Summer hibernation

Right now we are in summer hibernation mode.  Just like other parts of the country have "winter mode", here we have "summer mode".  That means we hibernate inside our air conditioned houses from about 10:00 a.m. until 6 p.m.  The hottest part of the day is 4 p.m.

Our son called yesterday from Temecula and told me they are just using their air conditioner from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m....4 hours.  That's nice.  They can then throw open their doors and windows and allow the afternoon breeze to come into their house.  And, they have fog in the mornings.

We've had fairly pleasant mornings here for the past week or so, with temps about 78 degrees.  Now, 78 degrees in the desert is quite comfortable.  I know our daughter, who lives in Indio, goes for walks on mornings like that.  She often calls me from her walk and we chat.  I'm usually out front, either working in the garden or raking up mesquite seed pods (which are VERY messy!).   I feed the birds, clean the hummingbird feeders, and put out mealworms for the mockingbirds.  I'm usually done with my morning outdoor chores by 6:30 a.m.  Then I sit and watch the birds come into the front yard.  Right now two hummingbirds are having a disagreement about whose territory it is!  Usually the lone female sneaks in while the other two are having their disagreement and she gets to use the feeders.  Ahhhh...right now she is visiting the blue penstamen.  I've tried looking for her nest, but I believe it is up in the eucalyptus tree.

Last night I went out front about 8 p.m. because hubby went to our local pizza place to get himself a pizza for dinner and a ham sandwich for me.  It was nice enough for me to rake up 3 more piles of mesquite seed pods.  Now I need to go out and get them into the dumpster.

And, I am currently being visited by... an ORIOLE!  He's on the hummingbird feeder closest to the window.  He has beautiful colors!  I didn't know there were any left around here.  I did see some this spring, but I thought they had departed.  We used to have a family of them in our cottonwood tree, but that was 10 years ago...    :-)

I had to run out yesterday afternoon about 4 p.m. to buy more mealworms.  We have a neighborhood WalMart just 2 blocks away and they carry them and the thistle seed that I buy for the finches and verdin.  Unfortunately they were completely out and I was so angry I stomped out of the store and left my empty bag in the cart (one of my Whole Foods bags!).  So, I ended up having to drive to the regular WalMart which is out by the freeway, about 7 miles away to buy them.  And, yes, it was during the hottest part of the day!  By the time I got home and unloaded the car, I was sweating!  My garden plants were wilting, so I watered them.  I have to water once in the morning and once in the afternoon or early evening.  I did find 3 packages of tithonia seeds, so I'm going to plan them out front.  The hummingbirds really enjoy the tithonia (Mexican red sunflower).

Not much else is going on.  Hubby took his car in and had the oil changed and air put into his tires.  My car needed more freon or whatever they now put into the air conditioner and they cleaned and polished my headlights, so they are all shiny now and look brand new!  They were all cloudy and my visibility was cut way down.  I'm glad I got it done because the owner of the shop told me that the California Highway Patrol is going to start to ticket cars with cloudy headlights!  Phew!  Glad that is done!

~Cheers~
Cheryl Ann                                         I really wish we were back up on the Mogollon Rim right now!

 This is Woods Canyon Lake, one of our favorite lakes up there.

We have air conditioning!!!

It took a crew of 3 just 4 hours to install our new HVAC system yesterday morning.  Good thing it was installed yesterday because humidity is here today and it is already warm outside.  Ugh.  It will be 112 by Thursday here next week.  They were off to do another house that afternoon.  Tis the season, eh?

The mockingbirds didn't eat all of their mealworms yesterday.  Hmmm....that's unusual.  They haven't left ANY since I started putting them out.  I haven't seen the 3 of them together now for several days.  I only see one at a time.

The hummingbirds visit the two feeders out front every morning and they also have a variety of flowers to choose from:  blue penstamon, tithonia, and some kind of blue flower which I haven't identified.  We also have a yellow blooming bush and some red and orange ones, so they aren't just relying on the feeders.  Actually, my front garden is holding up nicely, although my black eyed Susans are kaput.  They just didn't make it.  I'm not pulling them up yet, but I don't think they are still with us.  I do have zinnias and vinca also.  So, the front garden is still alive.  Oh, and sunflowers...DUH...I enjoy sitting at my little desk and watching all the activity out front!  I'm going to have to think about what to plant in the fall pretty soon!

air conditioner woes

It hasn't been that "hot" here lately...around 105/106.  That is a BIG difference from the 113/114 we had and also the 123 day last month.

Our HVAC system is over 17 years old and yesterday morning, I awoke to a stuffy house.  Yup.  It was 86 degrees and the thermostat was set to 79.  Hmmmm....not a good sign.  I went outside and the air conditioner compressor wasn't running!  ACK!  Now, it wasn't that bad outside, so I opened all the doors and windows and when hubby awoke, I told him.  Of course, his solution was to turn the house fan on.  I FINALLY convinced him to call the company that installed our system 17 years ago.  I could hear the compressor surging and straining now for about a month.  A couple of techs came out and, indeed, the compressor is KAPUT and honestly, at 17 years, we need to redo the whole system.  Our pipes are too small, and a new system will reduce our cooling and heating costs by 33%.  We may even get a tax credit.  So, we ordered a new system.

HOWEVER...  (you knew that was coming, right?)

