366 Days

 It has been a year snd a day since we had a Summer Monsoon at our house. We got a good storm with most of the rain falling in the first 30 minutes or so. We had river’s flowing in the front and back of the house. We also had a little white water as the water flowed through the front yard over some smaller rocks. 

I was too busy sitting by the window watching the rain to take any videos. So you are just going to see the rain gauge afterwards and our double rainbow. The second rainbow was hard to see from where I was standing trying to stay dry.  

My Car

 My car did something amazing today.  This is the first day that I have driven my car in the rain. Yes, I know that I have had the car for about 18 months, but there is this thing called COVID19 that has kept me home an awful lot.  

Now back to my car. As I left the house it started to rain. Me being in a funk for most of the time I have owned the car, I have not read the owner’s manual.  The 1st car that I have not read it from cover to cover. So as I was trying to remember what the salesman said about the wipers and how to turn them on, they just started up on their own.  They stopped too.  Then started again,. Kept up with the rain by going faster and stopped again.  I thought that this was so cool.  I could keep my eyes on the road.  

Tucson drivers freak out in rain. They forget how to drive and that they must slow down.  I am not talking about the usual snowbird stuff like stopping dead in the middle of the road in the right or center lane blinking for a left turn expecting everyone to stop for them.  When it would be safer to move over to the left lane and make a u turn further down the road.  Then making a right turn on the right street.  Tucson drivers just don’t get much rain to practice with.  

I really want to thank the Volvo engineers ho came up with this idea and then implemented it.  It really is a very cool feature.   Thank you.  

Thriving Me Nuts and more.

 I just finished the next 3 dog pillows.. All I have to say is thank goodness dogs can’t see in the green range, because I had 2 pillows that were the same pattern but different colors.  No, I am not ripping out the final seam.  At least something is finely finished. I am so use to finishing multiple projects a week.  This not using my hands is driving me nuts..

I guess my sewing is done for the day.  I see lighting is the distance. Unlike my old Kenmore mechanical sewing machine which ran in any weather, my newish BERNINA does not like static discharges. It just messes with the programming. Not to mention it can fry the chip.  Newer innovations are not always better.  

Something else that is driving me nuts is the weather forecasters and the National Weather Service   They have decided that 100 degrees is a heat emergency. I live in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.  Did anyone bother telling them in school that it gets hot in the desert, it’s not unusual for the temperature to stay above 100f for weeks at a time. We usually only used to keep track of days above 110f.    I can really see setting it at 110f or 115f  or above for a heat emergency. I am the 3rd generation of my family to live in the desert. My grandparents came when swamp coolers we brand new technology.  The swamp coolers did not work during the monsoon season, which is our rainy season. For those of you who are not familiar with swamp coolers, they are also called evaporative coolers. The equivalent of blowing air over a bowl of ice cubes to cool off.  My point is that if you don’t like the heat don’t move into the desert because you like our winters.  We just don’t have enough water..

We have always known that we did not have enough water in Tucson. My dads 1st job after graduation from the University of Arizona in 1956 was with the Better Business Bureau to tell people not to move to Tucson, because there was not enough water.  Fast forward to 2021 and low and behold they were right.  We are 20 years into an Epic Draught.  One good year of rain is not going to fix this.  Growth is not always good.  

This blog post is a bit rambling and disjointed.  That is where my mind is now.  The rising COVID19 numbers across the country combined with a very low vaccination rate , means that I probably won’t see my family until spring. But to end the blog on a good note, here are the dog pillows.

This and that.

 I caught the cold du jour, the fever, runny nose and sore throat.  The cold was gone by mid day, however my arthritis kicked in.  I slept for a lot of the day and am still tired.  My limbs did their best interpretation of 2 x 4 lumber.  My hands were to tired to knit or weave. So I will have a few more unplanned down days.  

We still do not have a roofer for the leaky roof and we are supposed to have another week of rain starting today.  The tarp is in place. The pan is strategically placed. We are hoping for the best.  The 8 inches of rain in July put us  just one notch above the worst drought conditions.  I wish there was a way to bring the excesses water from the east coast out west.  We could really use some help filling up our Reservoirs. A nice early snow pack on the Serria Neveda range would be nice too. Somewhere between 20 and 50 feet would be perfect.  Just as long as it was a slow snow melt come spring.   

The Good and the Exasperating

 The good news is I finished 3 more projects so far today. This brings me to 73 out of 100 planed projects completed. If you are thinking like me then you will agree that there is no way I am going to stop at just 100 projects this year.  The only question is how many over 100 I will get finished.  

