Covid buying again

Went to WalMart yesterday morning and about 1/4 of the shelves in grocery store were empty. Lots of canned and packaged goods not available. A couple of things on my list weren't available, just empty shelves. And the rest of the store was a mess. They are remodeling and the aisles are being put closer together, no way two carts going opposite ways can pass. Also no one knows where anything is. This will go on till middle of August...Couldn't even go out the door without going back through an empty check stand (no lack of them) to main aisle to get to exit door. Glad we were there when it wasn't busy. 

Another cloudy and gray day, it had been raining around the area of WalMart. All of the power poles that went down the other day are back up and half of highway is open. But starting this afternoon we will be under flash flood watch. With lots of rain probable on later today and Monday.

Got my sewing machine back yesterday. Used it for just plain sewing this morning. Made Bill a cover for one of his tablets he uses with his drones. Used the embroidery attachment to make the label for the quilt. Things worked better then they have in a long time. 

They are bringing new homes into the community where we live now, three so far and 17 more on the way. Since two years ago the exact same home has gone up $100,000. What were once $149,000 are now from $249,000 to $299,900! These are 3 bedroom, 2 bath manufactured homes. And you do not own the land, it is rented! They have no garages, just driveways with an aluminum cover. Side and back yards are about five feet wide. WOW. Partly the price raise is due to lumber and transportation costs going up. 

If we'd have taken our trip today we would have been in southern Washington state. Right were a lot of the smoke is. So guess I'm glad we stayed home. It is warmer than usual there too. 

Opened the door when I got up at 5:30 and the heat and humidity hit me like a blast. No going outside today or for a couple of days to come. 

Another monsoon - more destructive.

 Another interesting day yesterday. More monsoon weather in our area. 

But before going into that - Bill always teases me when I write out our grocery list. I always use the word "oleo" when we need margarine. Have called it oleo since I was a little girl. My first real memory of it was squeezing the plastic bag to distribute the coloring. Does any one else remember this. 

Buying margarine that came with little capsules of food color. One broke the capsule and kneaded the soft plastic container to spread the coloring. 

Yesterday started out really nice. Blue sky with big puffy white clouds. Lots of humidity though. Around 50% and a high temperature of 105 - not a good combination. 

Come afternoon all heck broke loose. Wind picked way up - gusts over 60mph! And it poured. Sounded like bullets hitting the roof. 

Some of the aftermath of the storms. This is just a few blocks from where we live. About 12 poles just snapped and went down. Luckily it did not affect us - just a quick flicker of the lights here. But some of the homes in that area are still without power and the main street Boulder Highway is still closed going south.  

Lots of street flooding around us and no power for the traffic lights. Our area got a little over 3/4 of an inch of rain in less than an hour. Glad we didn't have to go anywhere. 

And we will be getting more of the same next week. At least the desert plants will be happy for a while. It is going up to 106 today with dew point of 64 and humidity at 53% - really ugly out. 

Went to other side of town to pick up my sewing machine. They did not get a drop of rain yesterday! Will play with the sewing machine tomorrow.

More Itty Bitty stuff.

Sunday was an interesting day. First the NASCAR race - my favorite driver was leading the race with his team mate right behind him. The rest of the field was a ways back. Drivers were saying it was raining and the track was getting wet. Part of the track was wetter than other parts. As the lead cars came around a corner they hit the wettest part of the track and promptly lost all control of their cars. Both hit the wall. The #18 very hard. Most of rest of cars managed to slow down and avoid disaster. #18 was too damaged to continue - and it was only lap 7. He went on home. After rain delay I continued to watch what we could of race. Mostly TV went off because of the rain storm. Oh well. 

Then it started to get really hot in the house. Could hear the AC running but it was blowing room temperature air - certainly not cold air. Lovely. Bill pulled the covering off and discovered a big opening in the front of the unit that had been covered by a thick tape - the tape had hardened and pulled away from the open area. 

Had to take my embroidery machine back to repair place as it is being uncooperative again. The thread keeps breaking every few stitches. Went on line and did every thing suggested and nothing worked. It stitches fine regular sewing, but not embroidering. 

On our trip across town to the sewing machine repair place I was shocked to see the prices of gasoline. From the news on TV I've heard some stations are out of unleaded too. Not a lack of gas, a lack of truck drivers to deliver the gas. What a mess.

They have taken the mask off of Lady Liberty - guess they might soon be putting it back on. City Council meeting today about mask wearing. I imagine they will start requiring masks inside for everyone again. 

Just a quick shot of one side of New York, New York. And our pretty blue sky. No more rain yesterday and probably not today - any way in our area of town. But later in week expecting a lot of rain and below 100 for a few days. 

Took the wrong turn - my bad - and ended up going by part of China Town on the west side of town. Looked interesting. 

This billboard just makes me laugh. I don't think I'd want a lawyer whose web site is "Sweet James." Doesn't sound very lawyerie.

On the way home we could see this big storm south of town. I guess it stayed there. Weatherman said something about it forming so much cloud cover it changed the dynamic of producing rain...or what ever...

Monsoon time in the desert

Remember that old saying - "When it rains it pours." For sure that is what happened here Sunday.

Sunday morning started out bright and sunny. Bill's friend bunny came to visit for a while. 

