One more present

One more present for Doug's birthday came on Saturday.

A teeny tiny box of Kleenex. He really appreciates it!

Thanks Evan.

Pictures

In the previous post there was a video with Doug opening his gift from Scott. The pictures weren't too clear so I thought you might all appreciate seeing the "long lost photos" that Scott discovered and presented to Doug for his birthday.

Another Birthday

We had a birthday to celebrate on Friday. Doug's.

And what a day it was! I got up bright and early

to make his breakfast in bed.

I'm still yawning because of that too. I made some delicious toast, fried an egg to perfection,

cooked some tasty sausage,

and peeled some ripe and juicy kiwi fruit.

The plate looked colorful and appetizing. It was a big breakfast. It was yummy too.

He opened his birthday card from New York during breakfast. So what if his knees do creak a little bit? He's still "fit and trim" - that is a self proclamation.

After his birthday breakfast Doug was going to Fry's to buy a bus pass for me (reason for bus pass can be found on a futre blog post). When he started the truck he ended up with this:

A dead battery. Happy Birthday! The irony is that we had the truck in the shop the day before for a recall on the gas gauge. On the work slip they specifically said they tested the battery and it proved good. What! Either they didn't really test it. Or they helped it to fail. But luckily the battery was still under warranty and didn't cost us anything but an annoying trip to the Nissan dealership on someone's birthday.

Knowing we all had stuff going on in the evening we had Doug open his birthday gifts in the morning. Here is some of what he got.

Isaac got him an antique - a real slide rule in leather holder with pocket clip.

Scott got him this - you'll have to watch the video.

I got him a bow tie, a bike water bottle holder, and a nice bike headlight. Those items may prove to be less that useful - read remaining blog.

Doug and I met up at about 12:00. We headed to the east valley to stimulate the economy. Doug cracked open his wallet and purchased a car - 2000 Honda Accord - and a dual bike rack included at no extra charge. It runs really nice and seems to be in great shape. I am worried about the mileage but I hear that Hondas run forever. Even if it stays with us for 5 more birthdays we'll be happy.

This purchase was initiated because the insurance people gave us the option of giving us the cash value of estimated repairs for the Crown Vic that was crashed into a month or so ago. It is still running but has had more and more issues - running rough, a leak of some kind, etc. etc. But it still does run and Isaac will still use that one as long as he can. Doug will now have the option of driving when it would work out better for him to do so.

We might drive the Honda to Utah. The air conditioning is weak but Doug thinks it will be fine. I'm not so sure about that. But we'll make that decision this week.

Back to fiinish out the birthday happenings. After getting the car we came home and I hadn't prepared a thing for dinner. But I managed to rustle up some shrimp and some asparagus and made some bruschetta. It was nice enough.

The rest of his birthday evening was spent waiting by the phone for his birthday calls. And when all is said and done I think those were his most favorite "gifts" of the day!

And that my friends is the story of Doug's birthday.

More Hail News

Remember my post that documented the damage our Crown Victoria got during the hail storm? Well let me edit that list by adding 3 more things.

1. Our right rear brake light cover was damaged -

2 holes created by direct hail hits

2. Our left rear brake light cover was damaged -

1 hole created by direct hail hit

3. Our left reverse light cover was damaged -

2 holes created by direct hail hits

So sad!

Hail Storm Videos

I have found a couple of short videos that show the hail storm we enjoyed yesterday.


http://www.yourwestvalley.com/youtube_728b3fd0-d16c-11df-bc20-001cc4c002e0.html

http://wn.com/Hail_Storm_in_Phx
check out the 1st video and the 7th video first page
check out the 5th, 7th, and 8th video on the second page

Just thought you might be interested. We really had a doosey of a storm.

Weather

Yesterday we had weather. Did I say weather? Well I really meant WEATHER!! Our meteorologists around here have a pretty cush job. We have 6 months of summer where the forecasts are always "hot". The "hot" forecasts are only rarely accompanied with the arrival of the monsoon. Then we have some pretty good storms.


The thing is - the monsoons are long gone and yet yesterday we had WEATHER!! It was somewhat like a monsoon but very strange at the same time.


