After having Mike with me for about a week and a half, I drove him to the airport in Vegas and dropped him off. On the way up we stopped at Laughlin's library, so on the way back, I "watched" (i.e. listened to) the pilot episode of JAG. I just can't listen to music on long trips...heck, I can't listen to it in town either. I left Vegas about 4:00 and made good time.
It was a little cloudy on the way back and thought I had better hurry in case it rains (I had one or two items out in the yard from cleaning that wouldn't like being rained upon, such as the leaf-blower.
I was planning on going to the store on the way home. Upon reaching the top of the hill near Christmas Tree Pass and beginning the decent, I quickly noticed that I couldn't see the mountains on the other side. It wasn't clouds or rain, although it was dark, but dust. As I continued down the hill, the neighborhoods on the other side of the hill disappeared until I reached the bottom of the hill. The dust storm was moving in and I had beaten it to the stoplight by literally a minute or two. As I drove up the highway (driving parallel to the storm) I felt like one of the scenes in Hidalgo or the Mummy. I could see the storm in my rearview mirror and I could see it creeping up along side of me as well.
As I drove, more and more dirt began blowing across the road in front of me. It felt more like driving in fog, as I had a hard time at points seeing the cars in front of me (I could see only the taillights when it was thick.) Along with the sand, larger and larger objects were being blown across the road. At first it was plastic bags and paper, but then I saw some plywood (most likely from a roof), siding, and a plastic chair or two. I continued on and watched the storm building, and even more dust blowing. At one point within a mile of home, the dust was so thick I couldn't see my own hood, much less and traffic that might be in front of me. It was very similar to driving in a whiteout, but I'm not sure what to call it. Upon arriving home, I rescued the items in the yard (with the housing, the winds were not as bad in the neighborhood as they were on the highway) and also rescued my trashcans that I had left at the end of the driveway (these have blown away before and I've found them blocks away).
All items saved, I went in to check the TV for warnings. I found a warning for severe thunderstorms and possibly large hail for this area on the weather channel website. The TV had no break in warnings for our area, as I suppose the weather in phoenix took precedence (we weren't even a blurb at the bottom of the screen until an hour after the storms ended...thanks guys!)
We got a small bit of rain here, and apparently we will have activity for the next few days...should be fun!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The dustbunnies cometh...
First of all, I think I've updatd the videos on a previous post so you can see them now.
After returning a few weeks ago to Arizona sans Mike and Aly, and after watching a few episodes of the BBC "How clean is your house", I really caught the cleaning bug. I started with a few small projects like cleaning the hallway in front of Aly's room (usually covered in clothes) and her bathroom (there is actually a usable sink and floor now). After that, I began work on the storage area.
It took about half a day to pull out all the boxes. All were very dusty and some had mold on them. I then worked on pushing the insulation back in place (some was just hanging there) and covered it with what I could afford, thick brown paper. Considering the original covering was just cardboard, this seemed to fit in. After replacing this it began to warm up, so most of the items stayed in their boxes outside for a few days (a cool down was forecast for the following week).
Inside, I went through the kitchen and checked labels on cans and other foodstuffs, throwing out all expired product (if it was close, I kept it, but there were a few labeled "use by XXX 2003", no thanks!) I also went through the medicines we keep in the kitchen for the same check. I also cleaned the freezer and fridge (I usually do this weekly for food going bad, but this time I went through for jams and pickles, etc.) and cleaned all the shelves. I got rid of some things I knew I'd never eat and restacked things nicely. Much nicer!
Next project was our bedroom, namely my clothes. I was vicious as I went through them to see what I really needed. I have held on to many outfits for a while, but now I've gotten rid of them. I plan to donate 8 large trash bags filled of just my clothes (Mike and Aly will do the same shortly). I did keep some items for mementos and also kept t-shirts (will send these away and make a quilt with them to preserve the memory in a useful way). The closet is even cleaner than when we moved in.
With the temperature cooling down to the upper 90s/low 100s I headed back outside to tackle the storage area. I put up my small DVD player and used the FM transmitter through a radio so I could really crank up the noise. I watched the entire second season of "Deadliest Catch" twice during the project (talking about frozen waves and freezing temps I think helped). I also found an item at the store. It's a small bandana that you wrap around your neck. It's filled with a crystal that expands in water (i think it's the "buffalo snot" we used to use in the garden) and it keeps the back of your neck wet and "cool". I can put it in the fridge, but that cold doesn't last too long. With entertainment ready, I began the purge. One dumpster full and a small stack of kitchen items to donate, I cut the clutter by half. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of book clutter (which, btw, Mike says doesn't count as clutter/hording) but I did get rid of some old textbooks from college and some water damaged materials.
