Rainbow Bridge, Rainbow Bridge .......

 It's a not-so-cool morning at 77 degrees while I sit in front of the fan.  Perfect critter and snake weather.  I don't mean to poke fun at the Rainbow Bridge ... many of my pets through the years have passed on ... all of whom I hope to see when I do the same.  

But wait .... do you think all those OTHER critters go there too?  Just a crazy morning thought in the desert.

I spent the first part of the morning working on one of MY quilts.  This one has a new hummingbird theme.  Not that I'm any great seamstress, but this one was SO much easier to quilt than those others.  I love the new pattern.

I was surprised to find the game camera full of daytime images.  Unfortunately that means I can't upload but a portion of the video.  It's set on high res to capture the night critters.  Daytime, it just records too much data and blogger won't let me upload much.  

Not the solitary javelina of a few nights ago, this time it was an entire pack.  Looks like the babies are half grown already.  Needless to say, they drained the water by the time they were done.  Not long after this group came another even bigger gathering ... I counted seven in all.  Nice to know they are doing well.

In no time the Chance household picked me up for an afternoon movie.  TOP GUN!!  Apparently it was so good that Mr. Chance wanted to see it twice.  There are no pictures from the movie, since they are all well protected.  I copied this one off the internet.

If you haven't seen this movie, you should.  What an edge-of-your-seat feel good GREAT movie.  Of course it helps that Tom Cruise is still a hunk.  I would have guessed him to be 40 something.  He's 60.  Yup, that was a shocker.  His girlfriend in the movie could stand to gain a few pounds ... 89 is not a good number.  If you've been around the Mojave desert, you may even see a few things you recognize.  I'd watch it again.

Back at the Lost Horse Ranch, I needed help moving a huge agave from my front yard.  This is not it ... I don't have a picture of mine, but this is what it looked like.  They get a weevil at the base that kills them.  Talk about heavy ... these things weigh a ton.  

I grabbed a pair of gloves for both Dan and I, and we attempted to lift it into the wheelbarrow.  It took some doing since every one of those leaves is hard as a rock and edged with razor sharp thorns.  This was my arm when we got done.  Nailed by an agave.  Two things here .... one, I still bleed a lot of red blood, and two, I seem to heal up pretty quickly.  Although sore this morning, it looks much better.

When I walked back inside, I instantly spotted THIS!  Rainbow bridge ... and another ... rainbow bridge ... and one big moth at the door ... rainbow bridge.  Sorry, but these critters give me the heebie jeebies.  They are not trainable and I wouldn't know what to feed them!

That's when I noticed poor Cooper sitting in the middle of the living room floor, shaking like a leaf.  Goodness gracious little guy ... what's wrong?  My ears quickly detected the culprit was a beeping smoke alarm in the bedroom.  I'm not sure why pups are so afraid of that beep, but Cooper was frozen to the floor.  

I quickly grabbed my ladder and replaced the battery.  All better now .... or not.

Cooper refused to go in the bedroom come bedtime.  Back and forth we trotted ... well mostly I carried him ... trying to make everything okay.  At way past my bedtime, we crashed on the couch.  Of course that didn't change his get up time of 4:30.  

There's more weeds to pull this morning and more quilting to be done.  There might even be a ghost town or two in waiting, I'm just not sure when I'll get there.   Time to check the game camera!!  I hope everyone stays cool ... it's going to be a hot one this weekend.

Watch Where You Step!!

Another nice quiet morning sitting on the patio in the dark ... except for sound of the train whistles, but I love train whistles.  Somehow it's better than loud music, people screaming and barking critters.  People ask why I would go to Arizona in the summer.  Here's a pretty good reason.  These are the current temperatures in my home town.   

These are the current temperatures in Arizona.   You wouldn't expect this, but for the most part, it's always cooler in Arizona.  Weird, right?  

So bright and early at 6:00 am, I was outside fixing the leaky drip line.  I got it repaired and tested in no time, after doing a crazy imitation of Elvis Presley when that spider dropped on my head from the bush above.  I wasn't about to let THAT happen again, so I got out the pruners and went to town.  

An hour later, I had things pretty ship shape, but you know what happens ... you see another branch ... and another branch.  I kept it up for over an hour before heading down to get the game camera.  Sorry for the blurry picture and the decimation that followed.  