Monsoon storms include wind, dust storms (see mom's post), clouds, thunder, lightning, rain, rain, and more rain, plus a slight chance of hail. These storms usually blow in and out in one movement.


Yesterday the storm included most of the above listed things - so yesterday the WEATHER was an extreme happening. The day started with partly cloudy skies and some nice breezes. Playing tennis was so nice! Then as the day warmed up a bit the clouds became dark in various parts of the valley. To the north was very dark and looked ominous. Also to the east. All around the valley were patches of darkened skies. During our monthly RS luncheon there was a clap of thunder and the rain started coming down. The gutters filled up and it smelled wonderful! In the early evening the storm began to really get going. We were getting intermittent rain at our house. I got a call from Doug - an SOS really. He was riding his bike home from work and was getting soaked in the storm. He said he'd continue riding but might call back for a pick-up. About 2 minutes later he said, "I need you, come get me at the Orangewood Building (church building in our old stake at Orangewood and 47th Avenue)." So off I went. As I drove off the sky looked really dark in that area. I picked him up and he was soaked!


When we got home I was trying to cook dinner. I got a call from Isaac. He was supposed to be the starter at the Cortez HS swim meet. Guess where he was? Yep, he was hanging out at Kristina's house. The meet had been cancelled. Anyway, he called and said that Kristina's yard looked like it had snowed. The hail was coming down like crazy. In fact, it was golf ball sized hail. WHAT?! That doesn't happen in Phoenix! But sure enough he was there and was watching it come down and hearing it come down. It sounded horrendous - according to Isaac. So we said - "cool, see you later."

We got a call as he went to his car to drive home. "Mom, ummm, a piece of the drivers side rear-view mirror is missing. The glass is broken and it is falling apart." Oh Boy! Here we go again! I guess the hail had a direct hit and broken the mirror. Then when he came walking in the house he had a windshield wiper in his hand and said, "Hey, does anyone have an extra windshield wiper laying around?" WHAT!?! Well he was coming home and when he turned his wipers on, one of them just flew off the car - the entire thing! Oh Boy! Oh Boy!!

Close

Closer

Closest

So Dad and I went out to take a look. Sure enough there wasn't a wiper there - and with the current weather they needed to get it replaced - and fast! But as we were out there looking at the damaged windshield wiper and the cracked rear-view mirror we were able to see much more. There were tons of small dimples on the body of the car from the huge hailstones hitting it. Oh Boy! Oh Boy!! Oh Boy!!!

After owning and babying that car for 10 years it got crashed into 2 weeks ago and now it is getting torn apart and dimpled by a freak storm! Just our luck.


One good thing is that if, I did say IF, the insurance company doesn't "total" the car and decides to fix it for us, they are going to put on entire door panels - that would mean the mirror would also be included. So that damage would be taken care of. Dad and Isaac went out last night and got a new wiper and installed that post haste. As for the dimples - I guess that will just make our car more identifiable and give it more character.


I can't really complain about the weather. Any storm that brings rain is a true blessing and we love it. So, thank you WEATHER, we do still love you.

ZUMBA - The End of the Story

OK, am I obsessed with ZUMBA? I don't think so - but I did find out that GCC has an afternoon ZUMBA class on Monday and Wednesday. That is a definite possibility for me. I might try it next week.

I've been back from our wonderful vacation in Utah for a few days now and am still not completely unpacked. Sheesh! Why is that so hard for me? I have been busy though. I had/have lots of things to do - most of them relating to Relief Society. But I made it through the week and got some of the stuff done. Now I am looking forward to a wonderful conference weekend.

Back to ZUMBA. I had a few comments about my ZUMBA experience. And one of those comments actually seemed to doubt the entire episode. Proof was demanded! And here it is.

Photo #1:

Entire newspaper article with title and date included.

Photo #2:

Close up of the ZUMBA instructor.

Photo #3:

Close up of the entire group of ladies at the ZUMBA class.

Photo #4:

Extreme close up of me and one of those ladies who tied on a belly dancing wrap to document her every hip swing and butt shake (definitely not my style!).

Now that I have proven my experience I can say

this is my last post about ZUMBA

- that is why it is titled

ZUMBA - The End of the Story.