The bad news is that after so many days of rain, as of right now 4 inches in less than 2 weeks the roof is leaking yet again.  Today I even emptied a closet of fiber to check for leaks.  We found a thermal difference , but not enough to show a leak.  So now it is time to put the fiber away.  

Theo will spend so much needed fiber and relaxation time.  Below is my 73rd project of the year.  A handwoven scarf that will be someone’s holiday present.  

A Rainstorm

 I know it rained a lot last night, we got 1 1/2 inches at out house.  This brought our season total at out house to 3 inches of rain.  I know it is monsoon season here in the desert southwest, but I have a hard time calling it a monsoon rain.  From my earliest memories as a kid the rains would come in the afternoon, drop a lot of water and would be finished by dinner time.  It left the evening a little cooler.  Lately the summer rains come at all hours of the day or night. That might be because the National Weather Service decided in all its wisdom the the monsoon season had to have a beginning/ ending calendar day that was the same each year   When Mother Nature was in charge we would look at the dew point level. It took 3 days of the dew point above 50% which meant it was time for summer rains. Easy peasy. 

Last nights storm hit right at bedtime for us. The thunder and lightning were loud and shook the house.  The wind was blowing the rain every which way.  The rain was loud and plentiful.  The storm did not calm down until the wee hours of the morning.  So we got very little sleep. And of course the roof decided to leak and drip water into the bathtub   The roofer has been called  

So today was a tired hand and body day for me.  No much got done. I am hoping for sleep tonight.  

Oops

 Oops I did it again.  The election drove me crazy. So I cleaned beyond what my body could handle.  I also started, wove and finished 4 scarfs in 4 days.  Not to mention the regular house hold chores. So I am beyond exhausted.  I have spent the day resting and sleeping.   With just a little bit of cooking thrown in.  Yesterday I got my sourdough bread starter.  So today I have my sourdough starter going.   Sourdough pizza crust and sourdough pancake sponge started.  I will also try my hand at low sugar sweet rolls using the pizza crust recipe tomorrow.  

The big news though is that we got a nice winter storm and got 1/4 inch of slow rain.  There was almost no run off so I hope the plants are happy.  

Green bowl sourdough pancakes, clear glass bowl sourdough starter, front bowl pizza crust.  

Short Thoughts

I finally got to see the movie Black Panther from the, I believe to be 1960’s comic book by the same name from Marvel Comics.  I can honestly say that with the exception of the fight scenes the movie was to good to knit through. I would like to thank all that made this great movie possible.


 Sorry Teri, I only knit half a block today.  Oh yeah and we got about a half an inch of rain today.  Not the massive storm that the weather service warned us about.  I guess living in the desert the weathermen get bored and have to do something for fun. Look at all the alerts that they got to send out.

Zenning for Health?

Today was a BBD for me.  So what else should I do besides sitting on the couch and resting?  Well zenning the house of course.  I started of with my Wool yarn stash, I have a full bag of tapestry and needlepoint yarn that makes  great hats if anyone is interested in the yarn, as a bonus I will throw in a tote bag.

I did what I call circular cleaning today.  I zip all over the house. As I find something that goes to another room, I head there to put it away.  Then I find something in that room to put away sometimes I stay in one place for a while, sometimes not.  The end result is a lot of things are now in new homes or recycled.

I did find time to knit, spin, wash some newly spun skeins of yarn and laundry too.  I skipped Eric’s planed haircut today. By the time he was ready it was raining.  I decided a haircut was not worth dealing with the rain and chair in the rain. So I opted to reschedule it.  There is always tomorrow.

Rain

With all that was going on with Eric this week I forgot to mention a big event in Tucson this week. We measured 1 1/4 inches of rain over 2 days at our house. The rain was gentle enough that the washes that I drove past today looked dry. This is a very good thing. It’s better for the plants and water table.

On the Eric front, he is not as cranky. I am hoping that this is a good sign. Only time will tell. I am even hoping for a good nights sleep tonight. Wish us luck.

Baby Steps

I am making very slow but steady progress with my hand post surgery.  Tonight at dinner I managed to use a fork in my left hand for the first time since surgery. It was so nice not to have to worry about the food going every which way. I also used less napkins too. My hand was sore for a couple of hours, but no pain no gain.  

Eric also let me bring weaving into his room this afternoon. I made it 3/4 of the way through a mud rug before my hand needed a rest.  The mud rugs seem to serve two purposes right now.  The first is that it is keeping my hands and mind occupied. The second, that it is using up some hand spun yarn that is not soft enough to go next to the skin, but that I do not have enough to weave a full sized rug or a full set of placemats with. This is a very portable weaving project.  Did I mention that I also get to show off one off my cool handmade baskets too. I did not weave the basket, but it was made by another artist. 