Every time I walked down the path, my legs were covered in spider webs.  I know spiders eat the flying bugs, but after the fourth or fifth time, I was beginning to feel creepy crawlies all over my legs.  The spider has now gone over the Rainbow Bridge and my pathway is web free.  I can still feel things crawling on me, but hopefully that will disappear soon.

The coyote couple are back in beautiful form.  It was rather interesting to see one of them go over and lick that big rock.  I'm not sure what he smelled, but it must have been tasty.  I love seeing these guys.

On the way back up the hill, be careful where you step.  This is the one inch tall entrance to a tarantula den, all decorated up for the female of his choice.  Or maybe SHE did the decorating.  This may be where my other friend came from.  

Do I always watch out for rattlesnakes?  Yes I do.  It was ingrained in me as a 4 year old.  When the outhouse is sitting near a rattlesnake den, your parents put the fear like no other into your little brain.  Basically, I never walk anywhere without my head down, because one day as we were hiking to a good fishing spot, I forgot.  My dad screamed at me to FREEZE!!!  I think I've told you this story.

I stood there literally with one foot in the air ... frozen solid.  If I had put my foot down, I would have stepped on a rattler.  He was on the other side of a branch I was stepping over.  My dad shot the snake (we were never without a gun), and I was able to put both feet back on the ground.

Then we did the fun thing ... he picked it up on a long stick and I carried it back to the cow camp.  We had rattlesnake for dinner.  Now I watch every step Cooper and I take.

I however, MUCH prefer an egg asparagus quesadilla for breakfast OR dinner.  I felt like the day had passed me by, but it was only 8:00.

Here's one of the donation quilts I've been working on.  Apparently I was supposed to leave the wide backing on ... but I cut it off.   Hmmmm there's nothing to bind the edges with.  Patty, my quilting buddy, went with me to Joannes for material.  We also went to a new quilt store in Green Valley, but that's a story for later.  Trying to make this go fast, I actually sewed the binding on with my machine instead of by hand.  It came out pretty nice ... and only took an hour versus 6 or 7.  

Then I started on this lovely colorful number.  I know these are donation quilts, but using cheap fabric from the Goodwill store, backed by even cheaper thin sheets from the SAME store, just hits my sharp, off key number like no other.  Add to that the fact that the blocks were not square, made it hard to quilt.  I did get it done, while trying hard to remember the thought that went into this.

Dinner came as a wonderful surprise ... an invitation from the Chance household for Dan's famous STEW!!  I'm telling you, NO ONE makes stew like that guy!  I devoured it in record time.  So fast in fact that I didn't even get a picture!!

Today I'll be back on the quilting machine.  I think I'll do one or two of my own before tackling another sheet demon.  

Remember to keep your eyes on the ground and watch where you step!

What Was THAT??

 There's nothing like waking up to a huge crash in the middle of the night.  Especially when it's right outside your window.  WHAT WAS THAT??  It didn't take two seconds for me to know.  This is the quail block I bought for the birds.  I even covered it with a large piece of plywood to keep the rain off.  They do tend to melt.

So why is it thirty feet down the hill?  I guessed at the time, after seeing the big doe on the game camera, that she had partaken of a nice chunk for breakfast.  I can see that ... it's grain and sweet ... just like MY usual breakfast.

I picked it up, plywood and all, and placed it on my concrete block fence under a big tree.  I even placed three big pieces of concrete on the plywood to hold it in place.  Guess who came to dinner last night?  I haven't checked the game camera, but I'd bet my best pair of boots that the doe came back for seconds.  It didn't take long for the whole affair to come crashing down early this morning.  Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.  

It should be noted however, that the quail loved it.  I got a few pictures last evening that I'll post tomorrow.

It was 6:30 when I headed out to work on that leaky sprinkler.  I seem to have a ghosty attached to me when it comes to sprinklers.  I was quickly sidetracked by the pretty flowers that cover the mountainside.

So here it is, all dug up.  In spite of my warnings NOT to let the sidewalk impinge on the drip lines, the paving crew didn't listen.  It looks like the edge of the concrete pushed into the drip line and caused a half inch hole.  That's a lot of water pouring out on the ground.  The screwdriver is right where it needs to be fixed.

Pictures can be deceiving.  Before I made any repairs, I had to clear out all the brush.  There are chunks of my hair hanging off the branches.  This pile is the result ... and it's about 3 feet high.  The water line repair should take care of most of this, meaning plants won't get much water, so they won't grow so tall.  I even drug out a 4' x 4' agave plant that had died.  Lucky for me, there's supposed to be another garbage pickup date on the books ... and it's FREE.

