It's about time...

 

"You got a different watch, Jim?"  No, but thanks for asking.

It has been hot since we got back from our outing in the RoadTrek.  Yes, it's the desert, we expect it to be hot.  The temperatures have been running 8 to 10º hotter than normal (I have no idea what the weasels mean by "normal," when they should be saying "average.")... more than that, it has been hotter earlier in the day.  Too much so to want to get out on any of the bikes.

Last night, we had monsoon rains.  Some places in the Valley got over an inch; I think we were around .15" here in our part of the Valley.  Big winds and blowing dirt ahead of the rain.  So, yeah, it grubs things up.

When I went out this morning, it was a near lovely 80º (at 6:30), with higher than normal humidity.  That goes with monsoon season.  I took Murphy out, and he could lay on any surface he wanted without worry about getting his paw pads burned.  The wind knocked over a couple of Joan's plants in pots, including one nicely growing cactus.  I let her know about the cactus, so she could do whatever necessary to keep it healthy (over my pay grade, but I did help her get the plant stand upright).

There is apparently more rain predicted around noon, but the sky was mostly blue with some friendly looking puffy white clouds.  I decided to get in a ride on the Burgman before it gets any hotter.  I geared up, grabbed a camera, fired up the bike, and headed out.

The riding was good.  Traffic was unusually light (people got out early for the holiday weekend?).  Other than a few people on bicycles, I had the fun twisty roads mostly to myself.  I was home around 9:00, and the temp was up to 88º (104º predicted for a high today - yes, that is cooler than it has been).

I shot plenty of video on the ride - when I feel ambitious, I'll work it up.  But, in the meantime, it was a treat to get out!

Here are some screen grabs of this morning's ride...

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Joan sent me this photo she took this evening...

 A rainbow over South Mountain.  Taken from our patio with Joan's iPhone.  The weather has been a bit unusual today.  Rain to the east of us (around the far east side of South Mountain)... thus, the rainbow.