I know that I should be sleeping now, but I woke up at 2:30 am with the headache from he double toothpicks.  As I am writing this I am waiting for the aspirin to kick.  I am also enjoying the rain and lighting show.  We are approaching the 3/4 of an inch mark since the rain started around dinner time last night.  

Spinning and Winter

Today we had a fairly good winter storm. We got slightly over 1 inch of rain at the house. I drove home home from spinning through heavy rain and sleet.  I can't believe the number of drivers that drove recklessly speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. The good news is that I made it home safely.  

I left the spinning wheel in the car until it stops raining, it was hard to get the wheel into the car in the rain.  I am hoping that the garage will not get to cold tonight for it.  I am happy to be able to spin now.  I had to stop spinning after the car accident on the 7th of last month.  Physical therapy is still hard and progress is going in inches, but I will take my inches.  

Here is a picture of the snow on the Santa Catalins.  The snow level has not been so low in years. 

The Rollercoaster

Eric is on the mend after being sick for a few days. What ever this bug was, it brought on a few late night/ very early morning asthma episodes.  I am trying to unwind from the most recent one.  For some reason in the middle of the night they take longer to get under control. This one took about 90 minutes to get under control. Then wave 2 of the series of El Niño inspired storms hit and that took a few more minutes to resettle Eric down.  

It is now just past 2 am and I feel wide away and sleepy at the same time.  I am too tired to knit or spin yet too wide awake to sleep.  The physical therapy seems to be working, I was able to use the spinning wheel for the first time since the accident. 

I think that I am finally unwinding and will try some more sleep. Later today I plan on working on my indoor todo list and then do errands once the rain slows down. Have a wonderful and productive day. 

95 Year Rain

Today we had the proverbial 100 year rain here in Tucson. It is my humble opioion a 95 year rain since we just broke the record of 1919.  We got 2.75 inches here at the house.  I am hoping that this might put a little dent in our long term drought.  

I am finishing the scarf on the loom with green and red stripes. I am making progress on the baby blanket too.  I have also taken the blanket off the circular needles and am now back to straight needles.  

I also hit the 10,000 step mark for the first time since I hurt my foot.  So hopefully I can hit that mark at least once a week for a while. Then build up to more days. 

Tomorrow is going to be super busy so I think I will call it a night. 

A Wet Weekend

We had an unusual winter storm this weekend. We got 2.5 inches of rain in 36 hours. Considering that we consider 12 inches of rain a good year, this was an exceptional storm.  I am glad that it was a slow rain so that the cactus and trees had a good deep soak. I also do feel very badly for the riders in the El Tour de Tucson bike race. For those riders going the 111 mile route who did not make it past Sabino Creek before it was closed, I am truly sorry that you did not get to finish your race. I hope that you give us another chance in the future. We would love to have you back. 

Since it was a cold and rainy weekend we stayed home. I have a house full of company coming Wednesday for Thanksgiving so I am working on last minute cleaning.  I also took time to start the next batch of hats. I got 7 done this weekend. 

I also now know what John considers a reasonable yarn and fiber stash. I have a lot of knitting and spinning before I get it down enough. 

I am looking forward to this week, even though I will be super busy. Have a wonderful week. 

No Snow

Not much got done today. It was one of those unusual days when it was warmer and sunnier in the morning when I dropped Eric off then when I picked him up. The temperature also dropped 5 degrees from the time I left home until the the time I returned home with Eric this afternoon. We drove home through pouring rain. We also had rain and snow on the lower levels of the Catalina's. With all this we did not get any snow. I was so looking forward to making a Tucson style snowman. Think of a snowman between 3 and 6 inches tall. The last time we had enough snow for that Teri was still in elementary school. It was on Easter Sunday and just about every Minister and Priest in Tucson had determined that hell had frozen over.

Don't laugh at the next line if you are from a climate that has a real winter. I was hoping for 1 to 2 inches of snow to shut things down for a while tomorrow. But the weatherman did not come through. They said snow down to 2000 feet and we are just above that at about 2250 feet. Maybe we should have asked his wife.

Well I maybe on car pool duty tomorrow so it's time to call it a night.

