Well Elizabeth, I was very sorry to hear about your car. That sure is a lousy thing to come home to after such a nice vacation. I had actually heard of thieves going after catalytic converters, but still, it seems so obscure that it's probably the last thing you would have expected. I know it's not cheap to replace, either, so again I am sorry to hear this. I hope you are in a reasonably safe neighborhood otherwise (car thieves notwithstanding), and I hope you have a possible alternative place to park your car.
It also sucks because it feels like a violation. The best thing to do is just have it fixed and take necessary precautions for safety so that it won't happen again. Man, I hate criminals. I hope it didn't totally ruin your good feeling from Iceland. :(
Today was yet another Mega Hot One out here. The whole state is hot; Pearl's daughter said it was 104 in San Francisco! San Francisco never gets hot, in fact it was at the SF baseball stadium where I experienced that incredible temperature drop last Summer. It had been 113 the day before, all through California on my drive up north, and when we went to the ballgame we had to leave in the fifth inning because we almost froze to death : it was 44 degrees! Really weird but true. So, for it to be 104 in SF is really saying something, like "Climate Change". It was a mere 107 here in the Valley, down from 114 yesterday, and of course it doesn't faze me but I can see that it is very unpleasant for most, and even dangerous for some, like old folks. This has been the hottest week-long heatwave in a while, and it's supposed to go for a couple of more days before it cools down to 95 on Monday. Grimsley says it's all my fault, because it got hot almost exactly to the day when I declared that I wanted a "refund" on what had been - up to that point - a Wimpy Summer.
Maybe the honchos at the Summer Corporation heard about my refund request and said, "wait a minute, he's our best customer. Turn it up all the way"! :)
Another movie tonight, a really good Western with an authentic feel called "Arrowhead" (1953), once again starring Chuck Heston as the Chief Scout for the U.S. Army out of Texas. It is the 1880s and the Army is trying to make peace with the deadly Apache tribe, who are being offered land in Florida to avoid a war. Heston, as Chief Scout, does not trust the Apaches to keep their end of the deal - to remain peaceful - and his reasons are twofold. First, he was chosen as Chief Scout in the territory because, as an orphan, he was raised with Apaches and knows their ways. And from history it does appear that they were a murderous tribe, even to other tribes. Apache warriors are legendary, and so Heston's second reason for not trusting is that an old foe of his from childhood, a warrior named Toriano, is returning by train to the town next to the Army Fort. Toriano has grown up to be a Chief himself, of his local Apache tribe, except that he has been back east, in an American-sponsored "Indian School", which was supposed to "re-educate" certain tribal leaders in the ways of White Man Society, in order that they might assimilate and lead their people to do the same.
Toriano is played by the white actor Jack Palance, a very un-PC choice today just like Donna Reed the other night, but Palance has an angular face and very high cheekbones, so (with the same brown makeup Reed used), he can actually pass as Indian. And, he is heavily muscled, very macho.
But Toriano is a trickster. He hates the White Man and has been just pretending to assimilate. He especially hates old buddy Heston, who knows how ruthless he is.
And from there the movie proceeds. I am a huge Western fan, as you know, and I thought "Arrowhead" was especially good because of it's realism. The director was a man named Charles Marquis Warren, who is better known for television - he was the creator of both "Gunsmoke" and "Rawhide", two very popular shows, and I have recently become a "Rawhide" fan and appreciate the show's realistic look and storylines. The same was true here, in the movie.
We are used to the Noble Indian, and the Stoic Indian, and we recoil at the portrayal of the Savage Indian, because - after all - they were here first, and if they became savage and fought, it was only because the White Man invaded their land and began to massacre them.
That version of history is true, though to what exact percentage I cannot say. But it is also true that there were some tribes who were downright violent to other tribes well before we got here, and the Apaches were one such tribe. So anyway, as per the film, it turns out that Ol' Chuck Heston was right in his assessment of Toriano and his followers.
This is Western as history lesson, and it has an authentic look and some very good acting by Heston, Palance, and Brian Keith as a Captain of the Army. Shot in Technicolor, on location in the Texas Boondocks. I give it Two Big Thumbs Up, a must see for hard core Westerners like me. :)
Well, folks, tonight is September 1st, and it just so happens to fall on a Friday night this year, and you probably know what that means : that this is the exact anniversary of the beginning of What Happened In Northridge. It began 28 years ago tonight and lasted, by my estimation, twelve days.
I won't write about the experience tonight, but I will offer a simple prayer and a slight explanation for that prayer.
First, I will pray that the truth may be told. I mean the Full Truth, in every microscopic detail, from every aspect of everyone involved in the entire event. Day by day, event by event, detail by detail, of everyone involved. This is what I pray for, Oh Lord, and I pray for this Full Truth because I know it is important to be told. Not just for me, but for everyone else involved, and frankly for the whole Human Race. Thank You Lord, for hearing my prayer.
That is all for tonight.
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