My Annual Weather-Complaint Post

Eighty percent of the time, Southern California has amazing weather.  Mild winters, lovely springs, pleasantly-warm autumns.  Then Satan comes to visit for two months and requests the temperatures be adjusted to match his normal residence. I know, August is almost over, but the heat is just starting to get intense.  We'll have insane temperatures through September.  

Yesterday it was 102°, which is normal for this time of year.  The problem was that it also rained during the hottest part of the day, leaving the rest of the afternoon a sticky mess.  It's been like that most of the week, and it has sucked all the energy, along with the will to live, straight out of me.  The only thing I could rally myself to do yesterday (other than complain) was to make some lime-mint sugar scrub for a friend's birthday gift.  I usually screw things up on the first go around, and this time was no different.  I added too much lime juice and instead of a scrub it was lime-mint syrup.  But this time I could take advantage of my mishap and use the first draft in iced tea.  (Well, I haven't used it in there yet, since I didn't have any energy to make iced tea, but it will happen.)  I didn't even have energy enough to take a final picture of the scrub in a cute little mason jar with the lid decorated, but trust, it was really cute.  

One nice thing about these temperatures is that we can wash the dogs outside and not even think about worrying if they'll get cold.  It makes it much easier than wrestling them into a bathtub.  

Not that they hated it any less.

Can you see those pleading eyes?

 

Coco wouldn't even get in the tub.  

But my baby boy Blue was the most tolerant.  He's such a sweetheart.

And of course, they all promptly went and rolled in the dirt afterword.

Alright, I'm off to hibernate until October.

End of Summer in the IE: A Haiku

Only three more days
Tired of triple digits
Hurry up, Autumn

(source)

Ugh-ust

The last day of July brought a lovely surprise: rain.

In the desert.


In the middle of the summer.

(loving the raindrops on top of the pool)

That NEVER happens.



I mean, it actually poured.

Can you tell I haven't deadheaded the flowers in a while?

I know to most people in the country this is a daily occurrence in the summer, but here, it's practically unheard of. And it brought the temps down to around 75°, much cooler than the usual 95°+. It was so refreshing.



And then August had to get all uppity and start herself off with her usual icky-ness:


If the little brat follows her usual recourse, we have an entire month of triple-digit temperatures to look forward to.

A month with heat so intense that it literally saps every bit of energy (plus my will to live) out of my body. (Have I mentioned that we don't use the AC?)


And the worst part? August usually bullies September into following suit.


Just shoot me now.

Would Someone Please Inform the Weather That Fall Starts Tomorrow

Apparently it didn't get the memo.

What? It's Raining in SoCal?

The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain. ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

(map via Weather Bug)

Believe it or not, Disneyland was actually evacuated on Monday due to flooding. Looking at the map above, I realize it shows that we are expected to get three inches of rain, which probably wouldn't even make some of you pause to see if you should bring your umbrella to work. Oh well, when it hits 103° in other parts of the country during the summer, we say, "Eh. We had that at 11:00 last night." Uh. Maybe that isn't necessarily something to be proud of.


Personally, I love the rain.

(image source)

Something I don't personally love? Commuting in the rain.

Long Beach

The Autumn Wind

Ralph just sent this to me. Perfect for this time of year.

The Autumn Wind
by Steve Sabol
(not Ed, his father; thanks Ninja)

The Autumn Wind is a pirate
Blustering in from sea
With a rollicking song he sweeps along
swaggering boisterously
His face is weather beaten
He wears a hooded sash
With his silver hat about his head
And a bristly black moustache
He growls as he storms the country
A villain big and bold
And the trees all shake and quiver and quake
As he robs them of their gold
The Autumn wind is a Raider
Pillaging just for fun
He'll knock you 'round and upside down
And laugh when he's conquered and won.





Who knew football could be so poetic?

You can hear it being read here. The man's voice is awesome. (Makes me think of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven.)

Ten on Tuesday: Heat

I am purposely doing my thankfulness list today about something I loathe with a passion. Down here in southeastern California (which is right next to the sun, by the way) summer is baking us to a crisp and threatening to dehydrate us into mummifications of our former selves. It is consistently in the triple digits and we don't. use. air conditioning. Yeah, you read that right. It's mainly for economic reasons, but the men in the house suffer sinus problems when the AC is on, too.

