Mellow yellow

I was in Las Vegas last week when Tom was painting the shed, and he asked what color to paint the door? I said, "surprise me."

He picked an old Benjamin Moore paint called "Viking Yellow," a take-no-prisoners, vibrant shade. I love the contrast against the blue. How cheerful primary colors look on dark winter days.

The painter Vincent Van Gogh liked the color of sunshine. Writing to his sister from the south of France in 1888, he said, "Now we are having beautiful warm, windless weather that is very beneficial to me. The sun, a light that for lack of a better word I can only call yellow, bright sulfur yellow, pale lemon gold. How beautiful yellow is!"

And how beautiful these summer days are.  It lulls you into believing they will go on forever.  After a hectic week of travel and company, the house and garden are eerily quiet this morning. I think the bunny went into hiding.

Speaking of vibrant and energetic, how about these kids?

Guess who?

Visitors

While I was away,  a little wild bunny moved in the yard.  That's a first. After 35 years, you think you've seen it all?  Go, Nature.

More pictures of our other weekend visitors coming soon... 

Desert mornings

Yet another pleasant desert morning and Dad is finishing his outdoor chores for the day. Soon I'll summon a friendly local Uber driver to drive me back to the airport.  Amanda, Tom and the girls are in Seattle, so I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the house this afternoon.  And hitting the ground running! :-)

We've had a great time, just hanging out, talking, and doing lots of this:

Pollo Loco lunch

Trader Joes' shopping lesson

Yes, it was all good

Dad encounters Thai chili garlic sauce for the first time.
A big hit!

Out n' about

Yes, I'm the world's worst selfie-taker.  This morning Dad and I took an early walk at a park near the house. The muggy monsoon storms moved east last night, leaving the air balmy and cooler than normal.  By the weekend when my brother Dave arrives, Vegas will be back to normal triple digit highs.

I have a bothersome scratchy throat that keeps me awake chain-sucking cough drops.  I thought I might be coming down with a cold, heaven forbid.  But Marji made a long-distance diagnosis this morning: "Las Vegas Summer Throat."

Being a hypochondriac, of course I Googled it.  It's a well-documented syndrome here in the desert. The tough climate and dry, dusty, hot air will do a number on your throat, sinuses and eyes:

The symptoms of Vegas throat are similar to having a cold or allergies. Post nasal drip, scratchy throat, loss of voice, coughing, having to clear your throat often, bloody nose, stinging eyes, itchy nasal passages and a feeling of being “hungover” are all symptoms of this condition.

Hungover? That common Las Vegas feeling. Now we know what to blame it on. Ha!

Tomorrow I return to the (sort of) moist Pacific Northwest. In a few days, Seattle will break the all-time record for consecutive days without precipitation. The big water bill is in the mail.

Desert floods

 Floyd Lamb Park

The weather is dramatically cooler today with a humid (almost oppressive) overcast. It hasn't rained here at the house, but ominous-looking clouds are off in the distance. The weather service issued a flash flood warning for Las Vegas this morning. 

We decided to pack a picnic lunch and drive to our favorite park. This is a rare opportunity in typically scorching July. 

  

A flash flood ripped through the entrance road and adjacent neighborhood shortly before we got there, and crews were already working to clear it.  Of course in Seattle, the streets would be closed for liability and a million other reasons, but here in the desert, ho hum, just another monsoon flood. We picked our way through the heavy equipment, rocks, puddles and mud.  (Sorry Marji, Zippy is filthy!)

Dad said he never saw the pond spillway running before.  It was quite a storm-- the garbage cans all had about 3 inches of water in the bottom. 

We had a handsome visitor at the table, with a serious taste for Fritos. The poor fellow had fishing leader tangled on his foot.  I hope someone helps him soon. 

Sky and water

Sky: bright blue, white hot, dusty yellow, giant thunderheads over distant mountains.  After another scorching day in Las Vegas, the sun finally settles down in the west, lighting up some fluffy clouds for a few seconds.  You can almost hear the sigh of relief across this vast valley after another 110 degree day.   

Water: so much we take for granted. We just turn on the tap, and out it comes.  Until it doesn't.  The water pressure seemed suspiciously low yesterday afternoon.  Since I don't know all the idiosyncrasies of this house, that set off a flurry of phone calls with Marji and the water company. No problems reported in the neighborhood. Not a good sign. I went out to the sidewalk and pulled the 800 degree metal cover off the water meter. It was, indeed, spinning like a top with no water running anywhere we could see or hear.

Fortunately, my smart sister has an insurance policy that covers the aging main line to the house.  I was filling pots and pans and preparing for the worst (a visit from the plumbing company) when I decided to check all the toilet tanks in the house.  Lo and behold, the powder room toilet was filling merrily away on automatic pilot. Apparently, that was enough to drain the pressure for the entire house.  A quick jiggle fixed the problem.  Which is about the extent of my plumbing expertise.

