Suprising Tuesday

I usually post only three days a week.
Monday, whats going on around my home, Wednesday is Japan and Friday is ...
wait for it, wait for it,  you know whats coming. . . Square Dog Friday.

Monday started out lovely, lunch with family at our favorite restaurant
and then waiting at home when I got back, was some unsettling news.
It followed me around most of the day and night and I awoke today at 6:20 still feeling sad.
And then I looked outside.
Instead of our normal bright blue sky and fluffy white cloud I saw lightly overcast sky and smelled rain and saw the sunrise.
The Square Ones and I walked outside to a very light drizzle rain.
And yes, because I live in the desert, this is a treat, a huge treat.
I sat outside in the drizzle (for all of 10 minutes that's all it lasted) and enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of rain, and damp green earth.

Isn't life just beautiful.

 

 

Pretty perfect !

lovely. . . parsnip
music. . . Paradise,  Jeff Beal 

Parley view parsnip. . . monsoon photos

Some of the monsoon storm clouds from the last two weeks.

This was Tuesdays sunrise,  for 60 seconds the sky was on fire...

and then turned into this.
Photos straight from my camera. As you can tell my camera had a hard time with figuring out what was going on. In fact the red sky was so much brighter.

 

Golden Barrel Cactus.
Doesn't have anything to do with monsoons but it is rather beautiful !
.......................

Instead of your pretty to start the week I have a giggle.

At one time in my life I wanted to to be (an still do) an Archeologist, bookstore owner, work at a garden center or  (the best one yet)  work for a drug company and get to name all the new drugs.
"Flownase" who got to sit down at their desk one day and after a cup of coffee, thought up the name "Flownase" I could do that !

Well I found a new best ever job ....  I want to come up with movies for the Syfy channel.
The Syfy's latest masterpiece "Sharknado" will premier this Thursday.
Hello. . .  someone actually sat down at their desk and said sharks plus a tornado.
Yes ! what a great idea ! Lets just mix them up and come up with a movie.
I guess clams and cyclones where already taken.
The link to the review is above and the first photo says it all !

Bring on the popcorn !

windy. . . parsnip
music. . .  Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again,  The Fortunes

Early Sunday morning...

 

What a difference an hour makes...
a little steamy outside right now and waiting for the afternoon storms to break.

hothothothot hot . . . parsnip
music. . . Summer In The City,  The Lovin' Spoonful
only song that will work today

Saturday evening in Tucson. . .

lucky. . . parsnip
music. . . Ride Like The Wind,  The Cafe Carlyle Sessions

Square Dog Friday. . .

                                                   Square Dog Friday !
                                      Best day of the week, so lets woof it !

           Blogger has "lost" again all the blogs I follow and I can't post my usual way.
                        I  know it will all come back when the blog gods deem I have
                                                     suffered enough.
                                                             woof !                
                                                

 Sometimes we need quiet time. We could be sick and not feeling very good, so nice tall person who feeds us, lets us rest in a soft quiet place.  I am inside because I was really sick and needed to be very quiet. Not moving at all. 
This is a funny photo because usually it is tehhamish  locked inside because he is very naughty.

 hey im' not always naughty sometmes im sick  so igets to be quiet and do restin' but sometimes i am naughty but not knowin' what that word means naughty sounds like fun

 sometimes im' just napping in the littlehouse it is our safe place evens gud mum can't go in there here im' with favorite toy i gots it now mine minemineminemine mine
not gud old dug Watson but mememememememem minemine mine

 ilikin' this photo of teh gud dug Watson wipein' his face with his paw he is gud old dug

 Doggie pile up. Son who just graduated is moving all his stuff back into his room. Lots of suff way too much stuff boxes, books, computers clothes and stuff more stuff.

                                     Best thing of all he had lots of puppy help !

 Lots of puppy help. Way to much puppy help. Daughters dogs Waldie on pillow and Truffs in the front helped Watson and thehamish help son unpack. So much help, in fact way too much help. So exhausting. So a doggy pile up nap was need.

                                                             ......................

                 and just because I can here is your pretty to start the weekend.

