A New Hobby!

Later last night, we were handed the keys to our new home and tonight, after getting the harp situation taken care of, we headed to the new house for a quick visit and to make sure our keys worked in the locks!
Once inside the house, we immediately headed to the back to check out the pool.
Within 3 minutes of arriving, DH had already found his calling.

He grabbed the surface skimmer off the wall and made sure the few leaves and flower petals that had fallen were cleaned up.
We are both SO excited to have the opportunity to enjoy the pool and actually do some maintenance outside the house!
Tomorrow (Thursday), we have both taken the day off and plan to begin moving boxes into the new garage so this move will be less stressful on both of us. We will have 4 weeks to move our stuff as well as make sure our current house is cleaned and ready for the next family.
More pictures to follow of the move tomorrow!

"The Harpinator" rides again!!

Everyone will be glad to know that the harp will finally begin it's journey to the Valley of the Sun.
For DH, it's been a long time coming.
DH's former co-worker and friend "THE GREAT AND POWERFUL KAISER" called DH and said "we have a truck heading your way and if you'd like, we can throw the coffin on as we have some room".
DH was THRILLED at hearing the news! The catch is, it needs to be delivered in the coffin by four o'clock tomorrow (Thursday) to the pick up site in O-what-a-tonna.
DH's family came to the rescue!

Photo of DH's brothers preparing the "HARP" coffin for transport.
By 7:00 MN time, they had it loaded and ready for delivery tomorrow.
DH's previous co-worker and good friend, Jim, has agreed to leave work tomorrow on his lunch hour, pick up the coffin from DH's parents and deliver it to Wenger before the deadline.
In life, DH has been taught by his parents to not burn bridges and treat people as you would like to be treated. DH has taken this philosophy to heart throughout his life and it has had it's rewards ten-fold!
DH would like to thank everyone involved with making this short notice trip possible. He has already started composing a "thank-you" song for everyone involved. Once the harp is settled in it's new home, the song will be recorded and shared with everyone.
"THANK YOU"!!


Photo of the coffin fully loaded.

Crown King community fire north of Phoenix

"A signal fire started by a lost hiker June 28, 2008, erupted into a 500 acre wildfire about a mile from the Crown King community north of the Valley, Yavapai County Sheriff's Office officials said."
Yesterday afternoon while DH & DW watched the Nascar race, DH walked past the back patio door and noticed what he thought was a monsoon storm brewing. He told DW to grab the camera and come take a look at the AWESOME storm. Upon further watching of the storm brewing both DW & DH noticed something actually building up from the ground below. Both wondered, was it a fire?
DH hopped on the Internet only to read of a fire that had started north of Phoenix.
Here are a couple of photos of what we could see from our backyard. The fire is approximately 50 miles to the north of us. It's truly amazing how much and how far one can see here when a fire starts.



Just before bed, we looked out our upstairs window and could actually see the red glow from the fire!

DH got home from work tonight and walked out to the backyard to see DW had filled a little blue plastic pool with water to allow the dogs to cool off. It was so cute to see them huddled together enjoying the cool water.
The most impressive part was DW had her bathing suit on in anticipation to our up-coming move. She is so excited at the fact that when it gets hot here in the valley that we can FINALLY jump in some water and refresh ourselves. I wish we had a photo of her standing ankle deep in the pool when I walked out on the patio. She seemed a little surprised...........

A "Wildfire Adventure"

After doing the yardwork (aka watering 4 potted plants) and wanting to take a break from packing for our upcoming move, we decided to check out the Ethan Wildfire that was still burning in south Phoenix.

We could still see the smoke plume from our house and it seemed so close. We drove south to see how close we could get to it, knowing full well we wouldn't be able to drive next to the flames but sometimes you just have to see how far you can go!
We drove down 67th Ave and watched the changing smoke. And we were amazed to see that this area is agricultural! Here's a pic of some corn that looks a little different than MN corn.