I get super grumpy and tired in the heat. But wallowing in my own sweat self pity is not going to solve the problem. So... since I have at least two more months of this, I figure I should try and look for the silver lining. While I munch on some ice cubes.

Therefore, in no particular order, here are my 10 reasons I'm thankful for the hot, hot summer heat:

* Since everyone basically hangs out in their swimsuits all day, there is a lot less laundry to do!

* When I do have to do laundry, I don't have to use the dryer. Put the clothes in any upstairs room and they dry in 10 minutes flat!

* Lots of barbeques! It's too hot to use the oven/stove, so we eat lots of BBQ and grilled veggies. Yummy!

* As far as cooking is concerned, I can now try out some car cooking! (Seriously, did you know that the owners' manual for the 1956 Ford station wagon had an entire section on cooking??)

* Looking for cold dessert recipes led me to the cookie-dough pie that we have all fallen in love with.

* My hair dries in 2 minutes with no hair dryer.

* The boys sleep a lot in this heat, so we have lots of quiet time ;)

* The boys NEVER complain about the heat. In fact, Peez was walking around in his flannel pajama bottoms last night. (Something's wrong with that boy.)

* The heat keeps a lot of people indoors, so stores aren't so crowded when I shop.

* Watermelon and frozen grapes are even more delicious in heat like this.

For more things to be thoroughly thankful for, check out Crayl's blog, Beyond Black & White today!

The Week's Flotsam and Jestam

Not a whole lot to report lately. School is finally winding down, which means the boys are extra wound up. The two youngest both got in trouble at school this week for disruptive behavior, and we're just hoping we can ride out the next two weeks sans calls from the principal's office. It's been a struggle dragging them to the finish line kicking and screaming, doing make-up work, etc.

Yesterday we had a lightening storm that was amazing to watch. Lightening hit close enough for us to hear it crack whatever it hit with a sound like a shotgun being fired. (I heard later that the lightening had started 13 fires in the area and killed a woman in the town next to us.) Whenever the thunder would rumble, Coco would run around the yard, furiously barking at it. Rhino slept through it, and Blue hid in the dog house.

It's been so busy lately that I've hardly had time to sit down. So it was really nice to relax with the family last night and watch an hysterical episode of Man Men vs. Wild. Bear Grylls took Will Ferrell with him into the Arctic in Sweden. Oh, man, was that funny!

Will descended into the tundra from a moving helicopter, made snowshoes out of sticks, climbed a frozen waterfall, and ate reindeer eyeballs, all the while cracking jokes and at one point screaming for his mommy. It was especially funny whenever he got Bear to crack up.






Today I'm going to take Aaron to his college campus to continue the sign-up process, which includes tests and lots of forms to be filled out.

What's that?

Why yes, actually, I think it will be quite an exciting afternoon, thankyouverymuch.

Devil Winds

Those hot dry winds that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. ~ Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind"

The above quote rings absolutely true. I swear, the Santa Anas have an effect on people similar to a full moon. People forget how to drive, fights break out for no reason at all, and everything feels like it's been electrified. Add to that the heat, and everyone's brains seem to get a little fried after having finally gotten used to colder weather. It was in the upper 80s yesterday! In January!

These crazy winds don't actually originate in Santa Ana. The original term used by many were Satánas winds or devil winds, "Satánas" being a Spanish variant of Satan. Being in the middle of them right now, I'd say those are accurate titles.

The winds these past few days have been clocked at almost 70 mph, which makes them responsible for a lot of destruction. Yesterday we saw an overturned big rig laying by the side of the road. The Santa Anas also rip off billboard signs, knock over trees, and fuel forest fires (let's hope we don't have any of those this time around).




The winds make it hard to focus on anything else. They seem to draw everyone under their spell. Books and songs have been written about them, and they are referenced in TV shows, movies, magazines, and newspapers as being nearly hypnotic as well as destructive. They force you to pay attention to them by electrifying your skin and throwing grit in your face any time you walk out the door. It's like everything else has to be put on hold until they finally blow themselves out. And when they are gone, everyone comes out slowly, blinking in the sun, as if they've been hiding in a bunker and just now feel it's safe enough to expose themselves and finally survey the damage.

I think I may hibernate until all this is over.

Image sources here