random

I woke up this morning, and read a book on the couch until noon. What a perfect Saturday morning.

I thought it was starting to cool off, so yesterday I got up to go hiking and instead of leaving right away, I got caught up with a task that needed to get done and didn't get to the trailhead until 9. Miserable Hot! When will summer ever end?? In the afternoon, I had to add some fluids to the car and thought I'd get a sunburn on the back of my neck for the 5 minutes I was outside.

All during August, I was hiking at the crack of dawn to avoid the heat. I say that like I was hiking every day all month. Actually, once or twice a week I was hiking at the crack of dawn. I had to alter my routes on Saturdays though. When you drive into the Squaw Peak Park area at 5:30, it is this dark:

Seriously, the sky is just beginning to lighten up, the trails are still dark. And if you don't HURRY, you won't get a parking spot. It gets totally full on weekends and holidays mornings. Crazy. So I head to some other trails with less parking issues on Saturdays. I am so glad there are multiple hiking trails within 15 minutes of my house.

Today, I waited until 6:15 pm to go hiking. I wasn't expecting it to be almost totally dark by seven. It was a rush back to the car with my flashlight. But before it got dark, I saw some sort of desert crop circle. I'm not sure what that is about.

I also noticed that the city is posting a construction sign. I'm not sure who chooses the wording, but I wouldn't call a dirt/gravel hiking trail a road, and I can't imagine what kind of construction will be going on in the desert for over a month. I'm curious now.

We didn't receive any business money this week. Actually, it's been almost 2 weeks without any significant income.  Our income is mostly steady, but it is based on doing work and sending out invoices and hoping our customers pay on a timely basis. We rarely have a gap in our income, but this week it is especially noticeable because it has been a couple of the most grueling, pressure filled weeks we've ever had in our business and it would have been nice to have money to go along with the hard labor. Maybe October will be a more relaxing month with the money flowing in freely. (I always hope for freely flowing money, but it never seems to happen.)

Roxanne gave me a Kindle for my birthday. She apologized that it was an older version, second hand device, but I looked at the menu and was excited that the previous owner had a similar taste in books. Yay! I'm going to start reading 'Le Miserable'.

I walked out the door tonight and Rachel was working on the engine of her car. I asked her what she was doing and she said her car is still overheating and she was changing out the thermostat. Seriously? My beautiful piano-playing daughter knows how to overhaul the cooling system of her car? She's amazing.

This morning, Brady and Dave hauled off some scrap metal we ended up with from our business and came home with $200 fun money. (Well, Dave's half is fun money, Brady is saving every penny that comes his way). They had some metal from some old backflow devices that Dave replaced. The scrap metal place won't accept metal from backflow units. Backflows on business properties get stolen on a regular basis and sold for the value of the brass. Isn't that crazy? Metal units that keep the water safe are being yanked out of the ground and sold for a few dollars of scrap? So they stopped accepting them. But an old backflow unit from our company that actually repairs and replaces them? . . we can't get rid of them.

Survivor started this week. I almost forgot until I got a text about it from Robyn. I love being excited about shows with my friends.  I'm a little embarrassed at my family calendar. It lists when Survivor starts, when Amazing Race starts, and when Modern Family starts. Even with it listed on my calendar, I had forgotten so  I was glad for the reminder. It should be a good season.

Our TIVO or cable box is broken right now. We can set it up for shows to record, but the TV won't change the channel. If I'm leaving for the evening, I have to make sure the TV is on the right channel before I leave. Otherwise the menu will say I've recorded Project Runway, but it has actually recorded the weather channel.    Dave and I are both too busy (or lazy) to investigate what is wrong with our system. I will be embarrassed if it is just a cord that has come loose in the back and we've let it go for a month.

Well, that's a random list, but that's our life right now.

birthday!

I had a really fun birthday this week.  Suzanne and I decided to go on a day hike up in Prescott. We enjoy hiking together, but it is still so warm here in town, so we thought Prescott would be a fun get-away spot.  We ended up hiking near Watson Lake where we have recently been kayaking. It's in the Granite Dells area which is described as: Massive boulders of ancient rock have weathered into delicately balanced forms and fanciful shapes, reflected in the surface of Watson Lake. 
It's really a beautiful area to be hiking around. This is actually the backside of the Watson Lake Dam. The hike itself wasn't too long or hard. It was less than 2 miles, but we ended up spending almost a couple hours out there.  The weather was perfect, and the scenery was beautiful.

Then we headed into town for lunch at Prescott Station Grill. Delicious!

It's always fun to get on facebook on your birthday and have a lot of birthday wishes from friends and family all over the country. I don't think I saw the kids all day, but they all sent me fun texts all day. (We are celebrating together on Sunday)

To end an already great day, Dave got tickets to head out to Gammage to see LeMis. I've wanted to see it for years, but never got the chance so I was very excited. What a great evening to spend with a wonderful and handsome man. 

alarm clock + hiking = math equation

I set my alarm to head out on a hike this morning as the sun was coming up.  It's the only time of day that is a little bit less hot than all the other times of the day. I'm not sure how the human brain works, but as the alarms rings at 5:20, I suddenly go into a complicated mathematical equation regarding how much hotter it would be if I hike a little later in the morning? and if I hike later, will there be parking available? and will I still be able to hike on the shady side of the mountain? and if not, which other trail would I choose? and how late can I leave the house before it is miserable outside? All of this thought process takes place before I get my shoulder back under the covers after I turn off the alarm. My 5:50 hike began this morning at 6:55. The upside to sleeping in today is that is was overcast and therefore a little bit cooler, although the term "cool" is relative - temperatures in the 90's isn't cool unless it's just recently cooled down from 112 degrees.
It was actually quite pleasant this morning. It started lightly sprinkling before I was at the halfway point, nothing to worry about so I went on.  Then about 20 minutes before I expected to be back at the car, the rain really started coming down.  I was quickly soaked, but it still felt good. I would have done one more short loop, but the trail was turning into a little stream and I started getting worried about my phone and music getting wet. The desert sure looks and smells pretty in the rain. Even the rocks are more colorful. Love it.

Dave, the 9 year old

Last month, Melanie was talking to one of her young women leaders about needing some nail polish. Kaelene offered some of her daughter's polish. So Sunday afternoon, Melanie walked down the street to borrow some nail polish from a 2nd grader. (Melanie has no age boundaries in her circle of friends. She goes jogging with Kaelene and does her nails with Kiara.) After borrowing the nail polish, the 3 kids decided that someone should walk Melanie home. So they all walked down the street to our house. Then they needed Melanie to walk them home, then they needed to walk Melanie home etc etc.  When Dave realized they were going to be coming and going through the afternoon, he loaded up the nerf guns and attacked the next time the kids walked in the door. No one is safe when Dave is around.

Kaelene finally had to come over to rescue her kids.

Then last night, these four lovely girls got the same nerf gun treatment from Dave. To protect themselves from Dave's assault, they ganged up on him - four to one. Then it turned into a free-for-all, simple self preservation. Rachel was walking through the living room and even got caught up in the havoc.

It would appear that this is a calm house where only adults live, but no. Let this be a warning if you happen to come visit.