 After the big storm that blew through Monday, I got up Tuesday at 6am to survey the damage.  When I walked into my bathroom that has a floor to ceiling window, what did I see ? a cottontail frozen mid dig staring back at me. I backed out slowly grabed my phone and snapped this cute photo.
The cottontail blend into the ground so well that unless they move you can't always see them right away.

 That is such a tiny opening to the nest or escape tunnel ?  I have watched him digging and I know he can fit. I have seen his little head and ears peaking out. But that is one tiny opening !

                                       
Have a lovely weekend. Mine will be busy. I have another leak in my roof, and one side yard sunscreen on the ramada has ripped so repairs are filling up my weekend.

                                         busy. . . parsnip
                                          music. . . Hit The ground running,  Doves

Wednesday In Japan. . . train tickets

Traveling in Japan by train is such a treat.
Besides "Eki-Ben"  train food (no McDonalds) The tickets/passes are beautiful.
You need a small "change"type purse to hold tickets and of course the odd change.
I found this small Gaspard and Lisa  (very popular in Japan) years ago one and use it in America just for change but I always keep a favorite train ticket in one of the slots.
You fill the ticket with as much money as you want but I was always buying extra tickets for the photos and designs. I have a huge collection.





special Kobe pass

Adam just brought these back from his trip.

I especially love the train photos.
I adore this one because it looks like a stop on a line I traveled everyday.

Beautiful

 At larger station you can pick your ticket but at smaller station you get what is the machine that day.  One year I must have gotten four of the Dachshund puppy.

Which is rather sweet because a few years later daughter rescued a red long haired Dachshund.
Isn't life wonderful !

train. . . parsnip
music. . . The Sixth Station,  Joe Hisaishi

parley view parsnip... monsoon

 update....
Such sad news coming from Yarnell, Arizona.
19 Hot Shot fire fighters were killed fighting a fire near Prescott.  These men hike into areas with massive amounts of equipment to build a fire break to start containment. This very crew just did that only a week ago in another Arizona fire.
Such sad horrible news.
When my brother, who is now retired I need to write about him, first started to work for the Forest Service, he was a Smoke Jumper. He and his crew would get dropped into rugged terrain fires to start  building fire breaks.
One fire they were fighting turned, flashed and topped in seconds and they had no choice but to dig a hold wrap up in the "tent" of fire reflective material and hope for the best. The whole team survived but they were lucky.
The Yarnell fire is vicious and between the the scrub brush, no moisture and high winds this is bad very bad just bad.
As many of you know from reading my blog, although I have never written fully about it,
my home was destroyed in a wildfire that was started buy some stupid horrible person.
I know first hand what a wildfire can do and how volatile they can be.
My children and I just made it out of our home as fire was raining down on us.
..................................

 My Monday post about what is going on around my home in Tucson, Arizona.

We are having extreme hot weather with the long build up to the monsoons.
On Sunday my cell phone sent out several alerts, with severe thunder
and dust storm warnings.
The storm was moving from the east to the south west with lots of thunder and lighting but at my home to the north of the Tucson valley, in the foothills of the Catalina Mountain only about 10 big fat raindrops fell.
 But the air is filled with the smell of damp earth, sage and ozone.  Lovely !
The temperature dropped 27 degrees from 111 in  the two hours the storm
took to move through the valley.
In the hour from 5:30 to 6:30 pm we had 130+ lighting strikes.
There is a wildfire that has started (lighting strike) just to the east of me
in the Catalina Mountains. I can see the smoke to the east of my home in back of
Thimble Peak. 

 I keep changing the setting on my little point and click 
but I never really get the photo I want.
I just might have to get a different camera to shoot these shots
with higher definition.
Not sure I have the ability to hold a camera up for any length of time
so I really need to do some research on weight and size of cameras.
That is the reason I like the little point and click I use, it is small and very light.
Thanks to my Japanese son for picking it out for me.

..................

Here is your pretty to start the week.

Cactus Wren cooling off in the fountain.
I am so glad I put the fish in the fountain it is just high enough for a nice perch but still close to the cooling water for the birds. Just before I took this photo there were four birds just hanging out taking a break from the heat. (Switzerland)
This week because of the monsoon our highs will be in the more typical 102/104 range
and not the super hot 112 and above we have been getting all week.

stormy. . . parsnip
music. . . Rainy Day,  Tatsuro Yamashita