The weather forecast was for slight chances of rain. I was watching the NASCAR race - after it restarted because of rain when I heard some rumbling. Thunder? Then the pitter patter of rain on the patio cover. Oh my gosh we were actually getting rain drops.  Sky was still kind of blue, but we will take what ever drops we can get. Short video. 

Seemed to be raining harder out front then out back, The side walk and street were getting wet!

More dark clouds now then blue sky. 

So I went back to watching the race - more about that later - a loud crack of thunder and heavy rain started. So ran out with my camera. First I opened the front door - bad idea. Then I went out to stand under the patio. The VERY LOUD rumble of thunder came when a lightening bold struck the wetlands, not far from us. 

An actual puddle in front of the steps. 

The water was starting to come up over the curb!

And there goes the TV. I wasn't really interested in the race anyways. 

Wind shifted and rain was coming in on the patio. Visibility was way down.

Then the phone went off, I jumped a foot - really loud warning sound. 

After the rain when the sun was coming out later in the day. 

Liked the way it lit up the mountains around us. Humidity was up into high 70%.

So our excitement for Sunday, Our area got .96 inches of rain in less than an hour. Really needed it, but not all at once. Actually this week it might rain every day. At least the temperatures are going to be below 105, a couple of days even below 100. BUT the humidity is way up. Sticky, sticky. Dew point is 65! Like when we lived in Indiana - muggly weather.

So that is my itty bitty news for today. 

Thought I'd better check in.

We are still here, haven't melted yet. In fact it is almost cool here now, ONLY 102! We've had some wild weather the last five days. Lots of lightening, thunder and winds up to 50-55 mph. Our part of town did not get a drop of rain but other parts got a lot. We will be having a cool spell for a few days. But comes with maybe rain and for sure high winds. Don't believe what this says about winds 'cause every time a little rain moves through the winds pick way up for a few hours. 

I finished the last puzzle of the National Parks series. It was 1000 pieces but one of the easiest of the set. Had to forego fixing dinner a few nights - oh poor me - cause the puzzle took up most of the table. 

A couple of weeks ago we had to get a new scanner. Got a cheap Epson. I installed it and it worked. Then my old computer got a few automatic updates and scanner no longer worked. Tried every thing I could think of and nothing worked. GRRR. So ordered a new one, a HP printer scanner. Should be here this coming week. Also have to take my embroidery machine back into repair shop. For some reason the thread keeps breaking every few stitches. So we are so excited we are having an outing to look forward to. Between the heat and the rise in Covid cases here (99% vaccinated) we pretty much just stay home. Make grocery runs very early in the morning...and that is about it. Quite a few businesses are now requiring masks again. Works for me. I think we've seen EVERY Christmas movie Hallmark has made!

We should have been in Idaho now - oh well.

The dirty word of the day is technology - especially new technology. A few days ago my cell phone updated. Now it does all kinds of strange things it never did before. Driving me crazy.

Also on my laptop I have Microsoft Office 365. It also updated a month or so ago. My PC uses an old 2003 version of Office. Years ago I used Access to set up a data base for using when we travel. It keeps tract of every thing and does all the calculating automatically as I set it up that way. i.e. pesos to dollars, liters to gallons. Running totals etc. Well when I was getting my laptop ready for our trip I transferred my database from my PC to the laptop. It took some work to get it running okay. Then it told me I would not be able to transfer it back to the 2003 version any more, like I have been able to do every year. It really wouldn't make any difference except I keep all maintenance on the Jeep and RV and my address book info in it and tend to up date things when we are home and I'm using my PC. Guess now I will have to up date both versions, unless I can figure out a work around. 

Saw something on Internet that I wholly agree with "Lord, what ever you are cooking, it is done now."  Since beginning of June we have had 30 days over 100 and about 10 over 110! And here comes the next weeks weather forecast. It is the "low" temperatures that really make it bad. Never going cooler than 88. "But at least it is dry heat" yeh, just like a convection oven is dry heat.

We did have a few days with some clouds which made for kind of pretty skies. Sunrise yesterday morning, Bill took the pictures I was still snoring. 

We just had a ceiling fan installed in the little room, where my beading table is. Planned on just getting a new ceiling light in there because the one there was terrible, but ended up with a fan too. The old light - old as in probably 1989 when this place was built. 

Our new fan, probably should have got a smaller size, but this is okay - more air will be moved. Still have to get longer chains so we can regulate it. But neither of us is interested in going any where during the day to get any thing. Eventually will have to venture out to store for groceries.

I was playing with my painting yesterday and it sure was nice to have the extra light and air. 

Finished another of the National Park puzzles. They are challenging. But fun. 

More mother nature pictures. This is one plant in the back yard. The red flowers on it are a really bright red and the yellow one a very pretty color of yellow. 

Sunset the night before last. No more pretty skies for a while, no clouds will be near us. 

The next to last of the Park puzzles. This one was fun and kind of easy to do. The one left is a 1000 pieces, I think I'm going to have to put the leaf in the table to spread it out. 

Changed out my table decor from 4th of July to summer. We certainly live exciting lives. 

The Covid rate in Vegas is quickly heading up again, just when we were starting to think about going out to a restaurant to eat. We still wear masks when going into any store. Get some strange looks. Thinking about making a mask that says, "I AM VACCINATED - JUST BEING CAREFUL." I imagine that a lot of places will see an increase in a week or so. 

And that is all that's been going on here.