Red Adair and August

World famous fire fighter Paul "Red" Adair died in Houston, Texas a few days ago. He was 89. I don't remember seeing it on any of the national newscasts, nor did I read it on the paper. I only know because my sister told me and she had heard it on KWIX radio. That seems very sad to me, as in my opinion Adair was a true hero. He was a firefighter who specialised in fighting oil well fires and founder of Red Adair Company Inc. He often risked his life to save the lives of others. And he took special pride in never having lost one of his crew. Among the fires he put out were "the Devil's Cigarette Lighter (the fire at a gas field in the Sahara in 1962)," the exposion at the Piper Alpha platform on the North Sea in 1988, and the Kuwiat oil well fires in 1991. Adair's exploits were the basis for the John Wayne movie Hellfighters. Quite frankly, I think that Red Adair would be a much better role model for the youth of America than many sports figures and movie stars. Unfortunately, maybe if he had been a sports figure or a movie star, his death would have been front page news.

Today our high temperature was only in the seventies. That is unusually cool for August. August is usually cooler than July in Missouri, but the average temperature this time of year is still around 89 degrees. I am happy that the temperatures are cooler than usual. It makes August much more pleasant.

I remember as a child that I was not particularly fond of August. First and most importantly, it was the month when we went back to school. Since I was not particularly fond of school, I was not particularly fond of August. Second, except for the Sidewalk Bazaar in Moberly and the State Fair in Sedalia (which I have never been to), nothing was going on in August. There were no holidays or anything. I thought of August as just a hot, drab month which meant school would be in session. My opinion has changed since I became an adult. I don't mind that there are very few events in August and I don't have to worry about school. Of course, I still despise the heat, but, then again, it isn't July...