Nice start to the day...

 

We have been occupied with the new Roadtrek, the heat has been "record breaking" (literally), and that has left scant time for getting out on the scoots.  I told Joan last night, "I think I need a ride tomorrow morning."

She asked, "Would you take my bike?  It needs to be run."  I really enjoy her Xmax and don't have to be asked twice to ride it.

I was up before the sunrise this morning; got Murph fed, did my morning routine, and took the furry boy outside for a short time.  It was 77º when I geared up to take the Xmax out.  Out before 7:00, the traffic was light as I made my way down Dobbins, heading towards the road up the mountain.  One woman in a black Mercedes SUV felt the need to pass me - twice - both times crossing over a solid yellow line (and I was doing the speed limit).  How did she manage to pass you twice?  She pulled into a left turn lane, I assume thinking she'd get through the intersection sooner, but caught behind a car that didn't take its turn at the 4-way stop.  Then, she went straight (yes, from that turn lane).  Then, she passed me again, on a solid yellow line, at the end of a school zone.  Which reminds me of the joke: What's the difference between a cactus and a Mercedes?  The pricks are on the outside of a cactus.  (rimshot)

I put the concerns about the woman in the Mercedes aside when I made the turn towards the road up South Mountain.  Very little traffic as I rode up that fun, twisty road.  The Xmax is a fun ride.  I stopped at the top parking lot to enjoy the view and drink some ice water...

I put Breakfast with the Beatles on my Sirius/XM through the Airpods and enjoyed the ride... before Mother Nature turns up the heat again (supposed to get up to 107º here today, 110º in the city).  The ride was refreshing!

Back home, Joan and I planned out our day.  We'll be putting the Roadtrek in storage - nearby instead of having to go to Goodyear.  The timing was right; security-gated, covered storage.

Murphy was entertaining us this morning...

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And a very happy surprise last night.  Steph and Dan had a Guide Dog for the Blind meeting.  They are excited that they will be getting another dog to raise, and have been doing a good amount of "puppy sitting" for other dogs in their organization.  They were expecting to get a 9 month old puppy from California in the next week... instead, others in this Phoenix group had a surprise for them: their favorite pup that they have sat for several times is now in their full-time care until she is ready to go back to the Guide Dogs campus for final training sometime next year.  Rubina is a smart, friendly Black Lab... Steph and Dan adore her.  Rubina's current raisers know how much Steph and Dan like Rubina, so they will be taking a new puppy (8 weeks old) and have turned Rubina over to the Budzbans.  There was a surprise presentation - and some tears when they got that news.  We are happy for all of them.

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Tango came to visit this morning.  He said, "Grandpa, they got another dog - can I come live with you?"

That lasted about 30 seconds when Murphy started rough-housing... Tango said, "Nevermind - I'm going home."

"Thanks for coming to visit, buddy."

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I feel a bit of sadness that this isn't in the driveway...

Clean it up...

 

My language?  I'm working on it, but it's damn difficult.  That's a joke... no shit.

We have two different garbage trucks that pick up here: one for the regular ol' garbage and one for recycle.  "What does that have to do with cleaning something up?" you ask.  I'm getting there - cool your ******* jets.

My goal for the day was to get the fresh water tank on the Roadtrek emptied; we'll be putting it in our new, closer, covered storage space, soon.  To fully empty the tank, the van needs to be reasonably level.  Our driveway is inclined.  I wanted to put the van out on the street to empty the tank, but the garbage cans are out there.  "Ohhhh, now I get it."  I knew you would.

Both garbage trucks normally come early.  Not today - the regular garbage was later than usual.  So, while I was just waiting, I decided to wash the van.  In the driveway.  Joan recently got me a rechargeable foamer... before you ask, "What's a foamer?" - it is like a sprayer.  You put some car wash and water into the tank, press the button twice, and you have a nice soapy foam on your vehicle...

How is it I never knew about this before?  This thing is great: wet down the vehicle, spray the foam on, push it around with a long-handled, soft-bristle brush, then rinse it off.  It eliminates some of the work and all of the dragging a bucket full of water around.  The only downside to this plan was the timing: I should have started sooner... before the heat of the day kicked in (it was in the 70s when I first got up and took Murphy out in the courtyard.

On the bright side: the Roadtrek is less acreage than the Aspect, mostly straight sides, and not as tall.  The cleaning went relatively expeditiously; the drying/wiping took a bit longer.  But, it looks great...

