Traveling Day

 I could have slept one more hour ... if the Wife's alarms on her phone did not start going off. I have told her time and again, set your 'get up for work alarms' for Mon-Fri, noy all week. Sigh. To no avail, as I am awakened at 6:45am, and of course, cannot fall back asleep. My alarm was set for 8am, so why bother trying hard.

We will loading up and hitting the road here in about an hour and a half. I made the Wife load my car last night of all the things she was taking down to give to the Daughter and Grands. Usually she waits until I am ready to hit the road, but I forced her hand last night. Hmmm, wonder if that is why she left the alarms on?

Yesterday I ended up down at the Post. I know, I kept telling myself that I physically have no reason to be there until the 7th, but I blame the Youngest. When I got up yesterday (around 10:30am) I saw the Youngest was dressed to go out. Mind you it is raining. I asked what was up, and found out he and a friend were going to lunch. Well, I said, I was going to ask if you wanted to go to lunch with me today. So I lost. Instead I picked up my newest prescriptions, and just headed to the Post - tired of being cooped up in the house. Of course, when I left, the rain had turned into a deluge and I was soaked pretty good before I made it into my car. And another wet one going into Walgreens. Coming out? Night and bright. Welcome to Arizona Rain.

A few short minutes after making it to the Post, the deluge came again, and rain visited us off and on all afternoon in different strengths. Flash Flood Warnings out until 4:30pm I last heard. Around 5pm or so, the rain let up for the evening. I guess we still have chances of more rain over the next couple days. I know we need it, but the deluges are not good. They just cause run-off and destruction. Need that steady rain that can soak into the ground.

Welp, got nothing else to ramble about this morning....

PeacE

Parties and Rain

 It is overcast this morning. Looks like it rained (or is raining). For AZ that is good - we can always use it if it comes in small spurts, rather than pouring downfalls (flooding and the desert ya know). My neice's daughter is having a birthday party today, that was supposed to be outside, but am guessing will be inside now. RM had mentioned it is a Tea Party, and was going to be crowde3dc if everyone is inside. Oh Well. The Wife had stated awhile back she was going, though it is at my Sister's house (whom we have not gotten on with well). Last night I found out my Daughter and Doodad were going to be there - so now I have to go so I can see them.

I guess that that means it is hair day. I have been letting mine grow out the past month or two, and it is at that stage where you cannot do anything with it (too short) and yet it still sticks out any-which-way. I'll buzz it back down to the scalp this morning before the party, and probably trim up around the beard.

Santa Run is coming up soon. My buddy and I (creators/sponsors) are set to rent the 25-man bus this weekend, and start contacting the 23 people that said they are going. I'm sure we will have five or so back out last minute, but usually pick up at least three more extras. Still a fun time, and I enjoy it quite a bit as my Oldest Son goes. Gives us time to hang out and catch up, plus have a drink or seven together.

Tonight I might be going to the VFW - haven't decided. But the drawing for a chance at around $9600+ is tempting. Think I might even try to get the Wife to go.

Welp, it is Clash Day (in a viking themed game I play) so I'm off to war.

PeacE

Monday Morning Pout

 Yeah, I'm pouting. I was truly hoping this project would reach its end, but alas, it has not. I logged in this morning, and there was more stuff that needed to be completed. This whole hired on for a 4-week, and now it has reached 13-weeks.... They sure don't budget things well is all I can think. But hey, my paycheck is a paycheck.

Not much went on this weekend. Saturday took my car up to the wash, then ran the Son's and Wife's car to the band car wash they were having that morning. Afternoon at the Post, though didn't stay late. Swung by my brother's for a short visit. Sunday just did things around the house. Was going to take Youngest out for more driving practice, but he got involved in one of his online games with friends, so we are going to try this afternoon when I finish up work for the day.

Youngest did his walk-through registration this last week. This next Monday school starts. No Zero Hour band practices (yay!) but he had to give up an elective as he had to schedule for band for 4th hour. Weird how they did it this year. I really am not liking the way this new band director has changed things around (compared to the other 11 years the kids attended band). Glad this is his last year.

Had the third storm/shower in the last week come through last night. I know the Wife woke me coming to bed, mentioned it was raining again. Around 1:15am I woke and heard thunder still. Good to get some rain, though earlier in the week the wind was gusting up to 60 mph and over on the East Valley, it was pretty damaging. Luckily nothing bad near us.