Marji's beautiful home is like a quiet oasis after a long morning of travel.  My flight was more-or-less on time, and the polite Uber driver brought me right out to North Las Vegas.  Dad is doing fine, and we're looking forward to spending a few nice days together.  Hopefully we got all the excitement over at once, and today is a quiet day-- the library and out to lunch.  It will be much cooler today, only 95.

Doodles misses Marji.  I'm a poor substitute, but he's making do.  He slept three inches from my face last night.  Tonight, we're making different arrangements.

National Junk Food Day

 

What's more American than junk food?  

Three cheers for salt, fat and sugar!

Dry spell

We've now gone 32 consecutive days without rain (the record is 51, set in 1951.)  This morning it's the real kind of cloudy, not that marine overcast that burns off by mid-morning.  Still, there's only a 20% chance of showers in Seattle. The rain will be on the coast and in the foothills. It sure would be nice to wet things down and freshen up the mole repellent.

As you've seen on the news with the tragic stories, this is monsoon season in the desert southwest. The National Weather Service in Las Vegas reported 0.55" of rain during just one thunderstorm this week.  That's more rain than the Pacific Northwest has seen since early June.

Speaking of Vegas, I'm looking forward to my trip on Sunday-- I'll be staying until Thursday.  It will be hot of course, but Dad and I will get outdoors in the nice early morning hours.  And of course, my favorite lunch spots! Las Vegas is starting to feel like a second home.  Thank you Marji, sorry to miss you this time around but hope you have a wonderful time in Colorado.

Click this LINK for a wild micro-burst video filmed in Las Vegas this week.

The rest of creation

The Rest of Creation

I wonder if God meant
to fill the world
quite as full of us
as it's become.

I can't believe
He saw us from the first
as cuckoos in the nest
edging all His
other creatures out.

And when he used such words
as fruitful, multiply,
dominion...
did He stop to think
what we might make of them?

They were a license,
we supposed,
to bully and abuse
the rest of His creation.
To procreate among ourselves
without restraint.

by Dave King

Wild Kingdom

I suspect the beetles are making salad of the hostas. No wonder moles love it here...a fat beetle would be a nice turkey dinner for a mole. 

I occasionally see giant striped beetles, a fearsome dinosaur of the insect world.  If you tease them with a blade of grass (I know, I know) they arch up on their hind legs and hiss like dragons.  This is fun if you are bored with garden chores (or easily amused.)

Beetles make up the order Coleoptera, which has a half million species and still counting. It is the largest of all life orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms.  Think about that astonishing fact: One quarter of the world's animals belong to the beetle family.  And when the homo sapiens are long gone, they'll still be around.

Beetles are highly selective and seem to like leaves better than flowers. I could care less about a few ratty hosta plants.

On the other hand, lucky for them, they hate lilies.  In fact, it seems like most insects and even hummingbirds avoid lilies.

Every now and then, something truly magnificent like this one comes from a cheap Costco bag of mixed bulbs.

Speaking of moles, maybe the stinky deterrent is finally starting to work?  They've abandoned most of their old mounds and are making new ones now further out along the edge of the yard.  Migrating?

Here's another fun fact from Wiki:

Moles runs are in reality "worm traps."  The mole senses when a worm falls in the tunnel and runs along to kill it.  Their saliva contains a toxin that can paralyze earthworms, so moles are able to store their still living prey for later.  The construct underground larders, and researchers have discovered over 1,000 worms in storage.

Gilbert and Sullivan

Cast members

"HMS Pinafore"

The Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society stages a production every summer, and we've only missed a few since the 1990's.  We've seen the more popular ones like "Pinafore" and "Pirates of Penzence" multiple times, but they've all blended together in my mind into one giant, nutty production.

Some music (like Mahler) has grown on me over time. That seems to be happening with Gilbert and Sullivan. Maybe I'm finally becoming a more patient person? The ridiculous plots, silly stereotypes and redundant tunes once drove me nuts-- well, you can say the same thing about Italian opera. You just have to let it go, and on Saturday I was laughing and clapping along with all the senior citizens in the audience.

Speaking of senior citizens.  Who will attend Gilbert and Sullivan when those assisted living vans stop pulling up?  For the first time, the production was held at the smaller Intiman Theater instead of The Rep, and there were still many empty seats.  What a shame.  The audience surrounds the stage at The Intiman, making you feel like you're part of the fun, instead of just watching it. 

The young cast was great.  We have incredible artistic talent in Seattle.  However, pity the poor actors, because "Bianca" the miniature poodle stole every scene she was in. We adore our doggies in Seattle.  Click here to read her story in the Seattle Times.

OK.  Enough of that.  Let's have some real fun with Gilbert and Sullivan: