Waiting for the other shoe to drop...

 

"A post about kicking your shoes off, Jim?" 

No, but thanks for asking.  It's Monday.  Every Monday for the last month, there have been phone calls and texts regarding HOA stuff that needs to be addressed.  It is 10:09 am, and... not a single call or text.  One in a row!

To be fair, after meeting with landscape companies on Friday, I did let two other board members and the management company's rep know, "I'm taking the rest of the day off."  That didn't happen.  Phone calls, e-mails, and texts.  Oh my.  (Wizard of Oz reference: lions, tigers, and bears - oh my!)

The management company sent out an e-mail blast to the homeowners, letting them know well in advance for a board meeting we have coming up on August 28th.  Only problem: they sent it out late in the day with the WRONG dates on it.  Yes, two wrong dates.  I called our management rep immediately and she assured me it would get taken care of... ASAP.  And, here we are on Monday morning, and no correction e-mail, yet.

In the meantime, the guy who I have referred to as the shit-stirrer sent me 4 private messages questioning the dates.  Even though I assured him that the date is the 28th (that was correct in the link in the e-mail - it was the wrong date in the body of the e-mail).  When his 5th private message came, still questioning it (he may be on the spectrum) - I let him know that the "28th is ABSOLUTELY the date."  Of course, he thinks it is some kind of conspiracy theory for the board and management company to try to confuse the homeowners.  Same thing he said when we gave 72 hours notice for a town hall meeting that was quickly arranged to get homeowner input on agenda items... when 48 hours is required as per Open Meeting laws.  

Board member e-mails over the weekend, causing me to "draw a line" regarding some proposed board action.  I won't discuss specifics here; of course, if everyone (board included) could be neighborly, this job could be much easier.

 

They're home...

 

We picked up Steph and Dan at the airport last night.  They had a layover in Dallas - their plane coming into Dallas was about 15 minutes late, but they were good on time there.  When they boarded in Dallas, we got another text from Steph...

    "Let’s hope! There’s a baseball team on the plane. Every plane crash movie seems to have a sports team     onboard."  😳😱 

To which I replied: "Not funny."

We picked them up at the door they told us they'd be at in the text we received while getting close to the airport.  Sky Harbor International Airport is huge - nice to have the ability to coordinate so none of us had to wait.  Easy. 

We walked into their house with them after the drive from the airport - I wanted to see if the cats would all come running.  It wasn't the animal reunion like you see in the movies - Tango acted like he was afraid of them.  Joan scooped Tango up and put him in Steph's arms... he was fidgety.  

Ah, home sweet home.  Now, we can all get back to normal.  For a few days. 

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When I was a kid and complained about the weather, my Mother used to say to me: "Whether it's good or whether it's not, the weather we have is the weather we got."  Sage advice?  Not really.  It was her way of saying: "Nothing you can do about it (the weather)."

The "Extreme Heat Warning" were supposed to expire yesterday.  Didn't happen.  In fact, they have been extended through most of this next week.  No, I'm not surprised - it's the desert.  In August. 

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More GAS...

Gear Acquisition Syndrome.  While together with what I call "my local guys" at Allan's house on Friday, Allan asked me if I had any use for an acoustic amp.  I had seen it there in his rehearsal space, but didn't pay much attention - we don't play acoustic type music with this group.  I told Allan I'd take it home and give it a try...

 

It's a brand I'd never heard of (Monoprice Stage Right).  Small(ish) in size.  20 watts, 8" speaker and a tweeter.  I plugged it in and plugged my X20 into it... sounds decent.  It doesn't have the volume or tone of a similar size Fishman Loudbox, but it really is... decent.  At a budget price.

I plugged in a couple other guitars, first an Emerald X10, then a Taylor T5.  The T5 isn't an acoustic guitar - it is a semi-hollow body electric guitar that is what I consider a hybrid: it has both electric and acoustic pickups and a good variety of tones.  That unique guitar sounds really good in this amp.  The X10 is an acoustic guitar that has a humbucking pickup, as well as individual piezos; so, also a hybrid.  I guess I am drawn to these guitars.

Acoustic amps are generally "flat response" - they don't color the sound, but try to reproduce what the guitar sounds like (with varying success).  Electric amps have their own tone.  And some electric amps are "modeling," meaning they try to sound like (model) a variety of other amps.  This is why you often see electric guitar players with a variety of amps.  And why I have almost as many amps as guitars.  And that is known as "justification"... not really a technical term.  ;-)

And just for grins, I ran a line out from this Stage Right into the small Marshall amp I have - the combination sounds huge. In a small size.  No, I won't likely use it this way.

 

Sitting In the Morning Sun...

 

If you said, "From the song Dock Of The Bay, performed by Otis Redding, written by Redding and Steve Cropper, 1967," you get 20 bonus points.  If you said, "Redding actually recorded that song twice in 1967, including the second time just 3 days before his death," you get 25 more bonus points.  Partial credit will be given if you didn't have the co-writer and year.  If you said, "Steve Cropper has played for/with many of the greats, written some well-known songs, and was involved in virtually every recording from Stax Records from 1961 to 1970.  And, is the guitarist for the Blues Brothers," you get another 30 bonus points.

A good bit of music trivia this morning. 

I was up at 6:30, got Murphy fed, took him outside, then went next door to feed, med, and visit with our Grand-kitties.  Came back home and dealt with some HOA board e-mails, enlisted Joan to be a voice of reason in my responses, then sat down to chill.

The hot tub was 103º when I checked it this morning.  I left the cover open to let some of the heat dissipate.  Joan took this shot with her iPad while she was out with Murphy...

 The furry boy is checking out the hot tub.  No, he has never shown any desire to get in it; but, he does hop up on it from time to time when the cover is closed.

Joan suggested that I might want a morning soak.  I had been too busy already to even consider that, but what a great idea!  The water temperature had cooled a bit, even though the outside air temperature was working its way up... a good time to enjoy a soak, and Joan joined me.

I like when we do that together - it gives us time to talk, without any distractions or devices.  A great way to start the day, even though we had both been going for a while already.

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A lot of good "Facebook Memories" for me today... memories of posts featuring Rufus and Izzy, time with friends Herb and Wilma when we were in North Carolina a year ago, several memories from different years of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and one that stuck with me: getting my first carbon fiber guitar...

That was a pivotal point in my life-long (well, since I was 11 years old) guitar passion. 

And one of Joan's favorite images, featuring Rufus...

 We were playing Monopoly Cards while sitting at the dinette in the motorhome.  Ruf gave Joan his best "poker face" and she managed to catch that.  So much personality in that big furry boy.

 

Like a Sturgeon...

 

If you said, "Weird Al Yankovic's parody of Madonna's Like a Virgin; released in 1985,"... oh, so close!  Weird Al's version was Like a Surgeon - 3 bonus points if you got the date right. 

The August Full Moon is known as "the Sturgeon Moon."  Named after the world famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, now happening in the Black Hills.  Yes, that is fake news.  These full moons are generally named based on Native American or early settler traditions.  The name "Sturgeon Moon" comes from the abundance of sturgeon fish in the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain during this time of year, which were an important food source for Native Americans and settlers. 

A hot, breezy night when stepping out to get this full moon shot...

 How hot was it?  Thanks for asking - still 100º at 9:50pm.

 

And the winner is...

 

"The rear passenger side tire on the Equinox!"  And the crowd goes wild!!

This morning, before the heat of the day really kicks in (it was 118º yesterday, but today is only forecast to be 113º), we had a few chores to deal with.  Joan started on the trash cans (garbage and recycle) yesterday, with a soak and scrub.  There is also a shared COP (Container O' Poop) that bagged cat and dog waste goes into.  You can imagine how that smells when being cooked in this heat.  Joan took it upon herself to give all that a rinse-scrub-rinse-soak-rinse.  She finished that up this morning.

All our vehicles have tire pressure monitors in them.  My morning chore was go air up the tires on 6 vehicles.  The only tire that was right where it was supposed to be was the rear passenger-side tire on the Equinox.  All the rest of the tires on 3 crossover SUVs and 3 bikes (one motorcycle and two scooters) needed to be topped off.  Of the two-wheel conveyances, the tire that was closest to the specified pressure was the rear tire on the CTX.  If anyone is keeping track, that is the tire that I plugged last year, after picking up a screw in it.

We have a really good small air compressor - a Worx brand.  Battery operated (interchangeable  batteries), with the clamp on nozzle and an automatic shut off when it gets to the correct pressure.  It would handle the higher pressure tires on the motorhome without breaking a sweat.  I couldn't say as much for me, as it was 91º when I went out at 7:00.

After feeding cats.  And for the record, I spend time with each of the Grand-kitties before and after feeding and giving meds.  The Grands miss their Mom and Dad, and are happy to have some human interaction.  And, of course, take a couple photos for "proof of life" for Steph.  They will be home tomorrow evening; they will all be happy to see each other.