Guess I should stop stalling and get some work done.

PeacE

Mid-Week Nothings

 Welcome to another day with the d00d. I'm working, so that is a good thing. Looks like this project may carry on into next week, which is more than was estimated. But it works in my favor, so not a bad thing, right?

I had been working away for a good 40 minutes this morning when I heard a faint noise/disturbance, behind me off to the side. I thought, had one of the cats snuck in here when I was last coming in? Looking around the floor, and under the Wife's desk, I see no cats. I glance up to the window, and realize it is raining, and that was what I was hearing.

Oh. Joy. Rain. It looks overcast enough that it may be doing this all day. Normally rain doesn't bother me, and I like days like this to grab a book and just read. Today though, makes me want to just go back to bed. Dreary. Maybe it's because I have to work, instead of reading a book. I don't know.

Well, work ain't gonna get done 'less I'm on it.

PeacE

The Expensive 'Date'

 Yesterday I wrote about some side pain I was having. It worsened in the early hours of the morning, and by 6am, I was ready to go to urgent care. I was having issues breathing, where I couldn't draw a full breath without feeling pain spike in my side. Had to wait until 8am for them to open, but the Wife and I went. Turns out they could do nothing for me, as they did not have the imaging equipment needed to take a look at my side. So then it was off to the ER, where I spent pretty much the rest of the day.

I know my blood pressure is high. I haven't been on meds for it in years because the doc I had was a dick, and I just didn't get around to getting another doc. So I got that lecture from the staff, but they hooked me up with something to get that down for the time being. Followed by some morphine to get the pain under control. Throughout the course of the day, I had a CT scan of the abdomen, a chest x-ray, 2 blood lab work-ups, a urine sample, and a CT of the chest, all to find out that they could not find anything wrong with me that would be causing the pain. They suggested I contact a GI. I went home with the pain under control, and hoped that I can keep it that way.

The Wife said it was nice to 'spend the day together'.... but damn it was expensive.

Bday dinner plans were screwed up because of the ER trip, so ended up just with the Wife and Youngest at Denny's last night. The ER staff had not let me have any water or food the whole time there (so as to not mess up any readings) and I drank a large pitcher of iced tea over dinner. Then it was home, and straight to bed for me. I was knackered. I think it was about 8pm.

Woke up at 4am, not sure if it was some pain in my side (which is still there) or the booming thunder from the storm raging overhead. Sounds like the rain is coming down pretty good, too. Monsoon season in AZ - sometimes it is good. We are up on our rainfall amounts (above average) which is always good for the desert. Though, this storm is probably not as good for the area. It is coming down hard and fast, so will wash off into gullies, etc, and cause flash flooding, instead of a good ground soak.

Since I am up early, I will probably start work early. Pain in my side is still there - about what it was last night. I rolled onto that side a couple times during the night, which woke me enough to roll off it. Hopefully it will not worsen like it had yesterday morning. Calling a new PCP today, even though I don't have insurance, to get started on some meds for the high blood pressure, once I can get in and get an appointment. Joy.

Edit: Wouldn't you know it .... I go to log into to work, only to find out that the project ended yesterday. A project that I was told would be 1-2 weeks, and I only worked 1 day on. Sigh. Looks like daily emails to the Company requesting to be placed on another project.

PeacE

The Calm In Between

Phoenix received a very large amount of rain in the early hours this morning. I woke about 2:30ish and noticed the wind had picked up quite a bit, and that it had started to throw rain. I woke the Wife and mentioned we should get a bucket under a couple spots that leak, but only when it really pours. Glad I did. By the time we got up about 5:30, the rain had been coming down in buckets, and already their were major freeway closures across the Valley. I ran the oldest Son to school, and waited to find out how things were going to go with all the closures.

The Wife called after finding out that the elementary school the youngest goes to, had cancelled school for the day. I had heard also on the radio, there were a couple other districts that had closed as well, though they were more in the SE valley, which I was hearing had had more rain. The middle son, we tried repeatedly to contact the school to see if they were cancelling as well, but gave up. I decided he would just stay home as well. About that time (about 8:30) the Wife got one of them automated messages from the high school, saying they were cancelling as well, and any students already at the school had a chance to catch a bus back to their bus stop, or be picked up. I didn't want the MIL to be out driving in the bad rain, so I picked him up and dropped him off with the MIL, where the other two boys were for the day.

