Pat Shingleton for June 30, 2012

We complete the week and the month recognizing back-to-back record highs of 101 degrees Monday and Tuesday. As noted in a previous column, we appreciated sun power as kids, not only with occasional sunburns but when we made our own root beer. We would retrieve a mixing crock from the basement and Mom would mix a root beer extract with sugar and yeast. After cleaning pop bottles, we’d funnel in the root beer and manually cap them, placing the bottles in the sunlight and spinning them occasionally to eliminate the sediment. It took four days to get the effervescence just right. Before the fourth day, some of the bottles would explode. The power of sunlight and the power of the yeast gave us an extra pop in our soda pop.

Fastcast: Dry

ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION:

TODAY: Sticky (Partly Cloudy Icon) 96/75

SUNDAY: Stuffy (Partly Cloudy Icon) 95/76

MONDAY: A Shower? (Partly Cloudy Icon) 95/75

TUESDAY: Some Thunder? (Partly Cloudy Icon) 94/75

WEDNESDAY: Muggy (Sunny Icon) 94/74

THURSDAY: Stayin’ Hot (Sunny Icon) 93/73