When you hear a loud clap of thunder, look out the window and see sunshine it's hard to figure out. So I always grab my camera and head to the patio because that is where I am going to find my answer. This time of year it's "The Monsoons". That is one reason I want to get my bike riding in during the early morning because any time after noon, all bets are off when it comes to weather right now. Those are the Mule Mountains that Al on The Bayfield Bunch mentions sometimes in his winter travels to the SW.
Starting with that top photo the top three photos were taken in order from left to right. All withing one minute. Luckily Stella was sleeping all through the noise outside as was Heidi but she isn't afraid of any kind of storms.
The small mountain to the left of center sits across the border in Mexico. You can see how the sudden rain splits the skies into two different worlds.
This morning at 5:55am Stella and I witnessed some fantastic skies taken after we got back from her daily walk. I always take these photos from my patio and from left to right. There is never a morning where I am not amazed at what I am looking at. I remember seeing some early morning sunrises across the field in back of the house in Indiana but even at that time of day the air could be really heavy with thick humidity, not here.
This time of year, it is going to be clear weather in the mornings and then things get interesting from 12:30pm on and never at the same time. I haven't got caught in the heavy rain grocery shopping yet but I have come close, where there was hard rain less than a mile from the store as I drove home.
You really can't go on the percentage for chance of rain either. I looked at WeatherBug and Wunderground weather this morning before I went bike riding and both said I had a 10-15% chance of rain up to 12 noon. Yet it didn't surprise me that it was lightly raining on me 45 minutes into my bike ride. It only rained for a short time toward the mountains where I was heading but I could tell by the rain puddles coming home it had rained hard near town.
With weather like this, I canceled any plans for a short trip. I really didn't want to look at Tombstone in the rain and didn't want to leave Stella at home if there was going to be on and off thunder. Heidi cannot control Stella's pacing and whining when it thunders. I can usually get her calmed down enough that she will lay down and go to sleep.
With two days off I was planning a big ride today on my road bike. I knew exactly where I was going and what I was going to do. I rode 30 miles and climbed over a 1,000 ft in elevation on long gradual climbs, then spent the last part of the ride on fairly flat bike path and streets to get the pulse rate a little lower or what some call a "warm down."
I don't know what, if anything comes into our yard at night, but if you watched Stella this morning giving the yard a close inspection you would have thought we had a zoo of animals pass through last night and then escape the fence by the time she woke up.
I would pay a large sum of money to know what really goes through her mind and know her thought process.
Like I have said before, I like my barren plain rock yard. It's much easier to see the scorpions, rattle snakes and tarantulas WHEN they show up. So far I've only seen the one dead tarantula yesterday afternoon. My friend did post on Facebook last night a picture of a rattlesnake he saw at ... ???? The Ramsey Canyon Ranch House last night ... we were there that morning taking photos.
My couch has been tested and passed with flying colors as a couch that siestas can be taken, they might last longer than an hour. Here I was, wondering what to do with all the pillows that came with the couch. (j/k)
I saw where the NFL started their pre-season games last night but I did not watch one of them. I wasn't interested. Instead I grabbed a tall glass of ice cold water, sat in that ugly blue chair on the patio and took in the sky show. Rain was on the way later in the night so it was nice to hear all of the animal activity off in the distance.
Last month I had a wisdom tooth break below the gum line leaving about 1/4 of the tooth. I had it extracted along with some bone, based on what the invoice said. It was painless and I had no issues the following week. Something happened the next day though that I had never experienced in my life as far as dentists go. Dr Edwards called me to see how I was doing and reminding what could happen in the next six days. I must admit the call surprised me and confirmed to me ... I had been given the right dentist office, recommended by a blog reader and the owner of the bike shop I visit.
So today as I was about to dose off on that new couch, soon after lunch, when the phone rings. It's Dr. Edwards again calling to see how I am doing with the work he did yesterday and reminding of things I might feel, maybe not. He also reiterated his plan for when I go back on the 27th of August. Not surprised he called but with minor dental work I didn't expect the call.
Where as my dentist back in Bloomington that I blog about here in August 2015 was entirely different as well as his office. His focus was money money money. Not a lot of explaining, just get done as fast as possible ... patients in and out as fast as possible ... more bang for the buck. I had a permanent crown put on the same day he did a root canal. No ... he never called to see how I was doing. I paid in cash in full and owed him nothing so he was happy I guess.
Every day around 4:30pm local time or 7:30pm Eastern time (Heidi's still on Eastern Time), she will walk into the kitchen right to the door where the small bone treats are. It's that door on the left in the corner. Of course that wakes up Stella and just the sound of possible food of any kind has her drooling ... they both get one bone treat and are soon back to sleep ... but Heidi leads the attack on that one. IF that treat is not given out fast enough she will bark nonstop.
She was skin and bones a few years ago and now may be a pound or two overweight. No bare skin on her legs, feet or ankles.
She looked like this in October 2016 if you remember. Four different vets, grain free food, allergy shots and pills, blood tests ... Each vet attempting something the other had not ... and no one had an answer. Was it food or environmental allergies???
Then I went back to basic ingredients dog food with chicken meal with brown rice, Wholesome Sportmix. It is made by the same company that makes the grain free food called Earthborn. Within a month I started to see changes to Heidi's legs and Stella's coat and weight gain. She was also having weight loss problems that blood work was showing normal readings.
I am still using the Wholesome Sportmix w/grains.
I have caught myself being so amazed by the constant changes in sky in back that I cannot stop taking photos of it when I am at home. I was reminded the other day by a long time local, that this month and September are the two worst months of the year. If that is what this is, I'll take it.
I am going to take a little drive south of me tomorrow for lunch. I hope they let me take photos inside otherwise it will just be one or two taken outside before I walk in to eat. It has good reviews on Yelp, as if that makes any difference and is nearby. I keep forgetting how much business is south of me, a direction I rarely drive.
The hounds are sleeping before the Reds game that starts at 4:10pm Pacific Time. That's their normal procedure. Someone asked me if I still played Mahjong and if I ever got bored. She seemed to think I sounded bored for years when she read my blog. She may have been right.
Yes, I still play Mahjong, just not as much.
The Monsoons are playing right now in the Wild West.