Is it hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk?

It's hot. For Portland, anyway. So we decided to try to answer the age old question, "Is it hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk?" Being the neat freak that we decided to 'preheat' a pan outside at the peak heat of the day (about 103-104 degrees today). In went two eggs and then the waiting began. Waiting, waiting, waiting. An hour and a half later, the eggs look a bit dry, a little lumpy, but not so much fried.

Me being me, I googled it. Here what I learned (good for all you crossword, Jeopardy types):

"An egg needs a temperature of 158°F to become firm. In order to cook, proteins in the egg must denature (modify), then coagulate, and that won’t happen until the temperature rises enough to start and maintain the process."

"The sidewalk presents several challenges. According to an experiment reported in Robert Wolke’s book, What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained, sidewalk temperatures can vary depending on the composition of the sidewalk, whether it is in direct sunlight, and of course, the air temperature. Dark objects absorb more light, so blacktop paving would be hotter than concrete. More often than not, sidewalks are concrete. Wolke found that a hot sidewalk might only get up to 145°F. Once you crack the egg onto the sidewalk, the egg cools the sidewalk slightly. Pavement of any kind is a poor conductor of heat, so lacking an additional heat source from below or from the side, the egg will not cook evenly."

Waiting, waiting, waiting

We have been waiting, waiting, waiting for veggies to grow and mature in our garden, especially those darn pole beans that have been growing beautifully. Well, today we searched again and voila, we found about 5 mature beans. Two tomato plants a have lots of plump and green tomatoes and our yellow pepper plant has two peppers that are slowing coming around. And the squash, that pathetic squash that has been tiny and troubling all along, is giving us a bit of hope. The zucchini is still flowering, but the yellow have popped out a few little fellows. I've given up all hope of having cucumbers. It just wasn't meant to be.

(Oh look, you can see the whole Banzai in the background of the bean plant picture.)

Banzai

Heat wave 2009 is due to arrive any minute so we thought we would get a jump start and rented a huge water slide that some friends of ours have. The Patterson kids joined us for an entire day (and evening) of sliding and squirting. I even took a couple trips down as it got hot sitting out all day monitoring the crazies. I never did take a picture of the whole thing but you climb up one side and there is a twisty slide with water showers down it that ends in a pretty good sized pool. Needless to say, the boys were asleep before their heads even hit the pillow tonight.

Summer Camp

The boys finished up their first of 2 weeks of Sports Camp at a local Athletic Club. The favorite activites by far seem to be rock wall climbing and swimming. Today we stayed after to have some extra pool time. Nate and friends enjoyed the slide while Ian spent most of his time in the hot warm tub which is only about 3 feet deep and allows him to feel comfortable enough to swim like a fish.

He's going blond!

Not a day goes by that someone doesn't comment on how blond (and TAN) Nate is getting this summer. He wanted photo proof so here it is. Look at those natural highlights! Ah, to be young again!

Name that photo contest

I probably shouldn't post this photo, but hey, this is my life. Welcome to it! Ian came downstairs the other day and declared that he wanted to have boobies just like mommy so this is what he came up with. He actually got it on right. I am secretly glad he picked a cute bra not some dingy old one! hahahaha!

This is the week I have been waiting for

The boys are in their first week of (9am-1pm) summer camp this week. This is the week I have been waiting all summer for! A few hours of freedom a day for me and a few hours of mandatory out of the house time for them is welcome. We are skipping swim lessons for a couple days to make it to camp on time.

Not a whole lot else is happening. I forgot to post pics from the 4th night so I will add those on here. Over the past week we have just been playing with friends and being generally silly. Last night for example, Nate and Ian decided to see how many items of clothing they could put on on top of each other. Ian was the clear winner with 14 pairs of underwear stacked on top of each other. It was HYSTERICAL! I should have taken a pic!

It's Raining Men Star Mints, Hallelujah

Happy Independence Day! We trekked to Hillsboro this morning for the annual Hillsboro Happy Days 4th of July Parade! Thanks to my friend Kathy, we had a sweet spot that she reserves every year that is near the start of the parade AND fully shaded, which is HUGE considering we are on day 3 of 90 degree temps!

Nate and Ian, this year experienced candy scrappers, had their parade waves and cheesy smiles down to entice candy their way. It's hysterical though, as the parade goes on they get picky - "I don't want that one mom, it's just another yucky star mint!" and they start to let those go, along with all the rest of the hard candies. Floats love the star mints though, they must be cheap, they look festive and they don't melt. Mom's favorite? The Reeser's float thows Pepperoni sticks. All the grown ups hit their feet for that one!

Yep, It's hot!

I think summer is actually here finally. 90 degrees at 7pm is the first hint! We busted out the slip n slide last night to cool off and Daddy even joined in (but threatened me to not take any pics of him!) Ian, who was deathly afraid of sprinklers last year was willing to give it a try although it was more of a crawl than a slide.