Well, guess what, I did go to the lake, after all, and I took a zillion pictures (thank the Lord for digital cameras). These photos are going to look just like the ones I took last year at the lake.  Same lake, same hot sun, same kids, same swimsuits, even!   It was 115, just like I thought.  We didn't get there until 3 pm, and we still sunburned.  I put my toes in the water a couple of times, and I can't believe the kids actually got in.  (My DH did, too, but he's like that. )  The beach was packed, well, there might have been 50 people there, but that's too many for our liking.  We go wayyyy down on the end where there isn't anybody. Problem is, we have to walk by all of them on our way out.  Sorry about all the pixelation.  Someday I'll figure out how to post photos right, but not right now. I'm going to bed.  See you tomorrow!

UPDATE:  To my horror, I have found that my research on this plant was quite faulty!!  Here is the content of a comment I received on this entry:
I wanted to write you concerning the article you wrote on the ocotillo.  It is commonly mistaken for a cactus but it is actually a plant.  The leaf on the plant we have grows just above the base of the thorn but the leaf is not a part of the thorn.  There may be a variety that is actually a part of the thorn, not sure, but the one we have the leaf comes out just above the thorn at the base.  Thought you may want to check the info out for yourself because I am not a botanist by any means.  Just wanted to make sure someone who lives far from the desert and had never seen the plant didn't actually mistake it for a cactus.
Thank you, Cherie, for enlightening us!  (I did wonder about those new little leaves growing above the thorns...)


My earlier post on cactus (with a little help from a kind commenter) has inspired me to try making cactus jelly.  We will have to wait until later in the summer to do that, but in the meantime I have suddenly become interested in photographing and learning about the other species we have in our yard. This one is my favorite -- ocotillo.  This pd photo is nicer than the one I took with houses in the background.

Ocotillo are tall and spindly and grow up to about 20 ft. high, depending on the variety.  They bloom from March to June (or later), depending on rainfall.  This one blooms each time it rains (which is not often this time of year!) or whenever it is watered.  I love the flame-like clusters of flowers at the top of each stalk, because they seem to add a touch of gracefulness to the harshness of the environment here. They are beautiful waving in the breeze.

(Above photo by Amy.)

Amy pulled one of the flowers apart and gave us a great view of the stamen, anthers, and pollen.

The bark of this cactus is beautiful.  Young stalks are green and look like several stalks have been glued together.  As the plant matures, the "seams" separate and dry, leaving beautiful variegation.

When the leaves have all dried up, only the stalk and thorns are left.  But as soon as it rains, here come little buds, just above the thorns.  I prefer these obvious thorns over the nearly invisible, fine stickers that many other cacti are armed with!

And for those of you who are trivia buffs or mathematicians, I have two more pieces of interesting news. One, Alison discovered the Fibonacci spiral when she looked down the length of a cut piece of ocotillo stalk. Two, if you are ever stranded out in the desert wilderness, and you just happen to have a match, and you also just happen to have a good, dry piece of ocotillo, you can start a good signal fire.  Burning ocotillo sends up a black, greasy smoke. (File that away with my earlier tip on Elmer's glue.)

Congratulate me! I do believe I have set a personal record for non-blogging, eight days!  I have been keeping up with most of my blogging friends, but we have been so busy enjoying the lovely local weather here that I have not been posting anything, not even comments!  And sometimes it seems I just can't come up with anything interesting to say, even though things have been happening, Emily is still asking questions, and there have been lots of informative and interesting posts out there (made by other people, not me!) to share with you all. Call it blogger's block.

This is the time of year when I used to call home crying, "Please let me come home, I HATE the snow!!!" I lived on my college campus in Minnesota. I hated February and March, and  we were always blessed with a blizzard in April, too. Shudder. So I am very happy to say we have had some delightful days here the past week, and I feel so sorry for some of you who are still in the land of Winter!

We have some fun and exciting visitors with us this week, my MIL and FIL, who drove all the way from Virginia to see us! Here's what we have been busy with the past few days.  Don't hate us.  We can't help it that we live where the sun shines.

The big girls skated to the park this morning while Nana and Emily walked, then I did some errands and joined them at the park with Emily's bike:

We broke the rules.  Wheelchairs only!

Yesterday everyone but Emily and me went for a desert hike. (We had a nap.   That smiley is me.  This one is Emily:  ) These pics below were taken either in California or Nevada, somewhere close to where they meet on the map. Yes, behind those heavy, snowy clouds  hovering over those of you who are in Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc, the sky IS blue still!





