The last time I had one of these open, I completely missed the opportunity to photograph it. By the time I noticed the flower stalk, the bloom had come and gone. They only last up to late morning after opening during the night. I was lucky to get this shot between the rain showers this morning. Click on the image to enlarge.
I did a little internet shopping for a couple of things we needed to add to the truck. First, we discovered that a dashboard cover is almost essential here in the desert. Even though the cars are garaged, the short time they are in a parking lot when shopping during the summer, the dash (and seats, etc.) gets mighty hot. You can see the dash cover in the top panel of the image above.
Next, we saw a TV commercial about WeatherTech floor covers. I ordered those this week and installed them today. The covers go a bit beyond the aftermarket floor mats in the auto supply stores in that they are custom fitted for the exact vehicle and cover not only the carpet, but the trim areas all around. You can see the driver side cover in the lower left panel and the crew cab cover on the right (the seats are in the up position).
The salesman who sold the truck to us recommended a couple of places down in the northwest Phoenix Metro area that can install the bed liner and tonneau cover. We will probably get those things done soon.
Click on the image to enlarge.
It seems that after each rainfall, our Cimarron Sagebrush bushes explode with these beautiful little bluish-purple flowers. We were working out in the front yard today and I photographed a few of the abundant little blossoms on one of the bushes along the driveway.
The fragrance of the bushes does not depend on having flowers, it seems. Just touching the little cupped leaves of the plant leaves your fingers smelling like sage. Delightful! Click on the image to enlarge.
The forecast according to the NWS was to be 50% chance of heavy rain this evening. Well, it’s now 100%. Looking at the radar loop image, I see a band of yellow to red precipitation echos heading our way from the east-southeast. So far, there are no severe thunderstorm warnings, but the night is young.
We’re all cozy inside listening to the rainfall and watching one of the two TVs. It seems that with satellite reception, the HDTV craps out before the SDTV. We have one of each subscribed here. When the precip moves northwest, the satellite signals will return. That’s the only bummer about satellite versus cable is the weather and solar event blackouts.
While we often watch two simultaneous sporting events, this is the first weekend of 2014 that we can watch our baseball team and some NFL pre-season games. On the top TV, Mark Trumbo prepares to bat for our favorite Arizona Diamondbacks and on the bottom TV, the Baltimore Ravens are playing the San Francisco Forty-Niners in week one (of four) pre-season scrimmages. Earlier, we were watching NASCAR on one TV and baseball on the other. Click on the image to enlarge.
We don’t just spend our weekends watching sports; we cooked some meaty pork baby back ribs in the crockpot and finished them up on the grill outdoors. They were served with baked beans, Cole slaw and broccoli. Drool alert!
We received a couple of items I ordered on line for the truck. A cover for the hitch receptacle and extension mirrors for towing the trailer are here. I installed the hitch cover and a hitch lock yesterday. I tried out the extension mirrors today. The mirrors were quite a bit easier to install and remove as compared to the mirror set we had for the GMC.
We still have to order a bed liner and a tonneau cover for the truck. We transported stuff to California and back using just a tarp and bungees to hold stuff in the bed. The tonneau will cover the stuff but we still have ratchet straps and bungees to hold cargo in place.
Last Sunday evening, a very severe thunderstorm hit the Wickenburg area. We were at home at the time and the winds and rain felt to us like hurricane strength. We had a lot of erosion damage to the RV drive along with a lot of sand and small rocks runoff out back. No structural damage to either the house or the trailer, but we did lose a plum tree (snapped off at the base) in the courtyard and a recently installed ocotillo out front was knocked down, but was re-planted by the landscape crew this afternoon.
This is one of several covered wagons in town, all of which sustained damage. One covered wagon at the other end of town from this one had been blown over. Numerous canopies and business signs were damaged. One business a quarter mile from our house lost it’s roof; the debris blocked US 60 in front of the business until crews got it cleaned up. Click on the image to enlarge.
