So we have another month from hell under our belts!   And I’m not exaggerating about it being a month of hell - the Phoenix area set records for highest temperatures and most days at 110° or over - 52 AND STILL COUNTING - for the year!

Not to say things were boring, but one of the highlights for the month was the trimming of the palm trees in the park.  And I do mean TRIM.  They took out all yellowed looking frons - you can see a  few were left on each tree compared to the palm tree in the park next to ours.  

Of course, they just didn’t cut the frons, they just let them fall.   And fall they did into our tiny ‘front’ yard and the street.  Took them about three days to get them all picked up.   But that is only the start, once trimmed then each strong wind brings large amount of the rough husks on the tree sides falling down.  The end result will eventually be smooth trunks but it takes a while.   So we are also dodging husks each morning after a good wind. And when you run over one of them you really know it.

That bright dot in the evening sky is the International Space Station.  We’ve been able to see it several times this summer as it passes over just at dusk.   It moves like a “bat out of hell” taking about 4 minutes to go completely across the sky in a big arc.   Got some video last time, but I haven’t learned how to edit it effectively yet.

We had a wind storm come through one afternoon.  Our neighbor had a couple of canopies set up to park his car under - you can see they ended up on the ground, completely mangled.  He hasn’t bothered replacing them, has been using the carport of one of the vacant park models for his car during the day.

You can see the tops of the trees really blowing, and the tinge in the clouds is actually smoke from the wildfires to the east of us.  Some nights it is very, very strong.   While everyone keeps saying, but it is a dry heat, when you reach 117° with a relative humidity of 9% we’ve gone way beyond ‘dry’!

The positivity rate has gone down in Arizona since the mask mandates went into effect and businesses started being strict about it.  Even so, the minute it was announced that Walgreens had Flu Vaccines in stock, we were up there.   This was the first time Dave had been anywhere besides a physicians office since last March!  It has been a slower recovery process than we would hve liked, but Dave is feeling much better.  Unfortunately the heat has been so oppresive that walking outside isn’t possible.   And to make matters worse, just as he was starting to feel better, and we were going to use the air conditined fitness center at the park, all gyms, etc., were closed by order of the governor.  That ban was lifted this week and next week the fitness center is going to reopen - just as the temperature is beginning to fall and we are doing more outside!  

 I have been busy sewing masks for Megan, her teacher’s aide, and other teachers in their school. She will be doing ‘hybrid’ teaching with some students in her class and others will be logged in from their homes.   We worry about her even though we know she is taking all of the necessary precautions.  You never stop worrying about your child no matter how well they do or how old they are.    Luckily Kenneth is teaching all his courses online this fall.   He’s filmed all of the labs so the students watch him do the experiment and take notes, fill in the data and complete the questions for the laboratory report.