our newest, Hemingway, at the far right,

curls up his tail while Nesta and Luke let theirs out.

Any theories? 

See you down the tail, er trail!

THE OTHER WEST COAST & THOUGHTS OF A DEBT CEILING

SUMMER FUN

California friends said "Florida in July?!"

We told them we'll survive just fine.

A visit with our eldest and a family wedding 

brings us to the other west coast, along

the beautiful Gulf of Mexico.

This is where summer fun means the beach.

The gulf also provides a canvass of relaxing scenes.

And as you can note, changing cloudscapes.

A tropical summer offers a vast change from

the central coast.  Stay tuned.


AS THE DEBT CEILING DEBATE CONTINUES

Here's an interesting perspective from
James Surowiecki in the New Yorker
The truth is that the United States doesn’t need, and shouldn’t have, a debt ceiling. Every other democratic country, with the exception of Denmark, does fine without one. There’s no debt limit in the Constitution. And, if Congress really wants to hold down government debt, it already has a way to do so that doesn’t risk economic chaos—namely, the annual budgeting process. The only reason we need to lift the debt ceiling, after all, is to pay for spending that Congress has already authorized. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, we’ll face an absurd scenario in which Congress will have ordered the President to execute two laws that are flatly at odds with each other. If he obeys the debt ceiling, he cannot spend the money that Congress has told him to spend, which is why most government functions will be shut down. Yet if he spends the money as Congress has authorized him to he’ll end up violating the debt ceiling.
Interesting eh?
You can read more of an illuminating article
in the August 2 New Yorker.
 See you down the trail.