Tag Archives: wind

Strange weather day

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I saw these beautiful flowers at a neighbor’s house. I’d like this plant in my yard.

Does anyone know the name of this flower?

After feeling stronger, post Covid, I’ve been enjoying my morning walks. I’ve also spent time in my backyard reading and enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Sometimes we walk in the morning and afternoon. Yesterday was a very windy afternoon. Then this morning the temperature dropped to the high 30s. That’s after a few days in the high 70s.

Adding to the blustery cold temperature, my iphone told me the air quality is dangerous. That must be due to the particulate matter in the air because of the strong winds.

So, I am skipping my walk today.

I’m anxious for the weather to get back to normal — warm sunshine and no wind.

Random thoughts:

I stretched and did my crunches this morning for the first time since I was sick.

I broke a three-day streak of Wordle in three tries. Today it took five.

Yesterday, I got a pedicure and was shocked at the price. I paid $24 in Palm Springs, but I was charged $47 yesterday in Scottsdale. I did agree to a “deluxe pedicure” so there is that.

I’m trying to get a hair appointment because I don’t want to drive five hours to my old hairdresser. A neighbor recommended her hair dresser. I’ve been texting this new hair dresser for more than a week and don’t have an appointment yet. Apparently, she’s very busy and doesn’t usually take new clients!

I’m reading “Our Last Days in Barcelona” by Chanel Cleeton. I normally love her books, but this one is dragging. I liked “Next Year in Havana” and “When We Left Cuba.” It has the same characters, so you’d think I’d be enthralled, but it’s slow on action and long on dialogue.

What books would you recommend?

Have you read Chanel Cleeton and are you a fan?

Yes, it was me

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Olive has discovered a fun game to play while I make the bed. She jumps on the bed and hides under the covers. Her crazy polydactyl claws get stuck .

Last Thursday, I had a dental appointment to get my teeth cleaned. An hour before my appointment the power went out.

I checked my iphone and the power company predicted power would be restored in four hours. They didn’t give the cause.

I called the dental office to let them know I couldn’t get my car out of the garage because the power was out.

The receptionist told me to pull the red cord and then I could manually lift the garage door. I hung up, pulled the red cord, but couldn’t lift the garage door. So I asked my husband to try.

“No. I’m not going to mess with the garage door,” he said. He wanted to leave well enough alone and wait for the power to go on. “Just call them and reschedule,” he said.

The dentist was able to swap my appointment with somebody on Monday morning. It was all good.

A neighbor called us and said she was at the hair dresser and would we please go to her house and invite her husband over. He had been walking their dog when the power went out. He was sitting freezing in the back yard with their dog. He had exited the locked house through the garage and without power, the buttons to open the garage door were worthless.

The wife said she asked him to come over to our house, but he didn’t want to be a bother. My husband returned with our neighbor and Rascal, a poodle bichon, a few minutes later.

The power was restored a few hours earlier than predicted and life was good.

But then Friday morning came. We had an electrician over to see why a few outlets inside and lights outside don’t work. My husband clicked to open the garage door for the electrician. The motor went on but the door didn’t open!

I saw a sticker with the garage door company name and number. I quickly called them in a panic. After all our dishwasher AND garbage disposal already quit working earlier. I was worried everything was going wrong in our “new” house all at once.

The garage door repair man came a few hours later. I told him we had had a power outage the day before and I didn’t know if that had anything to do with the double-sized garage door not opening.

“Did anyone pull on the red cord and manually open and close the garage door?” he asked.

“No, absolutely not,” my husband said. “We didn’t want to do that for the exact reason that we could hurt something.”

I was standing slightly behind my husband and sheepishly raised my hand. “I did,” I said.

The garage door man climbed a ladder under the garage motor, pressed a lever and presto! The garage door worked. The price tag: $230.

“Why didn’t you tell me you pulled the red cord?” my husband asked.

“You didn’t ask and the dentist told me to,” I explained. My husband shook his head and walked away.

The garage door man said he’d service our garage door and he also fixed the buttons outside which have never worked. So, now we can also get locked out of our house if the power goes out while we’re on a walk.

What embarrassing things have you done that compare with me pulling the red cord?

And now there’s weather

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View from Indian Rock
View of San Francisco from Indian Rock park I enjoyed on an earlier visit to see my kids.

It’s my son’s surgery. I’m mentally preparing for the day ahead by visualizing what the day will bring. Go to the surgery center with my son. Buy him congee after surgery for a light easy-to-digest meal, buy ice, and help him get comfortable (FYI, I’m writing this on the morning of Jan. 4).

But then I got an email with friends who know I’m in the Bay area.

Here’s an excerpt from Yahoo News:

San Francisco is about to be hit with a ‘brutal’ storm so severe that a meteorologist says is ‘one of the most impactful’ he’s ever seen

The National Weather Service’s Bay Area office issued a frank and dire warning to citizens in a statement, saying the storm, which is currently forecast to begin peaking Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, could bring about flooding and the loss of life.