Nana brought along something I was supposed to take home with me when we were with them last year, a vase-painting kit for the girls. (We didn't have one extra inch of space!) So the girls enjoyed painting yesterday morning with the warm sun on their backs:





And the big guys went for a macho bike ride.  Out here in the West, image is everything, you know.  That is why my DH is wearing long pants and is barefoot, lol! Yes, he always wears long pants (modesty is for men as well as for ladies), and no, he does not really bike in his bare feet. We call him Pants Armstrong, lol.

One of the reasons we enjoy having Nana and Papa with us is that they always bring such good things to eat with them!  This time they loaded us with oranges and grapefruits from Phoenix, as well as cookies from Germany, and roasted almonds from Costco, lol.  I think I will be 10 lbs fatter after this week, just when I was hoping to lose some weight. Well, I am ALWAYS hoping to lose some weight.  It never happens, and I know that is because weight loss DOESN'T just happen!  It's so much work.  Totally against my personality.  Like housework.  Housework and weight loss.  Same kind of thing!  sigh.

This morning my own parents left for a two and a half week trip to Thailand.  Not my first choice, for sure (I hear Bangkok makes Las Vegas look like kindergarten, and I know what Vegas looks like!) but I do enjoy seeing new places.  I think I got that travel bug injected deep into my veins when I was a little kid.  Unfortunately my DH seems to have been immunized against traveling, so we pretty much stay home.  But home is where the heart is, right?

Well, I am just blabbing for the sake of posting something, so I had better get off here and go do something real. I'll see you all here in the neighborhood somewhere!

 

This is the beach, below.  If the scenery looks familiar, it is because we always go to the same spot! Pretty desolate on a Wednesday afternoon after Labor Day (school has started, yay!) in 115 degrees! This photo is taken from the far end of the cove, which is our spot.  My girls love to go to "the island", which is about 40 yards from the shore, but that means a long walk!  As you can (barely) see, there is no nice grassy place to lay your towel here, like there might be at a midwest lake.  But there is also no mud, no leaches, no mosquitoes, and no green scum on the water. It is sooooo clear!  

This is looking the other way, from our spot:

The swimmers of varying abilities have made it to the island, where there is a nice spot for diving in. Until I was able to see if for myself, I was afraid someone would hit the bottom head-first and end up a quadraplegic.   It must be the ex-lifeguard in me.

Doting daughters:

Relaxing:

The unhappy non-swimmer was given the important job of lifeguard, and from that point on she was content to supervise:

I also tried my hand at some wildlife photography.  I NEVER have my Audubon book along when I need it, so I can't tell you what species this dragonfly is:

I also photographed the red ants that were swarming all over our stuff and our spot, but with my skill they are too small to make a good photo! They were nice enough not to feel the need to crawl over our feet.  Ants really are fascinating to watch.  I dumped our granola bar crumbs too close to our towels and stuff, and Emily and I watched the ants help each other to carry the proportionately HUGE oat pieces to where ever they were trying to take them.  You could almost hear them talking to each other. "Hey you guys, come over here and help me with this!"  And, "Oh, you look like you could use another set of arms (legs) to get that load home.  Here, let me help you."  Great lessons for a three-year-old and a self-centered Mommy.

 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Philippians 2:2-4

RAIN!!!

After I did all that moaning about how incredibly hot it is here, my wonderful Lord sent an arctic front to the Mohave Valley   God is so good to me -- makes me feel just lousy about my grumbling! To think I could be (and AM!) so consumed with my flesh’s comfort! We have had three days in the 90’s, sooo pleasant!  Just about every time I get on this computer for the sake of blogging, I think A fool's voice is known by multitude of words, and, In the multitude of words, there wanteth not sin. I think you can find both of those verses in Ecclesiastes.  Anyway, I displayed my foolishness and my bad attitude by posting my complaints for the whole world to see!

For those of you who doubted my claim about the hot pillow, our bedroom is on the west side of the house, and our bed is against the outside wall.  These homes are barely insulated, and on a good July day we can get it up to 130 degrees on our veranda (well, yes, with the thermometer in the sun, but so is that wall!).  So yes, that makes my poor pillow very warm to the touch. That was not an exaggeration posted in the NOT-exaggeration category!

And, some of you will be happy to know that after I bragged about our scarcity of mosquitoes, I have not one, but TWO mosquito bites in my arch, and they are driving me crazy. (I won’t tell you all that the entire time we have lived here, we have never seen a rattlesnake or a black widow spider, because I am afraid what will happen!)