While there, I might as well check the sprinkler controls.  YIKES!! WHAT WAS THAT??????  Something ran right across my feet.  Are you kidding me?  There sat the biggest fattest PACK RAT I've ever seen.  He ran behind the black box as I whirled around to get a big rock.  He ran past me twice before I hurled the 10 pound rocket his way.  Of course I missed and he ran away.  

See the pretty new rat trap???  No, I haven't caught him yet, but I set three more around the house.  These guys chew up wires more than anything ... a pain in my patoot!!

At last I came in for breakfast about 7:30.  There's just no working outside with this heat and humidity.  I'll make that water line repair this morning.  Breakfast was keto approved.  In spite of a $100 grocery bill, I somehow didn't end up with anything for dinner.  This may be on the menu more than a few times.

I spent the rest of the day cussing and screaming at my quilt machine.  It's amazing how much you forget in 4 months.  It doesn't help that PHONE HELP is not available on weekends.  I also want to apologize to every quilter I sent a quilt to that wasn't absolutely square and straight.  I worked on one for SIX HOURS!!

By the end of the day, I was tired, so Cooper and I took a quick walk around the back yard.  I turned around and EEEEKKKKKKK where the heck did this guy come from?  Cooper made a mad dash to see what it was with me screaming NO NO NO!!!  Luckily I caught up with him before he got too close.  I grabbed my handy dandy rat trap grabber and flung him unceremoniously over the fence.  

It's always an adventure in the desert.  I just wish it didn't all happen in one day!!  I'll be back on the quilting machine today with one of my own quilts.  I'd rather make mistakes on mine than on the ones that are to be donated to Foster Kids.  Here's hoping it goes better today.

My Best Imitation

After a lovely morning on the patio in the cooling 74 degree weather (which never lasts long), I tromped out to pick up the game camera.  With so much water everywhere and so much greenery, there have been few visitors.  I caught one glimpse of a rabbit hind leg as he ran behind that cactus like there was a coyote on his tail.  That was it ..... no visitors ..... although the quail bock I put out had moved about twenty feet down the hill.

This beauty was most likely the culprit.  Just look at those ears!!!  This Momma drank for a long time and hung around after before wandering off down the hill.  It's so weird to see them at night.  I've never known deer to be up at this hour.  The camera date and time are wrong ... I forgot to reset it after replacing the batteries.

Okay, time to get to work.  I'm did my best imitation of a plumber.  The toilet in bathroom number two is leaking water badly.  It's that little red rubber thingy in the bottom.  Press on it and the water stops running.  I had the perfect solution.  I went outside and got the biggest rock I could find and set it on top of the rubber thingy.  It stopped running.  WHAT A PLUMBER, YES??  Of course I can't use that bathroom now, but I'll get another "thingy" tomorrow.

I had more important things to do ... like bake an apple pie so the house would smell better.  You may not know I live between two sets of railroad tracks.  The original one into Tucson built in the 1880's and the new faster version south of me.  That can occasionally become a problem when you have ice cream in the car.  The train is stopped.  If I had to wait for it to start up and those 125 cars to go by, my ice cream would be liquid.  Thankfully, someone pressed the button and the arms raised up.

BECAUSE ..... there was pie to bake .......

and eat with ice cream.  Yes, bad Nancy had this for breakfast.  The diet starts in earnest today as I say goodbye to my favorite foods.

Here's the recipe for that soup.  It's from Pressureluck Cooking (look it up on Facebook).  Some of his recipes aren't all that great, but this one is a keeper for me.  I cut everything in half so I wouldn't have to eat this for the next two weeks.  One can of chicken broth worked great, as did one 9.2 oz package of tortellini.  I also used 3/4 cup of half n half.  As to the Boursin cheese, you can substitute parmesan ... or any cheese (maybe mozzarella) or leave it out altogether.  I don't think it adds much flavor, but it makes it creamier.  NO hot sauce for me.

I did not make the soup hotter at the end ... it was just perfect after stirring everything in.  I hope you like it as much as I did.  

More games ensued as I tried to imitate a great quilter.  All went well until the thread broke and I couldn't remember how to tell it where to go.  Neither the instructions nor the lady on the phone could get it to work.  These are donation quilts, so it wasn't critical that it be perfect, but that's rather against my nature.  In desperation, I finally just started it up at the beginning of that row and went over the first stitching.  Naturally it was about 1/4 inch off.  Guess I'm not so good at imitating a quilter.  It will make a very nice doggie blanket.