Somewhere in our trip to the Grand Canyon, we drove through something "greasy" - that all came off with light scrubbing.  I can reach all the way to the top with a long-handle brush.  Just as I was finishing the van, the garbage truck came and emptied our second can.  I rolled the can up to our gate and moved the van into the reasonably level street.

Joan had a great suggestion: use the outdoor shower to empty out the freshwater tank (instead of running into the gray tank and then needing to dump that tank).  She isn't just a pretty face.  She has nice legs, too... um, I meant: she is smart, too.  She tells me that, as well... no, not the legs thing, the smart thing.  Well, smart-ass.  So, pretty much the same, but I digress, again.

Now the really cool part: I can run all the Firefly stuff in the van from an app on my phone.  So, I could turn on the water pump and monitor the fresh water tank level while I was outside... using that perfectly good fresh water to quench the thirst of a tree in our front yard.  Win-Win!

Not a win: Joan asked, "Since you have your cleaning stuff out, do you want to wash the Equinox, too?"

"Yes, I do."  She was about to head out to the grocery store, so I got right on the Equinox - a pretty quick job compared to the Roadtrek.

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Late this afternoon, a delivery arrived...

Joan found another pop-up kiosk on Vine.  We have a bigger one, but it is more than what's needed to shade the hot tub during these record-breaking high temps.  This, as you can see in the photo above, is just the right size.

When we got back from our summer trip, the hot tub was hotter than what you'd want, even though the temperature on it was set to 80º.  Seems the cover and insulation on the tub does a good job at keeping it warm, even when the outside temperatures cool off at night.  Yeah, I remember cooling off... I think it was in February... but I digress once again.  Putting one of these kiosks over the hot tub makes a real difference in keeping the temperature of the water at a "good to soak in" temp when the sun is blazing and the outside temps are 110º or higher.  I normally use the tub at 102º; maybe turn it up to 103º if it is cool out.  When it is hot out, I aim for around 99 to 101º; yes, a degree or two makes a noticeable difference in comfort.

Happy Birthday, Dan!

 

Today is our son-in-law Dan's birthday.  He was a young pup when we first met him (when he showed up at our house to date our daughter).  I would say he has aged well over the decades since he and Steph have been married.  Joan and I couldn't love him more if he was our own son.

OK, enough of the mushy stuff.  Steph apparently posted something on Facebook regarding Dan's birthday... something that set Joan off in a fit of laughter like I haven't heard in a while.  Literally, she was having trouble catching her breath she was laughing so hard.  It wasn't anything Steph said about Dan in her post, but rather one of the images she posted...

"Nice face on that photo-bomb!" she gasped out between the laughter.

Just doing my part to keep America safe for democracy and bring a smile (or hysterical laughter) to my lovely wife's face.  She turned on her printer and that image now dominates the front of our refrigerator.

 

You'd think after all these years, she would know my willingness to overshare and ability to "enhance" an image.

Paybacks are... well, you know.  ;-)

We will have Dan's birthday celebration this evening.  Joan is cooking as I write this.  Nice that we can all be together for this occasion when he gets close to bidding adieu to his 40s.

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Dan requested Joan's spaghetti and meatballs for his birthday meal; and since they did cake at his office, we did rootbeer floats for dessert.  And presents and cards.  Tasha was guarding the presents so Dan wouldn't peek...

Murphy got to come with us to Steph and Dan's house, so he got time with their orange boy Tango.  And Dan got to open presents...

A nice evening - Happy Birthday once more, Dan!

Spicy...

 

Getting frisky?  No, spicy.  As in: a trek to Penzeys Spices.  Joan and Steph both like to cook with spices from Penzeys... Joan and I made a trek there today.  A trek?  Yeah, it's in the northeast side of town, so it is a bit of a... trek.  And, for a change of pace, we took the Equinox instead of the Roadtrek... which seems like the proper vehicle to take on a trek, but I digress.

Before that, Joan took the Equinox to the store - first time it's been out of the garage in a while.  I drove to Penzeys - the Equinox (a cross-over SUV) felt like a sports car after driving the van the last couple weeks.

After Penzeys and lunch out, we came back home; mid-afternoon.  108º out.  The weasels are calling for 112º today... "normal" for this day is 95º; even with Common-Core math, that's 17º hotter than it should be.

Time to kick back out of the heat.  It was a love-fest at our house...

Tango came to visit; Joan has plenty of neck and belly rubs to go around.