Monsoon Season

We had our first monsoon storm of the summer last night. It tore the large solar screen off the front of the house, but that appears to be the extent of the damage...

The power went out about 9:00 p.m. and Salt River Power estimates it may be 4:00 p.m. this afternoon before it is restored. I am using my Honda generators to run a window A/C and my computer. Here's my Rube Goldberg approach to powering critical devices while trying to stay cool...

Update: Power was restored around 1:15 p.m. but I am keeping the window A/C in place just in case. The solar screen has been replaced and everything is back to normal. 😀

Arizona Museum of Natural History

I had heard the Arizona Museum of Natural History has ancient fossils on display almost as old as my cousin Chris, so it seemed like a good place to escape today's 115 degree temperature. It starts with an impressive facade...

Click on images to enlarge

In addition to the dinosaur exhibits, there are a lot of cultural artifacts from the area going back thousands of years.

Desert Spa

It has not rained here for several months, so water has once again become a precious commodity for anything that has to live in the desert. Fortunately, my A/C has created a water hole and spa for some of the creatures of the night (and no, I am not talking about my rowdy neighbors)...

Root Canal

Most of my life I had heard horror stories about root canals and how painful they were, so you can imagine my concern when I was told that I needed one. Well, it was all for naught as mine went extremely well and took about an hour. The only pain I experienced was paying the bill. Between my regular dentist and the endodontist, it was a little over $1700. If you would like to know more about the procedure, checkout this American Association of Endodontists website.

Garmin Tread Overlander

For over 10 years the Garmin Montana has been my go to GPS for off-road travel. However, time has taken its toll and it is beginning to fall apart. In looking for a replacement, I came across the Garmin Tread Overlander, a GPS with both on-road and off-road features. It even has a Garmin inReach satellite communicator which allows you to get help in emergency situations when cell service is not available. It's a bit pricey, but provides the latest in GPS capabilities.

Eastern Oregon

Now that I do not have any doctor's or dentist's appointments for several months, I have started looking for places that I might like to visit this summer. Here is a video from TrailRecon showing a beautiful area in eastern Oregon where I have never been...

Checkout the photos on "A Hiker's Guide To The Owyhee Canyonlands".

Bidenomics

Pix-Star Digital Frame

If you are looking for a unique gift for family and friends, may I recommend the Pix-Star digital frame. It has the ability to display photos sent to it via email. This would be a great way to share photos of the grandchildren with their grandparents.

Arizona Summers

After an unusually cold winter, normal summer temperatures have returned to southern Arizona...

It's finally warm enough that I can go outside without a jacket

One advantage to living in Arizona in the summer