Back inside, I tacked our bedroom. Again, I was determined to have a clean room, and even reorganized it in the process. Entertainment ready (One season of Monk) and I was off and throwing away/recycling items again (Got rid of most of the stored magazines that filled up a lot of shelf space). After the initial clutter removal, I went and placed two to three crates of books that were on my bookshelves into storage and reorganized many of Mike's war-games to fit on the shelving. I can find the books I really want to read, added a space for library books, and even put up one of our wedding pictures in a frame we received on the wedding (both were in storage before). The only room left to do is Aly's...
All was clean when Mike arrived for our anniversary. I've been on his case about leaving shoes and cigarette cartons wherever with the "(honey,) what are you going to do with __________?" I know I'm not cleaning it up. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for the anniversary dinner and sat on the deck drinking cold soda and eating just appetizers (not that hungry, could've been the heat. It was 110 in the shade with some misters) Seemed reminiscent of our honeymoon in PEI with the seafood by the water. Very nice.
After returning a few weeks ago to Arizona sans Mike and Aly, and after watching a few episodes of the BBC "How clean is your house", I really caught the cleaning bug. I started with a few small projects like cleaning the hallway in front of Aly's room (usually covered in clothes) and her bathroom (there is actually a usable sink and floor now). After that, I began work on the storage area.
It took about half a day to pull out all the boxes. All were very dusty and some had mold on them. I then worked on pushing the insulation back in place (some was just hanging there) and covered it with what I could afford, thick brown paper. Considering the original covering was just cardboard, this seemed to fit in. After replacing this it began to warm up, so most of the items stayed in their boxes outside for a few days (a cool down was forecast for the following week).
Inside, I went through the kitchen and checked labels on cans and other foodstuffs, throwing out all expired product (if it was close, I kept it, but there were a few labeled "use by XXX 2003", no thanks!) I also went through the medicines we keep in the kitchen for the same check. I also cleaned the freezer and fridge (I usually do this weekly for food going bad, but this time I went through for jams and pickles, etc.) and cleaned all the shelves. I got rid of some things I knew I'd never eat and restacked things nicely. Much nicer!
Next project was our bedroom, namely my clothes. I was vicious as I went through them to see what I really needed. I have held on to many outfits for a while, but now I've gotten rid of them. I plan to donate 8 large trash bags filled of just my clothes (Mike and Aly will do the same shortly). I did keep some items for mementos and also kept t-shirts (will send these away and make a quilt with them to preserve the memory in a useful way). The closet is even cleaner than when we moved in.
With the temperature cooling down to the upper 90s/low 100s I headed back outside to tackle the storage area. I put up my small DVD player and used the FM transmitter through a radio so I could really crank up the noise. I watched the entire second season of "Deadliest Catch" twice during the project (talking about frozen waves and freezing temps I think helped). I also found an item at the store. It's a small bandana that you wrap around your neck. It's filled with a crystal that expands in water (i think it's the "buffalo snot" we used to use in the garden) and it keeps the back of your neck wet and "cool". I can put it in the fridge, but that cold doesn't last too long. With entertainment ready, I began the purge. One dumpster full and a small stack of kitchen items to donate, I cut the clutter by half. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of book clutter (which, btw, Mike says doesn't count as clutter/hording) but I did get rid of some old textbooks from college and some water damaged materials.
Back inside, I tacked our bedroom. Again, I was determined to have a clean room, and even reorganized it in the process. Entertainment ready (One season of Monk) and I was off and throwing away/recycling items again (Got rid of most of the stored magazines that filled up a lot of shelf space). After the initial clutter removal, I went and placed two to three crates of books that were on my bookshelves into storage and reorganized many of Mike's war-games to fit on the shelving. I can find the books I really want to read, added a space for library books, and even put up one of our wedding pictures in a frame we received on the wedding (both were in storage before). The only room left to do is Aly's...
All was clean when Mike arrived for our anniversary. I've been on his case about leaving shoes and cigarette cartons wherever with the "(honey,) what are you going to do with __________?" I know I'm not cleaning it up. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for the anniversary dinner and sat on the deck drinking cold soda and eating just appetizers (not that hungry, could've been the heat. It was 110 in the shade with some misters) Seemed reminiscent of our honeymoon in PEI with the seafood by the water. Very nice.
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