I've got five more of these to do, so I'l get lots of practice before I start on my projects.  

I'm back to imitating ... this time a gardener.  I've discovered a big leak in the drip lines out front of the house.  It's going to require shovel work, so I better get to it before the heat shows up.  

I Just Have To Laugh

 Good Morning Arizona!!  I think I have recovered ... mostly anyway ... from the magical driving trip from California that saps my energy.  It's magical to leave all the bad neighbors behind, especially when I know I'm getting free electricity for the next few months.  

No, there won't be any solar in Arizona.  They only let you put in enough panels to cover what you use, which here is about $150 a month.  I'll die before that would ever be paid off.

So here's my National Dog Day kid (that was yesterday) who has a bandage on his foot to keep him from chewing that 8 month old ant bite.  No matter what I put on it, nothing helps.  Cooper loves it here ... he has a nice long hallway down which to run after I throw the ball.  We play race horse all the time!

Breakfast became a laughing matter.  As you know, I'm "frugal", at least as long as it doesn't cause food poisoning.  These Costco muffins went into the freezer, into the ice chest for horse camp, back into the freezer, into ANOTHER ice chest for the trip here, then back into THIS freezer.  They are definitely nuclear, because I ate one smothered in butter and it was DELICIOUS.  So far I haven't died, so I guess they are still good.

This lovely guy greeted me yesterday morning.  Centipede?  I don't know because I didn't count his legs.  The outside of the house is sprayed, apparently causing this guy to get sick.  I squashed him with the edge of my handy dandy flashlight and closed the door.  Then minutes later when I opened the door, he was gone.  Are you kidding me?  I was sure he was DEAD!  If you're going to kill something around here, you better smash it to smithereens!!!

In catching up, here's the Safeway story.  I was laughing and crying at the same time.  So I went to the not very clean, not well stocked Safeway store on Gold Link Road.  Don't go there.  I picked up this package of cherry tomatoes, looking at it through the plastic to be sure they were okay.  Once home, I discovered this dark nasty moldy thing on top.  I could have thrown it away and eaten the rest, but I returned them to the Safeway only a few blocks away.  Eeewwwww she said, and gave me back $3.99.

I then proceeded around the store to buy the last ingredients I needed to make a delicious looking soup.  A first time recipe.  Oh wait ... I need those tomatoes ... so I picked up another container, looking all around to be sure they were okay.  

When I got home and opened the container, I broke out in a belly laugh.  YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING!  Yup ... this is just my luck.  I swear she put that container back on the table while I was on the other side of the store.  I GOT THE SAME CONTAINER AGAIN!!!!  HOW COULD THAT BE??  The next time I go in there, I'm reading them the riot act!!!  So I just threw this one away and used the rest of the box.  If it weren't for bad luck, I've have none at all!!

I carefully washed all the other tomatoes one at a time, to be sure they were okay before making this amazing soup.  No kidding, I'd serve this to the King if he came to my house.  It's an Instant Pot recipe that took about ten minutes from start to finish.  

Chicken broth, tomatoes sauce, Italian seasoning, tortellini, tomatoes and basil.  I love basil.  Cook for one minute ... that's all ... and remove the lid.  Stir in any type of cheese (I used cheddar), Boursin cheese and some cream.  Done.  It's probably one of the best things I've ever made.  Let me know if you want the recipe.

With my stomach full, but now hurting from the laughter, I got the new cutting mat out of my truck.  It was rolled up very tightly, so needed to sit in the sun to lay flat again.  Who knew it was 800 degrees on the concrete?  In less than five minutes, I had heated it to the boiling point.  I could barely pick it up it was so hot.  Too hot and it warps.  It's now sitting on the table with everything in the sewing room on top to try and get it flat.  Just my luck ... again!!  It will be fine in a day or two, I hope.

While all that was going on, another storm came through.  There have been two or three each day.  These little cells fly overhead, dropping all that water along the way.  Coming over the hills down into this little valley area, most of it lands across the gully.  

The good news is they only last about an hour and they are gone.  Here's another one that just missed us.

For the most part, it's just blue skies with gorgeous puffy white clouds.  Although my boiling point isn't all that high, the humidity has me turning on every ceiling fan in the house ... four to be exact ... along with the thermostat.  It's STILL better than Mariachi or Rap music into the wee hours.  

I'm off to retrieve the game camera, which so far hasn't picked up a single critter.  With food and water so available, they don't come up the hill, but stay in the bottom of the river bed.  Hopefully I'll capture something today.

