When I was out on Friday, I noticed a patch of ripe wild raspberries (hidden in the goldenrod). I didn't have anything to put them in, except my pockets, so I ate a handful and walked home. Yesterday, I returned with VSO and a pair of tupperwares. We got started in a downpour, so we were pretty wet on the walk up, but after an hour of picking, the sun came out. After an hour of picking, we also had about a pound and a half of fresh fruit.
It is beginning to feel a lot like monsoon season. We were hit by another large cell yesterday evening. When they carry enough moisture, these storms can flow down 300 East (above) and then turn the corner onto 300 North (below), where they create a temporary wetland on the south side of the street.
This month, Alice sold her Harbor Circle house in Cedar City and moved to Dallas. In Texas, Alice will be living with her daughter and will not need all of her furniture. For that reason, we are in the process of moving part of her household to storage and part of it to the antique dealer. This is what Harbor Circle looks like right now. We have a pile for the movers and a pile for the antique dealer. There is another pile (not pictured) that I need to haul to the dump. Moving is a lot of work. VSO has taken the lead on this one and has, as you might expect, done an A-plus job.
Yesterday afternoon, we received the first big slug of moisture at The Homestead since 2019. It was an isolated storm, the airport in Cedar City recorded only .07 inches, but it carried so much heavy rain that the house and shed were flooded. Actually, there was only a small pool of water that made it into the back entry (below). The worst flooding that we've seen in the past created enough back entry overflow that it went down the stairs into the basement.
We generally buy high mileage cars and drive them as far as they will go. We plan, really, to keep them forever and will only move on when they can no longer be trusted or repaired. Sadly, the Vue finally reached that stage: After 307,000 miles, the motor was strong, but the front end had a chronic rattle, shimmy, shake, and wander that we could not fix. We put bearings, bushings, tie-rods and tires into it, but couldn't settle it down. We decided it was time. We told the guy at the used car lot that we wanted to trade it in. He took one look and skipped the appraisal. It was going to auction. In exchange, we got another Chevy. A ten year old sport ute thing (a lot like the Vue) but with only 64,000 miles, a 243,000 mile improvement. (I have never in my life owned a vehicle with fewer than 100,000 miles.) It is in very nice shape, probably too nice for us, but there are really just two things I don't like about it: 1) The color is too gaudy, nearly ticket-me red and 2) Chevy named it "Captiva." Captiva? I asked VSO about it and she said, "It's an island." "What island?" I asked, "Alcatraz?" I thought that was pretty witty, but evidently there is a resort island in Florida called Captiva: White sand beaches and yachts. Just our thing.
During the last wet year, 2019, I noted that there was enough water to fill the playas. In particular, there was enough water to fill the Little Salt Lake (above). On a memorable day in May, we even paddled across it in the canoe. Today, after two years without rain, the LSL is better suited to wheeled traffic (below).
