They Grow Them Big In California

Locust?

Somehow, calling this a grasshopper sounds too small, so I'm calling this a locust. Thank you to LeeAnne W. for lending her fingers so you can see how big this sucker is. He was sunning himself on a chaise lounge at the pool this morning. It was only about 77 F. then so maybe he was warming up. It's at 106 F. now. The humidity is up a bit to 20% (versus 13%).

Friday

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Saturday

Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun ... Here it's hotter around 3 p.m. and we have had another 109 F. day. Our big excursion was this morning out to CVS to get sunscreen and other exciting things.

As we were leaving, I saw a woman carrying a Starbucks cup and, of course, I had to have one. Mom said, "Can you afford Starbucks?!" and my retort was, "I'm on vacation!" I'm not sure that makes sense to anyone except us but she dutifully got into the drive up window line at Starbucks.

"We want an iced decaf with cream only."

"What drink do you want?"

"Iced decaf with cream only."

"But what do you want as the drink?"

"Coffee."

"We don't have iced coffee. But you could have an iced Americano."  

At this point, I'm feeling like Rick in Casablanca -- frustrated.

"Fine."

"Okay, that's one iced Americano grande. Do you want anything else?"

I wanted to scream, "Just give me the fucking coffee!!" but I didn't and said, "No, thank you." 

So they may not serve iced coffee but an Americano, iced, sure tastes like iced coffee.  

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You know the phrase, 'The names of fools are oft found in public places,'? This fool was on the front page of the Amherst Bulletin. Scot (the reporter) asked if I remembered what I was doing during the moon landing. Of course I did. Unfortunately, he did not remember that we were standing in the Amherst Senior Center -- the paper said Hadley. And I worked for the main (telephone company) Boston long distance office, not the Maine-Boston office. Oh well. 

Today, Saturday, is the actual anniversary of the walk on the moon and I must admit, I'm tired of hearing about it. I would rather have respect for this country as we did 50 years ago. Rather than looking back, we must be looking forward.

And I am looking forward to when I won't be ashamed of our government.

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Sunday

We saw two coyotes today. We were sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and looked out the window to see two coyotes trotting by. One stopped to go onto J and J's patio which is surrounded by a hedge. I wonder if he sniffed their grill or if he sniffed a bunny. 

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We went to Phil's birthday party during Happy Hour at the Agua Caliente Casino.

Tina Louise (AKA Tina #1) is on the left. I am Tina #4 because I didn't like 2 or 3. Tina is the prime organizer of these birthdays, happy hours, and informative luncheons. In fact, she was collecting money to see "Elvis" at the end of  September. I thought it sounded like a good show, but I will be long gone and in Massachusetts.

Of course, after the party, Mom and I went in to gamble. I lost $15. Oh well. It was still 109 F. when we came out, but there was a breeze. A hot breeze. I had never experienced that before. It was as if I were standing in front of an open door of a clothes dryer that was running. Hot breeze. Sounds like a new drink.

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Monday

Today should be interesting since it's partly cloudy but much more humid. We are expecting thunderstorms.

LeeAnne and I are going to Planet Fitness today. Wish me luck.

Well, I survived the gym even though my body told me I have never done this before and you are hot and hurting, bla, bla, bla ...

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From a newsletter written by Theresa Hanafin, Boston Globe:

The Old Farmer's Almanac says the expression getting off "scot-free" has nothing to do with Scottish people. Rather, it's from the Old Norse word "skot," which was a municipal tax dating back to the 13th century. Someone who was exempt from paying this tax was said to be skot(scot)-free. It eventually came to be used to refer to anyone who got away with stuff.

Like allegedly sexually assaulting 20+ women, cheating taxpayers out of millions of dollars, stiffing scores of small contractors, obstructing a federal investigation. Interesting. I always thought that was called getting off trumpfree.       

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It's still Monday and I got nuthin'. I'm going to make some eggplant parm -- with Mexican cheese which has less salt than parmesan -- in the microwave and steak for lunch. 

I hope you all are not suffering with the heat wave. As someone who broke a sweat brushing her teeth today, I'm not a good person to ask if it's hot. It is very humid today, certainly not by Massachusetts standards, but definitely over the top for the desert. 

Keep cool and keep smiling! (Or at least keep your frowns to yourself. Don't you hate it when someone tells you to smile?) Cheers.