Now, time to jump in the shower - I have music with Allan and the guys today.  Time to rock.

And a heads up for you.  Literally.  The full moon for August will happen around 1:00am tomorrow, so it will appear full tonight and tomorrow night.

 

Education...

 

Learnin' is good.  No, I don't know who said that, so no bonus points.  We're just friends visiting.

This morning (7:00am to be precise), the HOA board vice president and I met with landscaping companies.  Clarifying some things in their bids, clearly stating concerns and expectations of the homeowners, and listening to their best pitch.

I got an education.  No, I am not ready to move into the fast-paced, high-paying world of being an arborist.  But, I know a lot more about desert plants, native and non-native plant species, watering needs, irrigation procedures, trimming, SLM (sustainable landscaping management)... the whens, whys, and why nots of various trimming schedules.

Homeowners see some trees in front of their homes and feel "something needs to be trimmed"... not everyone in this community is from Arizona.  What works in the northern Midwest or California, isn't what you should plant in the desert.  But, people like what they know.  He pointed to South Mountain and said, "If it isn't growing naturally up there, it is going to take more work, water, fertilizer, and money to make it grow here.  And that's what we deal with.  The developer had a contractor plant things in the development that shouldn't be here.  And now we get to deal with."

To their credit, each company offered to hold an educational session for homeowners.  No doubt that would help the homeowners learn how to better care for their own plants... but I see the potential for a lot of slings and arrows directed their way.

Unfortunately, we can't have the whole board in on sessions like this because of Open Meeting Laws.  So, that means that the two of us who were there will be making recommendations.  Each board member had access to the well-over-150 pages of bid information.  I learned a lot more about landscaping in these meetings as opposed to looking only at bids.

Apparently, there was some lack of understanding about the purpose of these vendor meetings this morning by some who were not involved, with some thinking it was an opportunity to complain to a landscaper about "this tree or that bush."  More misinformation for me to deal with after the fact.  The main thing I learned: each of these companies

On the bright side, things seem to have cooled on some of the other issues that were discussed in the Town Hall Meeting last week.  More budget stuff to deal with as the time to get things nailed down is coming up fast.

Yep... learnin'.  Old dog, new tricks.  I got into this because I wanted to be a good neighbor and try to give back to this community.  My buddy Mark cautioned me: "Be careful what you wish for..."

  

A "Me" Day...

 

"Aren't all your days "Me" days, Jim?"  Oh, if only that were true.  Yesterday was supposed to have nothing on the schedule.  The first call came in before 8:00, from our account manager at the management company.  Yep, HOA stuff to deal with.  That led to 3 more hours of phone calls.  Yeah, I was about to clean up when that first call came in.

I was able to get into the hot tub around 6:30am (before the calls) - it was relaxing.  It was too hot last night to even think about taking a soak.  Hot?  Yeah, 114º on Tuesday, 117º on Wednesday, and 118º predicted on Thursday.

Between 11:00 and noon, I was able to work on a set-list for the upcoming gig with Mark and Podge.  There are considerations to that: you want the music to flow, but we need to take into consideration guitar changes for Mark.  So, we'll run through that to see how it feels.

Joan and I got out for lunch at In and Out Burger, home at 1:20, then more HOA phone calls and dealing with a "Facebook shit stirrer" who just delights in trying to turn people against the board, and is happy to use misdirection and outright lies in his attempts.  Our policy is generally "don't feed the trolls" on social media.  He reminds me of a former competitor of mine who said, "Love me or hate me - just don't ignore me."  My style is more: "let's work together to get things done."

This was the theme for the rest of the day: I didn't get back to our house until just after 7:00pm; except a break around 5:00 to get kitties fed.  A lite supper for the humans, take Murphy out for some hot patio time (still 105º after the sun went down).  Then spend some time with Steph and Dan's furry kids until their bed-time.

First time in years I had to plug my phone in during the day - it got a lot of use on Tuesday.  

The neighbor "kids" while I was cleaning dishes this morning so I could prepare their food...

 

"Hurry up, Grandpa!" (all three in unison).

"Chill, my little fur babies, this all takes time."  Still not as whiny as the shit stirrer.

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Music with Mark and Podge today.  We will get one more rehearsal in before we play out.  Something goofy with my pedalboard and amp combination, making some odd noises.  I just bypassed the pedalboard so we didn't lose any rehearsal time.  I will get it figured out in the next couple days.

In the words of the philosopher Rosanna Rosannadanna: "It just goes to show you, it's always something."  ;-)