Coffee heat rising

Around the Swamp…uhm, Park

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Hot, soggy morning. Ruby and I: just back from circumambulating the big, green park that forms the centerpiece of the ‘Hood,

Handsome young parents roll their adorable toddlers around in strollers. Other old buzzards like me dodder around behind our dogs. Athletic middle-aged types stride or jog past us. Workmen shoveling out the house vacated by the couple who lost everything when their son was arrested on some absurd charge putter around the corner house. Early commuters zip past on the mini-arterial that runs up the center of the ‘Hood. Very pretty, very classy spot.

Briefly, I considered buying that house. But…well, no.

It just requires TOO much work. That crew of workmen have been there for a couple of weeks, and it sure doesn’t look like they’re gonna be finished soon. Plus the pool was allowed to stand in the sun and dry out, ruining the plaster and probably everything that runs the thing. And the traffic on the road that runs past it is fairly fierce. Nope. don’t think so!

Plus it’s too damn public The house backs onto the park. Even with a bank of oleanders running along the back fence, it’s too easy for passers-by and burglars to see into the yard and, if they look closely, through the French doors and into the house.

I do believe the place I’m in will be a much better investment to pass along to my son — assuming I can manage to stay here until I croak over. It’s in excellent shape: decently maintained inside and out; pool running well and also well maintained; a decent distance from busy (read “noisy”) roads… No: this is the place.

This is the place I need to hand along to my son!

Hot Day in the ‘Hood

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Augh!  It’s just NOT that hot out there!  A piddling 92 degrees, at a feeble 7 percent humidity. But I stumbled in the house SOAKING wet, sweltering like I’d  come in from the 6th level of Hell.

Holy mackerel, is it sticky and hot out there!

Just returned from perambulating the neighborhood. True: I might have refrained from going out at 3:00 in the afternoon. Ohhh well: no IQ left.

Fortunately, I left the little dog home. She’d have been fried by now. Really: If you’d asked me, I’d have estimated about 95+ degrees: more like pushing 100.

Gerardo the Miraculous Yard Dude presented me with a new $20 gouge on this month’s bill…which now, as I gasp for air here in the A.C., I cannot find. Wouldn’tcha know?

Well, it’ll surface. What the Hell!

Interestingly (so I think, anyhow), the ‘Hood has maintained its quality, despite its advancing age and central urban location. My goodness. I’ve been here a good 15 years or more…and if anything, our streets and homes look BETTER than they did when I moved in.

This leaves me hope for my plan to leave the house to my honored son. I really would like him to have this pleasant, well built place…but that will be useful only if the neighborhood holds its value. Just now, it appears that’s exactly what’s happening!  In fact…if anything the place may be improving in maintenance and cosmetics.

 

ARF! Not to say OUCH!

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Managed to limp around an old and favorite neighborhood route this evening. Just stumbled back in the house…   OUCH!! is what I say to that! Man, did that HURT.

The whole damn stroll hurt. With every single step. 😮  I sprained my left ankle a day ago, and instead of getting better, it seems to be getting worse. Walking has become a bit of a challenge…  So, we won’t be repeating that frolic until the pain is gone, gone, y-gone! 

Adding to the joy, it feels like a swamp out there. Humidity is only 8 percent…but the air is just plain mushy!

Weird.

Ruby trotted right along with the Human, though. Not in any hurry to drag the critter up the road, but not dawdling, either. She is an amazing little dog, truly.

We saw none of our usual fellow sidewalk-haunters, though. Not even anyone on bicycles.

The beloved Ole Guy, a fine old graybeard who used to putter in his front driveway most of the time, is long gone. Haven’t seen his widow in weeks and weeks, either…so I speculate that she has moved away. Much missed, that pair!

I fear I’m the last vestige of the neighbors who held forth when SDXB lived here. He has moved to Sun City, to my mind a fate worse than rotten spaghetti. Been there, done that, ain’t goin’ there again! But more than that: he’s not answering the phone, and trying to call up his name on the Web leads to an endless come-on from a website that tries to lure you into paying for information.

