It’s Cold!

Well, actually it’s not, it’s in the upper 50s, but it feels cold.  Maybe it’s just me.  The last two days have been really windy.  Hopefully what ever is causing the wind and the chilly temperatures will move on through soon.

I took this on the 11th – it was kind of cool seeing the sliver of moon over the agave flower spike.

Tonight we had a pretty good sunset.

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Other that this I have nothing to report.

Some Pictures of the House That Aren’t Very Good

So here is a previously posted picture of the house from across the street.  It’s pretty good.  I like this picture.

Jim was up one calm morning with a gallon of glyphosate attempting to eradicate the bunch grass growing on the side of the wash.  This is going to be an ongoing project.  After two weeks, it’s pretty much dead, but it’s still standing.

There have been deliveries from Amazon right and left.  This is the office chair we bought for cheap at an estate sale.  They had a Sunbeam mixer I was interested in, but they wanted full boat retail for it, and would not come down very much on that price.  They’re sill available new, so if I decide I really need a mixer, I can get it on line.  The red rug is new – from Amazon.  On sale!  It makes it easier to move the chair about on the tile floor.

I think house photography is a skill, and it’s a skill I do not have.  I’ve taken multiple photos and they’re all pretty terrible.  That window in the front is definitely not helping with the lighting.  Anyway, here is the living room.

Looking right from the living room to the server.  I got that in North Carolina.  The reason the pictures are like that is because there is a giant nail in the wall holding up the top water color.  That server weighs about 400 pounds and we can’t move it, unfortunately when the movers placed the server, I didn’t notice that it needed to be centered under the giant nail.  This is our workaround to hide the nail and be symmetrical.

Moving further right, looking in to the kitchen.  The piece on the left is one that we had made locally.  It provides an amazing amount of storage for light bulbs, napkins, kleenex boxes and stuff like that.  It’s also pretty.  Bookcase on the right is courtesy of Ikea.

There is something about cabinets that don’t go to the ceiling that demands that you put stuff on them.  The flowered flour sifter was my Grandmother’s.  You can still see the 35 cents written on it in grease pencil.

My fetishes are seeing the light of day after being packed away for 10 years.  They’re happy to be out. 

THIS is the current bane of our decorating existence.  The TV needs to be on that angle to be visible to the two love seats.  Wouldn’t you think you could just scroll through a couple of websites and buy something to corral the cords and look better than this?  No, no you may not.  The router is 8.5 inches tall, and to get a low console, you don’t get a tall enough shelf.  We found one console that was OK, but it’s sold out.  I pretty much have the inventory of Overstocks and Wayfair memorized. 

So, progress is being made.  We’re happy with the kitchen, nothing else is needed in there.  It’s amazing how many plates two people go through in a day when you give up the paper plate habit.

Armistice Day

In his address in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said the following:

"Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism.  Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying our interests first, who cares about the others, we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values."

"I know there are old demons which are coming back to the surface. They are ready to wreak chaos and death.  History sometimes threatens to take its sinister course once again."

Meanwhile, in Poland, the nationalists were marching, chanting their wishes for a whites only Europe.

It just never ends.

Bike Hike

We’ve been outside a time or two recently that did not involve yard work.  I incorrectly equated “desert landscaping” with “low maintenance.”  That would not be the case.  Currently we are trying to kill off an invasion of bunch grass on the other side of the wall.  If it would stay over there, we’d let it be.  However, it’s invading the hop seed hedge, which is very hard to weed, so chemicals are being used.  The grass is sick, but so far it’s not dead.

This is along the Santa Cruz trail.  Everywhere we go recently, there is a significant trail closure.  This does not really impact us, as we have to drive to the trail from the house, but it’s such a bummer for the people at Rincon Country West RV Resort.  Their spur to the trail was paved late last season, which was just wonderful.  Now, the underpass at Ajo is closed until 12/2019, which means they all have to ride down Mission Road (very busy road) to Silverlake to get to the trail.



I love the look of this rusting pole against the very blue sky.



There has been hiking among the cacti.



Look at the low point of the saddle, about mid picture.  That trail is accessible from the house.  We’ve been up there twice.



The orange flowers are normally spring bloomers.  They’re still in flower after the rains a while ago.



Look dead center.  There are three mule deer there.  They have a unique gift of standing so that I am forced to shoot into the sun.



We now have sun shades for the western facing patio.  The light fixture over the table has been replaced with a smaller, simpler fixture.  I’m really happy we outsourced the activity.  We could have done it, but it would have taken all day per each.