Weekly(?) Update

Hmm, this daily (or near daily) blog is turning into a weekly blog. I'm not too happy about that, so I'll try to fit it in more often. I do find the writing to be helpful -- not only do I enjoy writing, but I get my thoughts better organized.

So, since I last wrote, here's what's been happening. (Or another way to put it, here are my excuses for not writing, doing art, etc.)

It's been hot and humid. I live in a desert, so 110 in the summer isn't all that unusual. Lately, as you may have heard on the news, southern California has been having a heat wave. Palm Springs hit 121 on Sunday, I think it was. Here, it's been over 110 on several days, with most days in the 105-110 range. But what's really unusual is the humidity. Normal humidity is 10-20%. Thanks to the 'monsoon flow' from Arizona and Baja, the humidities have been over 40% and in fact yesterday was 65%. Combine the heat and the humidity and it's miserable to do anything. Stepping outside is like stepping into a sauna. Heck the other day I walked maybe 50 feet and my t-shirt smelled like it had just come out of the drier!

The electricity has been iffy. With all the heat, electricity demand has been at record levels. So, the power companies have asked people to conserve. Being a good person, I set my thermostat at 82. (I personally would like to know if I'm the only one who does this, because they are talking on the news about people getting $1000 electric bills. Mine is $60.) Throw into the fact that for the last week or so, our lights have been flicker several times a day. I don't know if it's due to the demand or to the repairs (from the fire), but I don't want to ruin this computer with some weird power-surge/power-drop. (Yes, I have a surge protector, but I don't really trust it.)

Then there's been the afternoon t-storms. It seems almost every afternoon we get at least the threat of t-storms. Most have been thunder, lightning, and very little rain. But the lightning is a concern, especially after our big fire (the Sawtooth Complex Fire).

And then there's the new fires. Since I last wrote, we have had 6 smaller fires within a 15 mile radius. Most have been 20 acres or less, but one did grow to over 1000 acres. All these were lightning started fires. I must confess, I'm more than a bit jumpy. Thankfully, most of these fires are out or contained.

Finally, I'm doing some deep thinking and re-arranging my life. There's nothing like an evacuation and major disaster to wake a person up and point out what's wrong with their life. This little fire has done that for me. I seem to have clearer idea of what's wrong with parts of my life, what I want to change, what I like, and what's important. I had been heading to re-arranging my life before the fire, but now I'm doing it. The problem this creates is trying to get things into an organized manner so I can get stuff done. (I'll write more on this later.)

So that's what I've been upto for the last week. As you can see, I haven't been doing much art, but I'm getting anxious to get to work and now the weather is beginning to cooperate.