Can You Hear It??

Silence.   It's so quiet.  No dogs barking, no cars screaming by, just the occasional howl of a coyote pack meeting up, along with the morning song of the quail.  Sure, there's the occasional crack of lightning and thunder, but Mother Nature is always better than HUMAN nature.

It was 3:30 when I got up this morning.  Too many crazy dreams to keep thrashing around in.   I sat on the patio for awhile, spitting out every bug that flew in my mouth.  It's okay, I need the protein.  As with any humid state, the bugs are out in full force.  What's even better ... I have three praying mantises on my screens scarfing them up for breakfast.  How cool is that?

Storms have been coming through every day, some dumping loads of water "over there" but not here.

This is what's making all that green stuff you see in my pictures.  It's crazy to think that grass would almost completely cover the desert.

The flowers are epic too.  When you never see anything but sand and rocks, it's surprising to find so many blooms everywhere you look.

This is the hillside below my house.  It's normally simply a rocky hill.  Just look at this jungle!  I bet there's some amazing creatures hiding in there.

It's beautiful to be sure ... but oh my aching back is soon to raise it's ugly head.

I mean really ... I could feed a horse for several months just on what's growing in my back yard.

Okay ... the sun was up, so I finally got out the lawnmower and went to work.  I chased off a couple of tigers and one rhino, but thankfully no snakes.  I tried to use the weedeater, but I'm not so proficient with that one.  It took me longer to get the coil untangled than it did to whiz around the edges.  

I tried to weed the flowerbeds, which are completely choked with Bermuda grass, but only got halfway.  Within an hour I was overheated and heading to the house.  This is a first for me .... I turned the AC down to 78 degrees THE ENTIRE DAY.  Can you believe it?  

Next up, just for giggles, I went looking for the rat traps under the house that Dan noticed had disappeared.  Ummmm that's not good.  Home ownership is just SO much fun!!  I didn't have to crawl far before finding the first one with a very dead rat in it.  No pictures ... it would make you barf.  

I found the second one had been sprung, right next to the Rid-a-Rat flashing light expensive gizzy that keeps them away.  I guess I can't sing their praises any more.  I'll get them reset today.

In spite of all my great luck (I use those terms loosely ... I'll explain tomorrow) I'm happy to be here and not have to listen to the Mariachi music or the Head Exploding Rap music at the other house in California.  I do love the QUIET!!!!  And the critters .... I love the critters!!

AZ DOT = CA DMV

I'm sitting on the patio in perfect darkness, sipping my cup of caffeine.  It's a lovely 73 degrees, when all of a sudden the sprinklers came on, scaring the you-know-what out of me.  I thought I was being attacked. There's nothing like the smell of rain in the desert, quite unlike the smell of sewer in my house because I forgot to plug that ONE drain from the washing machine.  I'm working on it ...... big sigh.

The view of green is epic.  Everything within 200 miles is blooming and growing like crazy.

There was a lovely thunderstorm about 8:00 pm, with lightning cracking right overhead.  The noise is deafening.  I stepped outside for a few quick pictures and instantly changed my mind.  The lightning is probably many miles away, but I swear it hit 50 yards from the house.  

I put the game camera out, only to see lots of wind and rain ALL NIGHT LONG!  All this rain also makes it rather humid.  Two minutes outside and you are covered in water dripping down your back.

There was no time to waste however, at 7:15 I was off to the Arizona Department of Transportation to get my truck registered.  It expired 7/31.  As I mentioned, they sent the registration ... no emission test required ... and I could register it for two years.  I mailed it off in plenty of time.

I got it all back, check included, with the NO crossed out.  At least it had a date stamp on it of 7/28.  So I had TRIED to pay it on time and they had RECEIVED it on time.

I was ready for bear!!  I drove to the testing facility and was car 22 in line at 7:45.  They had six people working, but only two lanes open.  I waited 30 minutes before finally getting up to the door.  Sugar gets you more than lemons, so I was as sweet as could be, in spite of the screaming in my head.  They got me out in ten minutes and thanked me for my GREAT attitude!  Ha!!!

Out the door and in the next parking lot found me at the DOT office with certificate in hand.  The wait is 4 minutes she said.  Twenty minutes later I was sitting down, again with the sugary sweet smile.  It worked, I got my registration, but only after refusing to pay the penalty for being late.  

