Well, it's still warm.

Yep, summer in the great desert is still warm.  But that's not to say it can't be pretty.  Especially in the early morning when it's not too hot!

I'm always saying that looking at those mountains is one of the reasons we like living here and it's certainly true.  Driving around and seeing people with Trump 2024 flags is certainly NOT one of the good things but I guess they get to have their opinions too.  

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of our front door with tons of dead crickets on the floor.  A few days later I saw this series of photos posted from northern Nevada.

At least we aren't the only ones with the problem!  I'm hearing one of our neighbors using a blower almost every day going around his house blowing the darned things away.  However the bug population at our house has dropped to almost zero so I'm hoping that the problem is going/has gone away.  

Our outside temps are dropping a bit but I'm sure that's just a momentary thing.  Still, there is quite a difference between 104F and 112F (40C and 44.4C).  It will be another month or so before the drop is to the point where you want to be outside!  

A couple of years ago we contacted our local electricity company (Valley Electric aka VEA) and asked about solar panels for generating electricity.  They have a subsidiary that they want you to use (gee!) so we ended up spending about $25,000 on solar panels.  Our house faces north so the panels, mounted on the south side, aren't visible when you look at the house.  And, do they work, you ask.  Yep.  Here's the usage info from the bill covering 6/23 to 7/23 of this year.  It's stupid I think but the power from the panels is sent to the company and then the company sends out power to our house.  It turns out that the panels are almost covering our electric needs even when the a/c is on 24/7 (actually our house is all electric; no gas at all).  In fact, over the year we end up with about 3 months of extra energy created vs energy used.  Of course they take that and sell it to others but that's the way things work when there is no competition.

I'm being obsessed the the Presidential election.  I'm not sure why; I never had any idea that Kamala Harris was alive until she became President Biden's VP.  Never heard of Tim Walz or JD Vance either.  Still a couple of those people are going to be running our country in something under 6 months.  I was worried that President Biden was getting a little old to be running the country but Mr. Trump isn't any spring chicken either!  Actually, him having Vance as his VP makes me a little afraid because there is at least say a 20% chance that some illness might happen to Mr. Trump.  And then Mr. Vance would be acting President/the next President.  Yeah, that does worry me.  I've been following a blog that is pretty anti-Trump and it makes some really good points quoting printed articles and sharing cartoons from all over the place.  For sure it's not a pro-Trump site but I like it!

Well, that's the news from this corner of the desert.  Have a great day and keep washing those hands and staying away from the sick people!

July is moving along!

Jeez, I know I'm getting older and older but this speeding up of time is just crazy!  It was only a couple days ago that I took this on the 4th.

Yeah, I didn't even go outside to take the photo.  I wonder why I was such an idiot?  Hmmm, maybe this?

Those are dead and dying bugs in front of our front door!  I've been cleaning it every day or two.  That's just wrong but it's been going on for the last 10 days or so.  The only thing I can think of is that the porch is shaded on the North side of the house so it has to be quite a bit cooler than being out in the sunshine.  And when we are talking 115 F (46C); well, it's nasty out there in the sun! 

Of course those bugs like the ceiling too.

Needless to say I've been spraying around the doors.  We are still getting bugs into the house.  Actually, the population is nothing like outside but finding a dozen every day is kind of depressing.  

We have finally tried leaving Gus, the dog, alone for an hour or so while we go out to lunch.  He tends to find a place where he can see the front door, the garage door and the back door; and that's where he stays!  It's a big improvement over last year where he would be barking and running around.  

And just to prove that I'm not the only one with a camera on my phone, here's a photo my wife took of the sunrise this morning.

That cloud cover made for a nice morning.  Not cool but under 80F (27C).  Well, that's all the news from out here in nowhere.  Have a good one and keep washing those hands!