Coincidence, we had a brief power outage here as well last evening. I was away from home until this morning so probably lost some crunching time as a few machines were off. Should be back to normal. We'll see how the power grid copes with the summer heat.
Good day.

I had not given that possibility much thought. I have always just run it live on the USB, which has been pretty trouble free except for the power outages which are very few here. ( I hope I did not jinx myself now .) I will think about how I may do that and experiment around a little. After rolling it around in my brain for a little bit, I don't see why that would not be possible. A USb stick should function just like an SSD (low end probably) and a USB 2.0 interface is not going to be especially speedy, and it will wear out eventually, but with the price of USB sticks so low, I will give a try when I get some time. I will let you know how it goes.
Cheers

No worries about your productivity. We each do what we can. Having these kind of temperatures in June is not only unusual for your area, but here also. We have yet to hit 100 and I hope your area does not.Maybe the weather will break soon. We need rain badly. This June is shaping up much like 1988, but I hope it does not get that bad. Let us know how it is going there. Do what ever you need to do to keep yourself safe.
Cheers

I have a relative who lives i Portland. I spoke with them last night and ans they said at 7:00 PM their time it was still 106F(41.1C). They are expecting 115F(46.1) today. Those are temperatures I associate with the desert southwest. Before I retired, I worked with a a guy who had spent several years working in Yuma, Arizona. They appear to be looking at 116F(46.7C). I find it hard to conceptualize living in that kind of heat.
you mention a kids' pool. I have a picture (which I am not planning to share) of myself in the kids pool in 1988 in the middle of the lawn. The pool is blue and all the grass around it is golden brown because it was baked to a crisp. I believe it was about 100F(37.8C) that day, probably only about the 5th or 6th time in my life it had been that hot.
We are thankful for some rain last night, .3in ( .76cm) and a current temperature of 69F(20.5C).
There is a part of the Minneapolis Sunday paper which has a feature about how badly the drought and temperatures are affecting the American west. I hope and pray both the heat and the drought break.
Cheers
Edit:spelling

I had to look up Mt. Baker and see where it is. Almost in Canada it looks like. The ski resort lists 704 inches of snow for the season. No wonder you could not get to the trailhead. It looks like the Cascades got more snow than the Sierra Mts got. Good luck staying cool.
Cheers