My buddy Don that works at the same company as I, texted me this morning he was not working today. The area he provides service for, was not able to be reached by him due to two of the major freeways on that side of town had closures. I called into work to see what they wanted me to do. My Boss decided that even though there were a number of techs that could not make it to the shop (to get parts/routes) or could not reach their service areas had called in and were not working, but he wanted me to be able to get routes/parts out for tomorrow. Joy. I left my house about two hours early, as I had no idea what to expect on the roads, as well as having to use surface streets, because by this time, ALL freeways had closures at some point(s), and three of them were ones I used on a normal basis. So what normally is about a 45 minute drive, ended up being an hour and a half, but luckily did not have to be detoured around closures/flooded areas.

Aside from being a bit late getting started on my route this evening, after locking all of us employees in the building by accident, most closures had cleared up. I had to do one small detour, but the detour was not out of my way, and it was on the final trek home at the end of the night. Never did get to splash through the big puddles in my box truck (pout).

And now I am just worn out. Between the humidity and being more tense while driving, trying to watch out for stupid people, and plan ahead via the traffic reports to be sure I didn't get caught in something, I am wiped out. Rain for the next two days is expected, though not as much as today.

Phoenix set an official new record for the rainiest day on record. by 6am, the airport had received 3.29 inches, beating the previous record of about 2.94 inches set back in 1933. It rained across most of the valley until 9-10 am. Parts of the valley were reporting up to 6 inches of total rainfall. Yeah, water retention areas were huge lakes. I am sure there will be many warnings about mosquitos and the West Nile virus in the next 2-3 weeks.

Joy.

PeacE

Blown Away

We actually have a storm front moving into Arizona that is supposed to bring rain to the Valley area as early as this evening. We are at 40+ days of no precipitation, so any rain would be nice. I just don't care for some of the winds it brings prior to the storm. Such as last night. It wasn't cloudy as such, but a portion of my route is out in farmland area on the west side of town. The wind had picked up a bit last night, which when driving a 16-foot box truck, is not fun. Being blown by a sporadic gust of wind while on a free way or single-lane road ... grrrr. And I won't get started on the amount of dust (and who knows what else) kicked up into the air .... yes, the sinuses are flowing this morning. Speaking of, I better go take my allergy pill.

Either way, the rain would be welcome. Help clear the air of the dust, etc. if nothing else.It is already somewhat overcast looking this morning. Days like this can sort of make me feel blech, but I think I am too tired to much care today. My shoulders are a bit sore, I assume from fighting the wind in my truck for a few hours. I know I slept good last night.

Tomorrow we are going out for pizza to Peter Piper for the youngest son's late birthday dinner. The Wife wakes me this morning (to run the oldest son to school) and mentions that the oldest is working tech at the school play on Saturday. So now I have to call the RM & PT to reschedule the pizza time. I asked for when - the Wife says she has no clue. I was to help out a buddy with some ovens Saturday morning, but figure I can change the pizza time to about 12:30, and hopefully all will be okay. I'll have to call RM here after I give her time to get to work. Unless she reads this first and calls me.

Sunday is race day here in the Valley, and unfortunately, I won't be going this year. The special deal I get on the inside track turn two fell through for the future, so it looks like to go I need to buy tickets and sit in the stands (blech). This Sunday, I think I shall watch it from the safe and secure bar stool at the local pub.

Go Junior!

PeacE

When it Rains, It Pours

Another morning with the rain coming down in the Valley. Already, from news radio, I have heard we have received over an inch of rain so far this week. They are said to expect another 2-4 inches on top of what has come already. This morning started the safety warnings from the Fire Depts. regarding the flooding. The Flood Control Center is up and running (for a portion of Phoenix and valley in the flood zone - which I am not).

I guess over all it is better than being in certain areas of California. Heard many have left homes on the hillsides, for fear of mudslides. Let alone the whole deal with the tornado warnings.

So, bottom line is today is another day I will feel sorta blah. Maybe I will work on the photo project. Maybe I will play some WoW. A nap somewhere during the day is definitely good.

Don't know why, but am craving bacon like crazy this morn....

PeacE