“To put it simply, this will likely be one of the most impactful systems on a widespread scale that this meteorologist has seen in a long while,” the warning read. “The impacts will include widespread flooding, roads washing out, hillside collapsing, trees down (potentially full groves), widespread power outages, immediate disruption to commerce, and the worst of all, likely loss of human life. This is truly a brutal system that we are looking at and needs to be taken seriously.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/san-francisco-hit-brutal-storm-155156145.html

Yep. This storm may make my caregiving duties more challenging than I was expecting. I’m hoping the news is over-hyping the storm and danger. But you never know.

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I get through the next few days.

What is your weather like this week? Do you have storms headed your way?

One of those days

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Olive cat
Olive giving me that look before she jumps in my lap.

It was 4 a.m. when Olive jumped on the bed. She does this most mornings to catnap on my husband’s chest. However, this morning she missed and landed on his face.

My husband howled and ran into the bathroom, his face dripping blood. Olive got his nose, upper and lower lips and chin with her polydactyl claws. His face is a mess.

Later, I went to swim laps and the lifeguards told us to get out of the pool due to lightening.

My husband was out on errands when the car wouldn’t start. He had to wait 90 minutes for AAA.

I was at home amazed how the bright sunny day had turned into thunder, lightning, pouring rain and monster winds. There were tornadoes in Flagstaff — two hours away.

Heading back home after AAA replaced the battery, my husband called and said he was in a haboob!

I googled it and told him to pull over immediately. Everything I read said NOT TO DRIVE. Here’s a video of the haboob.

He said he was driving through it. There were trees on the freeway. Everyone was going under 40 mph and had their flashers on.

Once he drove out of the haboob he ended up in a flash flood.

My anxiety went into overdrive. He made it home safely — finally.

Have you ever had one of those days?

I’m not a cold weather swimmer

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swimming pool with clouds
A view of my former city pool in wintertime. I miss my teammates and coach, but at least I’m still swimming.

My husband and I cut our morning walk short yesterday because it was miserable with a cold wind blowing.

When my lap swimming reservation came up I was tempted to cancel. I’m not fond of swimming when it’s cold out. But, having started my YMCA membership four weeks ago, I’m trying to stick to my workout schedule. So I went.

The water was cool. The wind was chilly and fierce. I’m proud of myself for going. Especially after Monday’s barre class that killed me. It was the hardest class I’ve had yet.

The worst part about my swim was getting out of the pool. While swimming, I kept moving to keep somewhat warm. Getting out was freezing! My teeth were chattering. I ran into the locker room to dry off when I normally take my time on the pool deck.

I’ve decided to skip barre class Friday to try Pickleball. A woman in barre class said there’s a beginners class on Fridays. I’ve heard so much about this popular sport and I want to give it a try. It’s at the same time as barre, but frankly my body could take a break and I’m thinking pickleball won’t be as painful!

I’m enjoying my YMCA life. Except for their app. I’m supposed to use it to make lap swimming reservations, but I get an error message. It says I need a valid membership. Yet the app works to check me in. I asked at the front desk for help and so far nobody knows how to correct it. One young guy told me I needed a new phone!

I emailed IT support that I found on the app and explained that I couldn’t make lap swimming reservations and told them the error message I received. I got an email back telling me that I don’t need reservations for taking classes. UGH! Did they bother to read my email? They said if I was continuing to have an issue to email back. I did immediately with a screen shot of the error message. I’ve heard nothing.

So, I am resigning myself to making reservations in person when I go in for the week ahead. Face to face talking to real people. What a concept!

Have you tried pickleball? What are your thoughts about technology that’s supposed to make life easier but doesn’t work?

I don’t do cold

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cloudy Arizona sky
A cloudy view before the rain hit.

We woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain. It was pouring. My iphone didn’t let me know there’d be rain. It told us of a wind advisory. Back in California, the rain was intense. Record rainfall throughout the Southland with road closures and mud slides. I guess I’m lucky to be in Arizona.

I hid under a pile quilts and listened to the rain. It was a wonderful feeling. There’s nothing like the sound of rain when you’re tucked safely and warmly in bed. My husband had opened up the sliding glass door with the screen door closed so we could hear the rain. He also put the cover on the ping pong table at midnight.

This morning I’m freezing. It’s in the 30s and I decided for the first time in several years to forgo my morning walk. I bundled up to attempt the walk, but I couldn’t do it. It has to warm up later today, right? I wore my warm leggings. A fleece vest. A jacket. And I was still too cold to walk. I’m cold to the bone.

I hate being cold. I don’t do cold. Thankfully we put styrofoam cups on our cacti before this cold front came in.

cacti with styrofoam cups
Our cupped cacti.

The sun is out today and it’s bright and sunny, but cold. It must be my 30-plus years of desert living that makes me intolerant to cold weather.

I’m dreaming of our Christmas week at the beach. Of course, I’m picturing a summer day at the beach and not a winter one. We may be inside there, too. I used to say in Palm Springs that there were only a few days of good weather. That it was either too hot or too cold.

What is your favorite weather? Do you mind the cold? Or, is a change of weather something you look forward to?

tree being eaten by wildlife at the roots
Some critter is digging up our trees to eat the roots at night. Any guesses what is doing this?