Hmmm…  The weather channel tells us we can expect no rain, highs in low 90s; lows in the high 60s.  Gorgeous sunset! A veil of high, pink clouds over an aqua sky: just spectacular. That’s one of the things that characterizes Arizona: amazing sunsets.

The little cactus near the far end of the pool has blasted forth with a set of unbelievably brilliant, deep pink blossoms. Astonishingly beautiful.

***

Hah!!!! Lured the Ruby back into the house with the promise of Doggy Treats!

And now the human contemplates the possibility of crawling into the sack. Awfully early for that — only twenty to eight. But oh my…I do hurt.

Yeah…I think it’s bed-time for Bonzo and Bonzette!

Later, gaters!

 

 

 

Hubs of Hades Central!

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LOL! Yesterday I reported that it was hotter than the hubs of Hades here. And yea, verily: so it was.

BUT…we hadn’t seen Hades yet, by yesterday afternoon. Today it’s handsomely HOT and stickily HUMID. Ick!!!!

Seriously: I’d planned to walk over to one of the three nearby grocery stores and pick up a few food items this morning.

Uh…no. Nope, noooo indeed.

Fortunately, we have plenty of dawg food: enough to last a good week or ten days.

Human food: likewise. Plenty of frozen salmon, pieces of steak, pasta, veggies, and whatnot.

Shouldn’t have to raid a grocer for at least ten days; probably two weeks. Amazon will ship the dog food. Human food also: to a degree….but personally, I like to see and examine my own chow before I buy it. This, however, should not be a problem. Just get out of the house about the time a store opens, and it should be easy to dodge the soggy heat.

My neighbor was out front pruning shrubbery when I trotted past his house. Man of steel, I’ll tellya! You couldn’t pay me to do that in this weather. BUT…it does have to be done…and hiring some hapless wretch to do it for you is likely to bankrupt you.

At any rate, as I frolicked  past, he assured me that he would drive me to a store if need be.   🙂

The supermarkets nearby (three of them!) open at around 7:00 a.m. So if I roll out of the sack at sunrise, I’ll be able to walk over to a nice store and stock up on whatever I need, before it gets too hot. But seriously: I don’t think that will be necessary for awhile.

PLUS: the other day a neighbor invited me to visit the nearby Sprouts with her. She drove us over there. That was nice…AND it was fun. So I may be able to talk her into a repeat trip.

And a variety of professionals and service providers operate within walking distance:

* ophthalmologist
* veterinarian
* computer store (2 of ’em)
* drugstore/pharmacy
* supermarkets (2 huge ones), each with its own pharmacy (a third lurks across Main Drag West)
* hair stylist

On and on and on, actually…. Truth to tell, there really is no need to go outside the Funny Farm’s immediate neighborhood to get about 98% of one’s standard needs done. Especially with Amazon filling in the gaps!

Y’know, this is how it was when DXH and I lived in London for several months, while I worked on the Robert Sidney book. We never needed a car, unless we took it into our heads to go sight-seeing in the country. I suppose that means Phoenix has “grown up” as a city: it now functions as a genuine metropolis.

WhatEVER: just now I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to live here at the Funny Farm for at least a couple more years — maybe longer than that. Especially if I can hire someone to come in and take care of the house, drive me to requisite destinations, and generally ride herd on me.

We shall see if that proves to be true! 😀

Hotter than the Hubs…

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Did you know you can work up a lather just by walking around a few blocks in your neighborhood?

😀

Well. Yeah: if you live in (un)lovely Arizona, you sure can!

It is HOT and WET out there! Lightly overcast: feels almost like Saudi Arabia used to feel. And that, for those who haven’t enjoyed the experience, feels a great deal like the inner circles of Hell.

