Why I Failed Geometry

Hmmmm I got this one wrong. I just don't get it. Do you know the right answer?

Desperately Seeking Fall

As Devin mentioned we ventured north to Sedona this past weeKEND ( as my sister, the amazing Valnik would say) to catch some fall colors ( or colours for you Brits and Canadians) . We saw some color..more like a limish green mixed with brown dead leaves. This time last year I was in Boston experiencing some gorgeous fall colors and good times with my frister ( friend + sister) so it was a bit disappointing.




However, we did have a nice time with Devin's mom Dee. This is us having lunch at our favorite haunt the "Hide-a-Way" which has lovely views of trees and red rocks. Beer was involved as you can see. The mug was frosty and the beer was cold. YUM! So much for my healthy salad.




After lunch we wandered through Oak Creek Canyon and stopped at Slide Rock. I've haven't been there in ages and I thought the water was way too cold to swim, but apparently these folks didn't think so. English perhaps?




We hiked a little bit, but sadly Dee wasn't really wearing great hiking footwear. At one point, the shoe slipped off and I had to climb down to rescue it before it drifted away. I was nervous a few times that she would fall and hurt herself, but she stubbornly refused a helping hand. We shouldn't be surprised. Afterall, this is a woman who went sky diving for her 70th birthday.














Here's my Hercules impression.

We're hiking , we're hiking....errrr ....is this a trail?

Devin gets an artsy red rock shot.

A great story

This past weekend we took a short road trip up to Sedona. I think Shannon will be posting some photos and the highlights a bit later.

But for now, I just wanted to share this post on another blog I read. It has nothing to do with a trip to Sedona. :) But it is quite a story.

Here

Devin

Stay Away From The Red Phone...

Check it out....

http://www.palinaspresident.com/

Rankin's 3-D House of Fire

Glendale Arizona Weather Report: Sunny, 53 degrees

Only in Arizona would we be excited about these temperatures. I'm sure my sister in England would consider this shorts and t-shirt weather. As you can imagine, we needed a fire to keep us warm.

Fire Season?

My personal weatherman informs me that the temperature was......wait for it..... 65 degrees here in Glendale Arizona this morning. I'm sure you all know what that means. Well maybe you don't, but I do. Devin will soon light his first fire tonight after leaving all the windows and doors open after sunset for a few hours.

It might be cool enough! Just maybe. We did,after all, have a whole cord of wood delivered today and you know..you have to test it to make sure it burns.

Devin likes to burn things....

Random Atheist Quote of the day

You don't believe in Apollo, Zeus, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Odin or any of thousands of other Egyptian, Mayan, Scandinavian or other gods, do you? Well of course you don't. That would be silly. I don't believe in your god either. For the same reason."
Anon.

The quest for a cool house

So it is October in Arizona. Which means that it is in the low 100's and upper 90's still. Still time to run the A/C for another few weeks at least.

When we bought this place, the A/C had a 10 year parts warrantee, but not labor. We have known that this unit was a bit of a lemon. We have had it fixed at least once or twice a year since we moved in. And each time they come out they tell us what a piece of crap it is and the heroic means they went to in order to fix it this time.

Well, it held out almost the whole season without a problem. Then Tuesday afternoon, it just stopped. So Wednesday they came out and looked at it. It had overheated and burned wires and sprung a leak. Our choices were $1500 in labor to fix the old crappy lemon, or $7000 to replace it with a new unit under warrantee for parts and labor.

So we went with the $7000 fix. Maybe the new unit will not sound like a jet taking off and vibrate the whole house when it clicks on. Maybe it will run for a full season with out us having to spend a few nights baking while waiting for our name to come to the top of the repair list.

So the new unit goes in on Friday. Until then, they hot wired a few things on the old unit which they say will run it for a few days and it probably will not explode or catch fire as long as we only run it at night when it is cooler. So at least we can sleep at night.

All we want is a cool house in the summer, and most the spring and part of the fall.