Rainy Days and Monday

Today did not start off in a stellar fashion. By 8 am I wanted a do over. Yes, really seriously. As I got out of the shower I thought I heard the low battery on a smoke alarm. Since John did not change them Halloween weekend as is our custom. So out came the step ladder and the 9 volt batteries. I changed all the batteries. On the new models we got they are a lot easier to change the batteries than the ones we bought in 1994. Did you know the life span of the average smoke detector is 10 years. Have you replaced your units if the are over 10 years old.

Back from the random tangent. I still heard the beeping after changing all of the batteries. Upon further investigation I found John's pager going off like mad. I wish I knew how to turn it off. Just for a point of reference it went off so many times this morning it bounced it's way off the shelf.

Eric spiked a temperature this morning. So my anticipated day of freedom will be put off at least another day or two. To add to the morning jumble the wrong trash can was out this morning, so we have to wait another week for recycling to go out.

The best part of the day was that we got 1/2 inch of a nice gentle rain this morning. Oh how I love the rain. Yes it does not rain much here. It was also the second day this week that we got snow on the Santa Catalina's. Not a whole lot just enough to make me want more so I could take a picture.

I seem to be in a knitting funk. I am busy starting new projects without finishing old ones. I have at least 10 small projects going and I really need to finish Teri's blanket. The spinning front is not going much better. I have wip's on my wheel and on all but one of my spindles. I am hoping to finish some of the smaller projects tomorrow and Wednesday. When I finally get Eric out of the house I am going to be in desperate need of girl/knit and chat time.  So please be prepared for a random phone call, you know who you are.

Well it is almost time to get Eric ready for bed. Yes I know he has been in bed for most of the day but it is now really bed time.

An Almost Perfect Day

I had a pretty good day today. Lots of knitting and spinning. I had a small batt from the High Weald Fibre Factory  in the UK that I spun on the wheel.I really liked the fiber and how well it just seemed to know what it was suppose to do. It came out a little over plied which was entirely my fault. I am hoping that with a little rest and boiling of the yarn it will relax a little. I am still not as good on the wheel as the hand spindle but with everything it will take practice.

I did spin my first Alpaca today from Beesybee Fibers. I did this on a spindle and it was just a dream to spin with. I must make a note to buy more alpaca fiber. I and in the process of deciding weather to ply this or not but it will wait for tomorrow. When I am a little less tired.

At Guild today we had yet another color class. From this class and the general reaction is that some people have an innate talent for blending colors and some people can take the classes and watch the DVDs ad nausium and still not get the concept. I guess it is all part of the creative process. I am also glad that color blending and texture blending are something that I do very well at.

We also got some rain today and in true Tucson fashion it was raining in the backyard a full 30 minutes before the front yard. But we got in the 1/2 inch range so I am very happy. The lighting did delay Eric's night time routine by 45 minutes and with the power iffy for 30 minutes I almost did not cook dinner. But everything settled down and things went on as usual but 45 minutes delayed.

We the boy is asleep so I am going to take advantage and go to bed on the early side.

Saturday in Tucson

Need less to say my day did not go as planed. But I did manage to drop off a bag of hand knit items at a charity event before I came home. I have lots of skeins of freshly spun yarn hanging in the garage waiting to dry. Think back on my, plan a cold rainy day was not the best day to do the final processing of the yarn, so it will take a bit longer to dry.

A lot of random knitting went on but nothing was finished. A lot of progress was made on a lot of projects. I kinda of envy those who can work a project from start to finish without picking up another project. I am not that type of person so I have random knitting projects placed where ever I tend to spend time in the house. I even have my emergency knitting kit in my car. After all I never know when knitting will come in handy.

Some plying and spinning also went on. I definitely need to practice my plying to get a better technique down but since plying is a relatively new activity I suspect it will take some time to learn.

It was a very cold and rainy day here I think the high was around 48 and it rained all day. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the rain and we are at a rain deficient but some things just cant be done in the rain. Such as taking pictures of some of my newer projects.

Well it is getting late here and tomorrow is going to be a very long and busy day. So enjoy your families and have a great weekend.

It is Still Tuesday

It is still Tuesday. By only 28 minutes left in the day as I begin to write this. After an hour of hiccups I thought Eric would be tired enough to go to sleep; but I guess not. The hiccups ended over an hour ago, and boy is  still fussy.

I found some time for errands today although they got cut short by a beautiful afternoon rain shower that left over 1/2 in of rain in the rain gauge, had some spectacular lighting strikes and cooled it off out side. I am sure my plants enjoyed it very much. I am not big on watering and tend to leave all my desert plants to fend for themselves as nature intended.

It is getting very quiet so I hope that I can call it a day soon. Have a good what ever time of day it is when you read this and enjoy your families.