They may not be able to install it until Monday morning.  Ugh.  We SUFFERED through yesterday afternoon, when it got up to 95 degrees in the house.  I nearly passed out.  I dipped a towel in water, drank about 6 glasses of cold drinks, sat in front of the fan, but I CANNOT go through that again today.  They may be able to do it Saturday morning, depending on when they get the system, so we'll see.  If not, we'll spend our afternoons down at our daughter's house.  Just too hot here, even though it could be worse.

We still have some plumbing issues to correct and our dishwasher isn't cleaning dishes anymore.  The last load was still spotted.  ALL of our appliances are 16 years old, so who knows how long we will have any of them...sigh...

Such is the life of retirement!  In the meantime, my car is in the shop getting her headlights restored and the air conditioning system checked out.  It runs fine as long as the car is in motion, but when I come to a stop, warm air comes out.  AYE!  Can't have that in the desert!  No, no!   :-(

~Cheers~
Cheryl Ann

 My tithonia out front.  The little birds LOVE it!

They also love the sunflowers!

Re "tired" ment

I've been retired now for...9 weeks now.  I've enjoyed it IMMENSELY!  There are things I've gotten done and there are still things I haven't tackled.  But, my attitude is, "If I don't get it done today, there is always tomorrow!"

I enjoy just staying at home, looking out my window at my front garden.  I have sunflowers, blue penstamon, black-eyed Susans, and tithonia.  I have mint growing and some kind of blue flowered shrub.  The mockingbird family comes daily for their breakfast, lunch, and dinner of mealworms.  Hummingbirds come all day, but mostly in the early morning and late afternoon.  We even had a cottontail in the yard one morning!!!  Butterflies come and go now.  I have 3 bowls of water out front and the first stop to get a drink, as well as a meal at the feeders.  I noticed yesterday that the little male feral cat ("Little Man") came from next door, ate his dinner, wandered out front, and was pestered by one of the mockingbirds!  He ran across the street and hid under one of their parked cars!  Big baby!

It's not quite as exciting out back, but his sister shows up every now and then and catches a bird.  I find feathers in the back yard all the time.  She doesn't like people and pretty much stays hidden.  I have a horse just like her (Gigondas, my big red thoroughbred mare).  Gigo, as we call her, really could care less about people, unless you are going to feed her.  Then she squeals for her meal!  She doesn't like or appreciate strangers and even wasn't interested in the grandkids on Monday.  Nope.  She'd rather have another meal.  Quad, on the other hand, LOVES everybody!  He will be the horse that they get to ride!  The grandkids followed us to the horse ranch and both got to meet the horses on Monday afternoon.  We were heading home from Temecula.  It is only a 40 minute drive from their house.

 Gigondas wasn't interested in the visitors.  Nope!

 Quad was!  He came right over, after inspecting his food bin, and wanted some loving!

 Sunni has always like our son, Hal.  They are buddies.

 The baby was very interested in the horses!

 Scout was interested in the visitors!  She is my mustang from Wyoming.

 Looking at the horses.

 Scout and me.

Looking at Sunni.

It was a good visit.  I'm glad the kids and horses had some time together!

Temecula visits

We drove to Temecula Thursday and rested Friday and Saturday and then drove back Sunday about noon.  This time we stayed overnight. I'm glad we did.  I would have been exhausted trying to drive back down Highway 74.

Monday morning I got up early (6 a.m.) and went for a walk down into Temecula Creek.  Our son's new house that they are renting is right across from it.  There is a locked gate, so I left it open by putting a rock at the bottom.  Their house key doesn't seem to fit the gate...

Anyway, I saw about a dozen rabbits, heard a woodpecker, and a red-tailed hawk.  I saw some ducks down in the marsh and heard a bullfrog or two.  It was very nice & peaceful and relaxing.

When the grandson awoke, I took him with me.  We talked about bullfrogs and mosquito fish and rabbits (where there are rabbits, there are coyotes)...I'd heard a coyote howling Sunday night and I wanted to explore the wash.  He had a good time.  I'm trying to get him out and teach him things about nature, since his parents don't seem to want to...sigh...That will be MY job!   :-)

Here are some photos I took:

 Verbena

 Looking up the wash.  Yes, there was fog that morning.

 Dove in a tree

The fog quickly burned off.  It was in the mid-50's overnight...DELIGHTFUL!

Storm and fences

I took a drive up through our local mountains, which are only 15 minutes away, this afternoon because I could see a large downpour from our house in the desert.  Boy, did it rain up in the mountains!  Phew!  Huge drops splattered all over the car, but, hey, I got a free "mother nature" car wash!  And, a rainbow came out to seal the deal!

 You can see all the standing water.

 More water...

 Lots more water!  This is at the hiking trail parking lot.

Don't drive here!

Had a thunderstorm here this afternoon!

This day, like yesterday, started out cloudless, but I knew better.  During the monsoon season, that is typically the case and by 4 p.m. we could be having quite a thunderstorm, like today.  By 3:30, I knew one was coming.  I kept my eye on our local Santa Rosa mountains and yup...right on schedule, the sky went dark about 4 p.m.

Hubby was taking his 3rd nap of the day in the living room, in his chair, so off I went.  And, I wasn't disappointed.  I immediately heard thunder.  By the time I was nearly to Pinyon Pines, it was raining cats and dogs!  And, I got a free car wash!  All the bird poop is now gone!

And, a beautiful rainbow, although a faint one, came out to end the afternoon.  I went home and had a gin & tonic.

 This is what I saw driving up Highway 74, in Palm Desert.  I could see all the rain coming down!

 Nice clouds and cloudburst.

 You can see all the rain coming down here.  The whole area smelled wonderful!

 This is quite a downpour.

The very faint rainbow...