That notwithstanding, today’s damp and steamy stroll was surprisingly pleasant. Passed a young couple in their front yard, showing off their new baby to friends. awwwww! 

<3  <3  <3

Our financial advisor was supposed to send over a candidate for the cleaning lady position he (unilaterally) proposes to offer. NEVVERMIND that I have a very fine cleaning lady who has worked for me over the past several  years and whom I have no intention of replacing.

Hey! I’m just the Little Woman, right? Who cares what I think?

Anyway, if she showed up while I was stumbling around the ‘Hood, I missed her. She didn’t call and she didn’t leave a note, so I’ll assume either she never surfaced or else he smartened up enough to call her off.

😀

Life. Gets sillier and sillier, doesn’t it?

Passed a new life as I was ambling about: a young couple with a brand-new baby. Too, too delightful. 

Dayum, but I love this neighborhood. And “love this neighborhood” is THE specific reason I do NOT wish to be locked up the the Beatitudes, an old-folkerie from Hell.

How the Hell do I evade that?

****

Do hafta say, though, that this IS the nicest neighborhood I’ve ever lived in. And since I’ve lived in places all over the damn planet — from here to Saudi Arabia — that is sayin’ something. And that’s why I most decidedly NOT want to be moved out of here.

For what it costs to live in a prison for old folks, I’m pretty sure I can hire someone to come here and take care of me. You can be damn sure I’m gonna try, anyhow.

Main trick will be to find someone responsible, competent, and incapable of stealing stuff.

And, as you know…that’ll be a trick! 

😀

Weather: Best Described as Awful

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Hot(!) dang, but yes indeed: it’s HOT here in the loafing room!

😀 Didja know you could work up a sweat by typing? 😀  Neither did I!!

Wunderground claims it’s only 98 degrees out there. Bullsh!t…

Hmmmmm…   Apparently it’s not that far off, though. In the shade of the back porch, my thermometer reads…ayup! Ninety-eight! Who’d’ve thunk it? Humidity: only 7 percent. Just not that hot.

So…I dunno why it feels like it’s hotter than the Hubs: indoors as well as outdoors.

Three and a half more months of sizzling weather! June, July, and August. September is hot here, too, but the nights begin to cool off along about then.

For sure: if my son weren’t here, I would be back in the Bay Area, whence my mother’s family came. Right now it’s allegedly 65º in the City. Looks like the high this week will come on Monday: 76 degrees. Ohhhkayyy…. 

Ohhh well. At least the Human and the Dawg are not up on the Rim, at our erstwhile Ranch. The place is burning down. Wickenburg, a town northwest of the Valley on the way to California, has had evacuations and SWAT teams and all sorts of drama. This is where our ranch was — well, a few miles outside of Wickenburg. I do miss the ranch, that’s for sure… But boy! Am I glad we’re not there now!

***

Starting to feel a bit better, from whatever ailed me. Must have been some kind of virus: a mild flu? WhatEVER: I’ve sure felt crummy over the past few days.

The spider bite unwound overnight, mercifully. This morning it’s pretty well gone! No pain…doesn’t even itch. That, I would call atypical…but I ain’t fightin’ it!

***

Stupid stuff going on here…stupid enough to stupefy Funny.

For reasons I can’t imagine, my financial advisor decided that he would rescue me from myself by hiring a cleaning lady and siccing her on me.

?????????

He never did seem to get the picture that I have a cleaning lady: a first-rate one. So this woman is supposed to show up here next week…and…I guess I don’t know what to do about that. If my present employee shows up when this woman is batting around, you can be sure my lady will quit on the spot.

And I don’t want to lose her. She does a first-rate job on every part of the house, and I don’t NEED another cleaning lady!!  Not at all.

I guess I should get off my duff and call off financial dude. But complicating matters, my son got into the middle of this transaction. And I’m afraid if I cancel New Cleaning Lady, that will annoy Dear Son enough to cause a conflict.

And just now…well…conflict is not what I’m up for.

Too hot for that, y’know…