A supervisor was requested.  He deleted the penalty, but could not explain to me why they keep sending a notice saying NO emission test is required.  It's their office ... shouldn't they know?  He said it was MY responsibility (not theirs) to know that a diesel truck needs a test every year.  Then WHY do you send me a notice saying I do NOT need one.  He just stood there.

Here's the problem ... I've not HERE the end of July to get the smog test (which only costs $12.25), so I asked them how that could be handled.  The question drew a blank.  Okay, what if I get the emission test in March or April?  It's good for a year, so it should be on the books for the July registration, right?  He said yes, that would work.  I don't believe a word he said.

Okay, we all know that won't work, but I'm going to try.  After spending all morning, I had a piece of paper in my hand.  Tags will be sent in a couple of weeks.

Now starving, it just happened that I passed a McDonalds on the way home.  OH YEAH ... egg McMuffin for me!!  No coke required to wash THIS one down!

Oh look ... there's a Safeway right next door, which was my next stop.  How convenient!!  The result however was less than satisfactory.  Do NOT go to the Safeway on Golf Link Road.  I'll tell you about it tomorrow, because right now, at 5:45 in the morning, I'm going out to pull weeds.  Won't THAT be fun!!

It's Eerily Quiet! OH CRAP!!!

 Here we are ... still in the Indio hotel room as I sip a cup of my phony coffee.  I'm a tad bit groggy, as Dave Burdick apparently knows.  Yes, every time I heard a truck door slam, I jumped up to see if it was mine.  The three trains didn't bother me at all.  If only I had remembered to bring an Advil PM.  

Why did I not bring the RV?  Because the storms coming through with flash floods don't mix well with a lightweight RV.  Since I don't know how long I'm going to stay, I figured it would be easier, and faster, to take the hotel route, not to mention cheaper than RV parks.

It was however very nice to feel that 75 degree indoor weather when it was 108 outside.  As I loaded stuff up, sweating like a champ, I'm sure it never got below 100 outside.  

And we were off ... with Jonathan clinging to the side of the cage.  I don't usually drive over 65 mph, but as long as the road was smooth (I stayed in the left lane except to let people pass me) I kept it at 70-75 mph.  Anything to get out of the heat as soon as possible.

Finally I arrived in Quartzsite ... my first stop.  I bypassed McDonalds in Indio ... a big mistake.  As you can see, breakfast came in the guise of a biscuit bacon and egg sandwich.  If I had half a pound of melted butter, it might have gone down a little smoother.  This was the driest thing I've eaten in my life ... totally suitable for the desert.

Luckily I got a large coke with which to wash it down.  Oh but wait .... I have TWO!!!  The two for one sale at $4.00 was cheaper than the ONE at $5.00.  Yes I did ... I picked the bacon off the second one and threw the rest of it away.

Then it was time to fuel up the truck.  $168.00 got me a full tank.  Oh look ... diesel in Arizona is $1.50 a gallon cheaper than California.  That's funny because only about 75 cents of it is taxes.  

Off I went again, this time stopping in Gila Bend for a doggie break.  It's only about 95 here at 10:00 in the morning.  There was beautiful scenery though.  All these huge monsoon storms, more than it seems they have had in 50 years, have certainly greened up the desert.  

As far as the eye can see, absolutely everything is in bloom.  You can't even see the sand in most places.  Now off the freeway on my little road, the grass is 18" high, covering the landscape like carpet.  Yes, that's another big storm coming in.

My grass is the greenest it's ever been!!  Too bad it's completely covering up my garden areas too.  It's hard to be mad when the weeds are covered in bright yellow flowers.  More on that tomorrow.

I lucked out and got through the lull in the storms just in time.  After a delicious dinner at the Chance household (after making sure Jonathan was alive and well), another big storm came through at 8:00.  Good grief the thunder and lightning were epic!!!  It's so scary when it cracks right over your head and shakes the house.  

It's eerily quiet this morning as I type away.  And now to my next big OH CRAP!!  Arizona Department of Transportation sent my truck registration to me.  NO emission test required.  Pay $82.00 for two years.  It was due 7/31.  I mailed it to them 7/20.  They received it 7/28 and promptly sent it back, scribbling out the NO part and saying it requires an emissions test ... and now of course it's LATE.

Sounds a lot like California DMV, yes?????  So although I thought I would be lounging restfully on the couch watching television and thinking about mowing the lawn, I am instead headed down to the DOT offices.  Won't THIS be fun!  Big sigh!!!!!