Cool Now

The caulking is complete now around the new air conditioner - both inside and out. The next step for that project, and the last one, is to paint around the entire unit. That will occur sometime later. I will say that it is quite a difference now working in the cool den with the high heat outside. I don't have to leave the room at noon now to escape the rising temperatures. The previous owner hardly used this area of the house except that the washer and dryer are here and he did have a desk, of sorts, that he rarely used and is replaced by my own office equipment. I love sitting and working at my desk and watching the golfers go through outside. Of course, the birds and the rabbits are also entertaining to watch.

We will probably do some shopping today as Josie has her first day off for the holiday weekend. She works only on Monday and has the rest of the time off until next Thursday. There are some adjustments we will make in the bedrooms over the next several days and I will hang the TV's permanently on the wall in two of the rooms.

I spent some time in the garage yesterday AM going through a huge box of my hats collection. There are a couple hundred of them that I've accumulated over the years and many of them can be eliminated. I found the ones that were autographed by Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller and Fred Couples, and they are the most important ones. A lot of memories returned during that exercise...

Sprinkler Issue

I was noticing two days ago that we had lower than normal water pressure coming out of the sprinkler heads under our trees. I walked around the side of the house and saw that there was "break" in a joint in the water line and water was shooting out all over. The sprinkler system was shut down and I called our landscaper. He came out yesterday and the net of the whole issue is that he needs to replace a section of the line with a heavier grade plastic pipe because the old one is too close to the surface and the heat is destroying the bond on the pipes.  He will come out on Saturday or Monday and do the work. Whoever did the original work did not use good judgement. Oh, well.

I picked up the caulking yesterday at Home Depot to complete the trim work around our new air conditioner. I didn't do the work yesterday as it got too hot by the time I was ready to do the work. That will be done as soon as I complete this entry. Then, all we have to do is paint the area - inside and out - and it should be perfect. I sure could tell the difference in the room yesterday with the new unit running.

We have no real plans for the holiday coming up, but, with Josie getting more time off, we may decide to take a short trip somewhere...

Major Project Completed

First of all, we enjoy watching the animals and birds that frequent our back yard. Yesterday, we had another visit from a not-too-friendly animal that occasionally comes through looking for a quick meal - the coyote:

Of course, when he is present, there are no other animals, of any kind, that are visible. This time, he walked through our yard from the golf course to the front of the house where he trotted down the street.

Yesterday was significant for one reason - a major project was completed that will make our life a lot more comfortable in the den and laundry area. We switched out the swamp cooler and replaced it with a window air conditioner. The project was a bit more complicated than original planned. The window A/C unit is built for just that - a window installation. The window kit that came with the unit did not work with the unit for a wall installation. The guy that performed the work did an outstanding job utilizing the wood and parts from the swamp cooler to manufacture a solution. These photos show the before and after of the switch:

Exterior before taking down the swamp cooler:

Exterior after A/C installation:

Interior before removal of swamp cooler:

Interior after installation:

The A/C unit is much smaller than the swamp cooler unit, so I have lots of caulking and painting to do to complete the project. It is a huge improvement to the room and I am already enjoying the much cooler air while writing this entry.

Finishing up that project - except for the painting - will take place today...

Taking Care of Small Stuff

We have an evaporator cooler (swamp cooler) in the den where my desk is located and where the laundry room is located. It is useless. I purchased a small room air conditioner to replace the swamp cooler and I spent a good part of the day yesterday trying to locate someone who could do the swap-out. If you can believe it,  refrigeration companies won't touch it unless it is a full A/C that is replacing the swamp cooler. I finally found a handyman that would do the job and he is expected out to the house this afternoon to give an estimate. Maybe soon I will be able to work in my den on these hot afternoons.

We also went to Home Depot to exchange our hummingbird feeder for one that will not attract the large birds. We found one with no perches and with no place for larger birds to land on the feeder - except on the very top.  So far this morning it appears to be doing the job. Here is a shot of the new feeder:

I also discovered this morning that the water pressure on our sprinkler system was low. I found a break in the pipe on the side of the house where the water was streaming out so I shut that off until we can get our landscaper out to repair the pipe. I am not totally satisfied with the quality of work so far from this landscaper, so we may have to make another switch to a third landscaper soon.

We are still moving boxes in from the garage at a very slow rate. There is no end in sight for that project...

Rejoicing Over Return of Picture

As you probably already know, we have been searching all over for our picture (lithograph) of the Pike Place Market that has been a favorite of ours since we purchased it in the mid 80's in Seattle. We thought that perhaps it was taken by the packers we used at our home in Glendale and then we thought maybe the movers lost it recently on our move to Sun City. We have it back now, as the mover dropped it off yesterday and made our day:

I went to Costco yesterday to try and get a fix for my glasses. The arms of the glasses have lost their protective coating as a result of my perspiration. I had an infection on my face and decolorization in my hair where the problem occurred. I ended up getting another of the same frames as the clerk at Costco made some adjustments to the arms so that there is no direct contact to my face.

We are getting close to the holiday - 4th of July - and we are trying to decide if there may be a chance for us to take a mini vacation somewhere since Josie has extra time off for the holiday. We'll keep you posted on that...

More Beautiful Cactus

I knew it wouldn't be long before we had a really nice display of our cactus blooming. It happened over the last two days and these shots are the latest of the beautiful, large flowers that are opening on all of the plants:

It's quite a show. The only negative - if you can call it one - is that all the blossoms are white and we were hoping for maybe a little red or orange among the blooms. The rabbits are loving the low hanging blooms and have eaten most of the ones that are within their reach. Now, we just have to wait another year before we see this show again.

We went to Home Depot yesterday to check out the 4th of July sales on appliances that they have advertised. Our goal was to find a good deal on a new refrigerator. By the time we left, we had signed up for an entire suite of appliances because of the fabulous pricing and bonus discounts. However, after sleeping on the move overnight, we decided to cancel everything as we need the money for other higher priority items. It's too bad that we haven't hit the lottery or we would have gone forward with purchasing a lot of stuff. Most of what we need with a higher priority will be seen as time goes on...

Cactus in Bloom and Good News

One of our several cactus plants finally bloomed yesterday and the others are not far behind. Here are a couple shots of the first one to show the beautiful blossoms:

There is another plant similar to this one that has more blossoms and is probably another day away from blooming. There are a couple of different plants that also will be blooming within the next several days. I will get shots of all of them.

We have been missing a favorite framed picture of ours that we have had since the mid 80's when we visited the Pike Place Market in Seattle. We thought that perhaps the packers we used at the Glendale house may have taken it as it is nowhere in our house, or among the boxes in the garage. I also sent an email yesterday to our movers that were used to empty our storage and bring our goods here in Sun City last month. They responded that they have our picture! It was in a large box in the front portion of the truck and was under some pads so that it was missed during the move.  They are going to return the picture to us tomorrow. There really is a Santa Claus.

We are having a cold spell today - the high will only be 104...