We were just amazed at how the wildfire smoke plume changed from white to black and seemed to grow in size!

We found a gravel area to pull off the road, of course there were "No Trespassing, Private Property" signs all over, but that didn't stop us or the other 10 people from stopping there for a few minutes.





And we debated about picking up the couch, but decided it would clash with our current furniture!! LOL!
The police had the intersection blocked so we could go no further south.
We spotted a casino sign and decided to check it out because it was just up the hill from the barricade.
Once we entered the parking lot, we spotted many local news vans and reporters holding a press conference of sorts with an amazing view of the wildfires burning below.




There's DW hanging out next to the reporters!

While we were standing there, one of the wildfire hotspots flared up and you can actually see the flames! We were amazed that this was happening so close to us!


We decided to take a break from the heat and went to check out the casino. The smoke in the background is probably 2 miles away, but appears MUCH closer!

DW's brother will be glad to know that this casino doesn't hold a candle to his!!
We made our $20 deposit rather quickly and decided to head for home. As of 9:00 p.m. tonight, a local news website stated this wildfire is 30% contained and 16 homes have now been evacuated.
We are 35 miles away so the only evacuation we face is the self-imposed one in 2 weeks into a great new home with a pool!!

"Current wildfire in Phoenix, AZ named the Ethan Fire."

A fire has been burning here in Phoenix now for the last couple days. It was started by a lightning strike in the first storm of the "MONSOON" season on Wednesday.
Some of you have inquired if we've seen the fire and smoke.

Here are a few photos showing what we can see from our house.

Photo "BY DW" showing the smoke plume rising towards the night sky


Photo "BY DW" showing the smoke in the sky. The smoke is actually causing it's own atmospheric conditions. If you click on the photo you will notice in the middle of the photo, a UFO was checking out the fire as well. We have EVERYTHING here in Phoenix!!

The fire is located near Avondale, AZ. In relationship to where we are located, it's roughly 25 miles due South from our home.
Tonight on the news they are reporting that the fire is approaching a neighborhood in Avondale and that the residents may have to be evacuated. Avondale is where DH and DW spent their honeymoon. This is the area we initially wanted to live in. Now after being here for close to a year, we are certainly glad that we aren't in that city!

The photos below were taken off a local news website. They give you a better perspective of what it's like.

This photo better shows the amount of smoke the fire is causing.

This photo shows the smoke in the air and a HUGE "MONSOON" brewing in the background. This is such a GREAT shot. We wish we would have been the ones to take it.

Do to the low housing market - Hunting has ended.

We've decided with the still down-turning housing market that we will lease one more year. Home values continue to fall here in the valley and we're taking a chance that they haven't hit the bottom yet. So we have rented a home that is closer for DH to work but still puts him on the interstate for commuting. DW has about the same commute as she had before.
We are excited for our move and to actually have a pool. "FINALLY"!!
As those who've come to visit over the last year will understand, it will feel SOOOO good to be in another location. Here are a few photos showing the place.
We will send out new change of address to everyone in the near future.

"Front"

"Pool"

"Entrance"

ALL CRACKED UP - COOKING AN EGG IN A FRYING PAN USING THE SUN

Harnessing the Arizona sun to actually cook food.

Well we tried our experiment today.
We cracked an egg in a frying pan and put it in direct sunlight in the heat of the afternoon. The temp was 124 degrees on our glass table top. We weren't surprised that it actually did cook. DW was able to pick the whole egg up out of the frying pan yoke and all. It was fun seeing how it changed.
It was in the direct sunlight a total of three hours.



As you can see, the yoke was cooked to a "Sunny Side Up" state - crispy-on-the-outside, gooey-on-the-inside!
Not quite the way we would eat our eggs, but definitely a way to use the sun as a cooking resource......

Here's a link to building your own solar oven.
http://www.re-energy.ca/t-i_solarheatbuild-1.shtml