Thunderstorm brewing at sunset

                               


It's official, we're having a heat wave! Temperatures over 110 (42C) have triggered a National Weather Service 'Hazardous weather outlook" with Heat Advisory in effect. We're trying to stay inside where the AC is doing a good job keeping us cool, and a quick dip in the pool every now and than!
It's hot, hot, hot ....

And with that the summer thunderstorms have started. At the end of these scorching hot days they start to build up and come down on us with a vengeance.
Sometimes they come with tornado and flash flood warnings but so far, let's knock on wood, nothing like that has happened yet.

We do get incredible wind gusts though, and I'm sorry to say that one such (80 miles/hour!!) gusts finally got our awning too!


              

It lifted the whole thing up and over the RV  .... wham, bam, slam!... and there went our 18' awning! Ripped completely off!
#$@%^&!!! (and that's saying it nicely)

And that's just a week or so after we installed a second awning on the 'other' side of the RV!!
We had ordered some (used) parts on E-bay and we used some salvaged parts of awnings that other people lost during a storm a couple of weeks ago (!).

James did a great job of making it work, wrestling the heavy,17 foot thing in place and securing it safely.

We only have it out half way and it mainly serves to keep water, dirt and sun off the slide roof and the large windows we have on that side.

It does a great job keeping us about 10 degrees cooler inside!

But now we lost the 'old' one, on the other side! Even that one we had only 'out' half way and heavily anchored to the ground with straps and stakes but these winds are something else!

Actually, we think one of the locks on the tube's torsion spring gave way which made a few other things fail in succession.

Oh well. We've saved as much as we could and made an heroic effort to try to bend back the dented tube (hopefully it'll be enough) and I'm back on E-bay to find awning parts again!

                              'we.. will... rebuild...!!' (sob)

Talking about rebuilding: we just finished rebuilding our fridge. Also. (yeah, it never rains but it pours, doesn't it)

Apparently, the cooling coils of our fridge decided that after 14 years they couldn't take it anymore and just quit! As it turned out, the coils had cracked (rusted through?) and the cooling fluid had leaked out.

A quick look for a new fridge sent us almost into cardiac arrest ($4500), and a used on on E-bay ($2500) at least into arrhythmics!
After another afternoon of endless research on the web I found several companies who 'refurbish' these coils, and the cheapest one I could find (including shipping) came to $699 with a $50 rebate if you sent your old ones back. 
                               Better. But still. Jeez!

So, we ordered the coils, James took the old ones out (took some elbow grease as you can see), we borrowed a small home fridge from a colleague of James and when the new ones arrived we did everything again but in reverse. Pffft. What's next?

I'm not sure how to transition to the next pictures. Maybe something about every Eden having it's snakes. 
Or wind gusts .. or leaking coils...?

This is a Big Bend Patch nosed snake. See the triangular front flap on his nose? (I'm told it's useful in sand) (as in not getting it 'up your nose')

They're fast moving and 'may bite if cornered' but are not venomous.

And this is a Big Bend Racer (Coluber constrictor). Moves fast and climbs trees (I don't know why I find that so scary). Is also not venomous or a constrictor, despite his name, but has a temper and 'bites hard' when handled. Like you'd want to?

OK. While we're at the nasty stuff, here's a another cutey:

                       

Showed up in the ladies restroom and, tenderhearted as I am, I just couldn't squash him/her like the cleaning lady suggested. I mean, he also has a mother who loves him ...
So I brought him outside in a paper towel, during which he kept completely still, took a few pictures of him and released him in a rocky area.
After a few minutes of still 'playing dead', he all of a sudden raised his tail, opened his front 'pincers' and took off in a hurry!

My Audubon Field guide told me later it was a Bark Scorpion. 'Most dangerous scorpion in the Southwest: sting is life threatening to young children.' Oops!

Quick! Let's go to something sweet. And cute. And fluffy. And cuddly.

And hot ....

And into every closet you leave open for longer than 10 seconds ....

By the way, I'm on a diet. Yup. I only eat one waffle for breakfast now instead of two .... ;-)