None of that theoretical stuff or any “predictions!”
Nope, the real thing, live, 3D, and in living color! Windy, cool, damp. Plus an extra helping of “windy.”
Coachella isn’t that far away, and Day Two of the Stagecoach country music festival was going on today. At one point before 20:00 they evacuated the site due to the winds. There were conflicting reports about whether or not that was it for today or if they resumed an hour or so later.
Whatever. We weren’t there. I’m just trying to make sure none of our lawn furniture ends up in a neighbor’s yard. Or in Rancho Cucamonga.
And winning! Well, the Angels got a nice win, turned 70. It was a group effort. We all had to do our part.
The dangerous, extreme heat across the Southwest messed a bit with our plans – we originally were going to have the baseball game in Surprise at 1:00, then go down to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa afterward. But all MLB games got moved to 6:00 to avoid killing anyone (fans or players or coaches or umpires) in 108°F (44.2°C) conditions.
So dinner was a baseball hot dog, soda, and ice cream. The fundamentals!
Surprise Stadium, spring training home of both the Texas Rangers and KC Royals was lovely. No lines for food or drink all might, except for the ice cream, which had a line over 20 minutes long.9
8° still at 19:45. One ice cream stand. You do the math. But really good ice cream!
It was nice to see the Angels come back late and win, a couple of kids with no names on their uniforms came through to tie it in the 8th and then go ahead in the 9th. ⚾️ They probably still won’t make the big club next week, but they might end up in Salt lake City instead of Rancho Cucamonga, and come September, who knows??
70 isn’t so bad so far!
As for the ‘do, I got a “cool hair!” from a pre-tween who was immediately shooshed by his mother. At one of the AZ rest stops yesterday I got a double take from a macho, stud muffin, manly man truck driver on the way back to his parked rig, followed by a stare, sideye, and what I assumed was an overtly homophobic sneer and snarl. (I waved 👋🏽 HI!! 💋) MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
The squirrels hate it when I go out into the back yard to look at the clouds. The fact that sometimes I also refill the bird feeders hasn’t impacted their barely multicellular brains. The birds aren’t a whole lot more happy with my presence.
They’ll live. It’s my yard.
Today we met a significant reporting deadline, the looming presence of which has made the last two weeks or so a nightmare. But it’s done, for better or for worse, and now on to the next crisis de jour. Next week will be a short one as we take a couple days off for a birthday trip to MLB Spring Training. The impending “major, ends-in-a-zero” birthday has been messing with my head, but it’s helped to be making plans to see three games, see “Project Hail Mary” on a monstrously huge IMAX screen, and just relax for a few days. There are a couple of secret and non-so-secret things that are on my wish list – I’m hoping for some results.
It sounds like a new online, distributed video conferencing platform, but it’s much more simple. There was one odd cloud up there, I had my new iPhone, and the camera on it has 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x zooms by default. So…
1x
2x
4x
8x
If only I could be a hawk… (Who else read the “Animorphs” books with their kids?)
This whole “stress dreams on top of nightmares combined with having to get up to pee every 90 minutes” thing just isn’t as much fun as it sounds like. My watch says I got two hours of sleep last night. I’m glad that one of us thinks that’s true.
There’s a meme going around that says, “What’s something you’ve never tried in the bedroom bur really want to? ME: Sleeping a full eight hours and waking up actually refreshed with a will to live.” Yep.
At least there was a very pretty sunset tonight!
Just enough clouds to create a canvas for the colors to soak into, not enough to make it gray and gloomy.
Where the Sun had just vanished we got some great yellows, reds, pinks, and oranges.
And off to the north (and a little bit to the south), some deep purples, which were glorious to see in person.
That’s a big “Yes!” checkmark on the plus side ledger for today. Little victories – take ’em and celebrate ’em when you can!!
After this latest storm, I can assume that Mt San Antonio is well covered in snow – all of the roads heading up there are closed, so that’s your first sign. I haven’t been able to see the mountain in the last three or four days due to all of the clouds.
What I could see today were the mountains to the east. Mt Butler was well covered, way off in the distance, but we’ve seen that before.
What was new, this being the coldest storm so far since we’ve moved in, was the snow on The Pinnacles just at the east end of Victor Valley.
The Pinnacles go up to 5,646 feet and we, out in the valley floor, are at about 3,585 feet, so with the snow line being about a third of the way down, I’m guessing it’s at about 4,100 to 4,200 feet.
Even some of the peaks and ridges off to the side of The Pinnacles had some snow on their tops.
We’re at 34°F now, and all mention of flurries or snow has disappeared from tomorrow’s forecast, so while there may be more snow up on the peaks, I have doubts that we’ll get any down here on the valley floor. I’ll be watching, but I think this snow storm crapped out for us.
Between yesterday’s downpours and todays, there were a few minutes this morning with partial clearing, some blue skies and sunshine, two squirrels back in the yard, light showers overhead, and a tiny little sliver of rainbow. I ran outside with my phone, spooking the squirrels. (Sorry, guys!)
I missed. All of the elements (Sun, rain, alignment) were all still there, along with a howling wind, but the colors that had been there ten seconds earlier were gone and never returned.
The clouds, however, were spectacular!
I guess that was the prize for getting out there right at that moment. A half hour later (and all afternoon) it’s been grey, windy, and wet.
The forecast for some snow flurries keeps getting pushed back and getting to be less and less likely, but I’ve got my new snow shovel at the ready, just in case!
The rain has paused for the moment but there was a single odd-looking, weirdly illuminated cloud off over the horizon.
Normally on a longer exposure photo with my iPhone I would rest it on top of the backyard wall, but that wall isn’t cinder block, it’s that pre-fabricated vinyl stuff and with the wind howling it was moving all over the place. In addition, it’s cold, as cold as I’ve seen it here in the almost seven months we’ve been here. 38°F and falling.
There’s still a slim chance of some snow on Thursday they say – I’m skeptical, but in a secretly child-like hopeful way!
We Love The Stars Too Fondly 