Can you believe it’s already September? Now, if we could convince the weather people of that fact, we all could be a lot happier.

            I used to enjoy the summer heat until something happened to my personal thermostat when I had brain surgery back in 2011. Ever since I had the Deep Brain Stimulator implanted in my body, I can’t take the heat.

            So where did I move to for my retirement? Las Vegas, where it may be three to five degrees “cooler” than the Phoenix area in the summer months. This year, we’ve had a record number of days where the thermometer reached 110 degrees. I imagine that’s hot by anybody’s standards.     To go along with that, we’ve had no measurable rainfall for 129 days. The record is 150 days set in 1959. Recently, we had one day where it was cloudy all day. It rained in the mountains west of us, but we missed getting any by about a mile. 

I was pleased to see that the lightning-caused brush fire in McDowell Mountain Park was recently put out before it got out of control and reached any houses. I know a lot of you like that natural look for landscaping, but you should clear an area around your homes no less than 30 feet deep for fire-protection purposes.

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My special memories this week are about the local high school and some of its special moments.

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Fountain Hills High School opened for classes in 1992.

The Falcons played the community’s first official football game before 1,300 fans in early September 1993. The Falcons beat Brimhall 35-3 and Wide Receiver Jason Devoning scored the school’s first touchdown.

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The Fountain Hills High School High Flight Chorus traveled to New York City in April 1997 to participate in the New York International Music Festival at the Lincoln Center for the Arts.

Only 20 groups were chosen for the event.

Choir director Penny Warren knew she had a special group of musically talented students that year so she sent in a tape of them singing.

About a month later, she received notification that they had been selected. During an early-morning sightseeing outing they were able to perform part of one song on NBC’s “Today” show. I knew the female host of the show had previously been on a Phoenix TV station. I was able to get her attention by wearing a sign saying I was from Arizona. She briefly interviewed me, and I told her why I was there. That’s when she begantalking to the choir members about their day of sightseeing in the “Big Apple.”

I became an unofficial guide for the group. I had become familiar with many of the New York City tourist spots from my many visits there to see my daughter, Holly, who was a Broadway dancer there for 15 years.

I arranged for Holly to meet with the students at Lincoln Center. She brought her boyfriend, Patrick Wilson, and they both talked about their experiences on the New York stage.

Patrick went on to become a movie star. He has had major roles in such pictures as “Phantom of the Opera,” “Aquaman,” “The Alamo,” “Midway” and both “Conjuring” films.

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1994 saw the high school’s first graduation ceremony in the community. One of those graduates was my son, Brent, now the publisher of The Times.

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Fountain Hills High School girls volleyball team won the 3A State title in 1997, giving the school its first state championship in any sport.