When I mention my warm state, I am really only speaking of my local area.  Arizona has a diverse climatology, and it isn’t all like this.  We used to be the hot spot in the nation regularly, until probably the tourism board of our town decided that distinction wasn’t drawing people to our area.  So they moved the official thermometer.  Now we are only second or third :o)

One last thing – no, I guess it really doesn’t get cold here as cold goes. We might be in the 50’s here on a “cold” winter day.  HOWEVER, those of us who are used to being slowly toasted like a marshmallow all summer long FEEL like it is freezing cold in the winter!!!  Our JCPenney store has all the same winter gear than yours does – coats, mittens, hats and scarves, even flannel sheets and electric blankets  And yes, we use them!  We can tell who our snow-birds are by the fact that in January they are dressed like it is June back home!

Okay.  I promise now, this is my last post about the weather.  I’m tired of hearing me talk about it too!  Ecclesiastes 5:3!

(Poster from www.allposters.com.)

No, the water is not quite that cold, and it does warm up a bit as the summer passes. The river, on the other hand, IS that cold since we are close to the dam, and it stays that way!

Here are some NOT exaggerations:

*Stepping outside the house really does feel like you are standing in front of your open oven door.

*You open your car door, buckle your seat belt, and steer the car with an oven mitt or other some such protection.

*There is no such thing as cold tap water. Praise the Lord for automatic ice-makers! All laundry is hot or warm water wash.

*A cold shower burns until the water that is in the pipes that are between the street and the house is used up. For some reason (?) they are buried about 2" from the surface here, and exposed during high winds when the dirt blows away.

*You take a water bottle EVERYWHERE, and so do your kids.

*You pray not to have your car break down or get a flat.

*The inside temperature of your car may be over 180 degrees in less than 20 minutes.

*You park where there is shade (IF there is shade), not in the spot closest to the door!

*The morning sun is hotter than the late afternoon/evening sun.  It is more direct.  By late afternoon the entire landscape has warmed up, so there is more of an enveloping feel to the heat. It is even pleasant!  That morning sun feels like a laser burning into you.

*If your pillow is leaning agains the wall, it will be too hot to put your face on at night.

Having said all that, I will say I am very thankful that I never even SEE a mosquito (probably they can't survive here!), and that I rarely break a sweat, and that when I get out of the shower, I don't feel like I need another one before I can even get my clothes on :o)  ...Not until the monsoon kicks in, anyway...

For those of you who are confused, "Mohave" is spelled with an "h" on the east side of the Colorado River, and with a "j" (Mojave) in California.

And I don't mean the kind you do in the oven. I posted pictures of us at the lake a few weeks ago, here. The last time we went was happy. Well, we went to the lake again today. But I was not excited about this excursion from the time my husband mentioned it last week. I did NOT want to go.  The idea of sitting in 110 degrees and no shade just really did not appeal to me, water or no.  Besides that, the area where we like to put our stuff down is a long hike from the car AND the bathroom. (I am shamed to admit it, but I told my three year old that if she had to go potty, to go in the lake!  ) My big old ugly SELF was really challenged today.  I went, but with the grumps, which means my meek and quiet spirit lost the battle. Again.  See, I told you I was selfish -- remember my post  about God giving me only girls? After writing that, I thought about the things that really make me mad (like my kids crossing me) and realized that the only reason I ever really get angry about anything is because I don't get my own way. How pathetic!  Well, now that I understand that, I am really working on it.  Until this afternoon I thought I was doing really well. I HAD to go along, because if I didn't, Emily would be heartbroken.  If I don't go, she doesn't get to go, either.  Daddy can't swim with the bigger girls in the deep water AND play with her in the shallow water at the same time. So if Emily goes, I go, and if I don't go, Emily doesn't go either. Not too fair to her if I stayed home.  So I grudgingly went along, refusing to smile or be happy even if something funny happened (one reason why I could identify with Ida B!)

Well, my sweet husband who loves me no matter what kind of snit I am in,  pulled me out of my frump. He was just kind to me, which made me feel terribly repentant. And when I got into the water with little Emily, her arms tight aroung my neck while I took her into "deep" water, I got a warm feeling all over .  I almost decided right there and then not to give up any opportunity to do that with her, because she is growing up so fast!  My baby!

So anyway, the point of this whole post was to help you to experience Lake Mohave in June. Here is what you do:

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

2. Put a bucket of ice water on the floor in front of your oven door.

3. Take off your shoes and stand in the bucket of ice water.

4. Now, bend over from the waist a bit, like you are going to check on your cookies, and open your oven door for about 15 seconds.

Feel that hot wind in your face?  Are your feet numb yet?  Next month you can do this again, only set your oven for 500.  It will be hotter then.

Ready to go in!

Brave Alie

This is one of the 101 Things Every Kid Should Do.

Yes, it's cold! (Yea, too cold for snakes in the water!)

Wild burros wait for us to go home, so they can get a drink.

Happy Family