So around 6PM today a sudden downpour and hailstorm happened for about 15 minutes... This was on top of the 0.7" of rain we have already received this weekend..
Rain and hail as viewed from the guest room upstairs:
Hail in the front yard...
More hailstones on the patio furniture... the wind has blown the pillows everywhere yesterday
The hail hitting one of the windows above the guest bed in the guest bedroom:
Thanks to PetSmart's "Critters in the Classroom" program, I received a free small animal habitat, food, bedding, snacks, and chew toys. I also got 2 small animals with a $20 rebate... My students researched hamster and gerbils and then the class voted. Tonight I got 2 gerbils (females) for our class... The don't have names yet but they are enjoying their new habitat...
So the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics was on NBC tonight... and the ceremony was fantastic... until the most important moment of all: the Lighting of the cauldron... What was supposed to happen was that four giant ice-like sticks would rise out of the floor of the stadium and surround a fifth middle column. Then the four final torch-bearers including former Phoenix coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky and Phoenix Suns NBA player Steve Nash would light the four outside "icicles". The flame would travel up to the top and all five sticks would ignite.
What ended up happening is that nothing came out of the floor for four or five minutes as they tried to get one of the icicles to rise. They eventually gave up and only three of the four outer icicles appeared while the torch bearers stood around aghast and one of the people supposed to light the cauldron never even got the chance. What a horrendous disappointment to be that fourth person with nothing to light...
Here is the 80% complete indoor cauldron that eventually appeared and was lighted:
And here was the priceless look on "The Great One's" face as he stood around minute after minute with torch in hand waiting for a cauldron to appear:
As I said... Epic Fail!
For comparison, here is the video of the 2000 Olympic cauldron in Sydney that got stuck on its journey to the top of the stadium, but eventually worked successfully....
So I finally finished painting the breakfast nook, put up curtains, and got a picture shelf for my kitchen pictures that have been sitting on the floor for the last 12 months...
So a few weeks ago the Valley of the Sun became the Valley of Clouds and rain for three days. We set the all time 24-hour rainfall record and had some the the worst winter storms Arizona has ever seen. Lots of rain in Phoenix and over 50" of snow up in the high country north of here...
A rare sight here... an actual rainbow!
Rainfall totals over 3 days around the Valley:
The weather service here is very accurate... apparently they can predict a flood down to the minute...
So over Christmas vacation I watched a colleague's two dogs while they travelled back east for the holidays. Daisy is a Puggle and honey is a Miniature Pinscher. They both had a lot of fun sleeping and eating and pooping during the holidays!
Daisy & Honey standing in the archway to the kitchen & living room looking for their next meal:
Daisy asks "Who me?"
Daisy and Honey sleeping in the chair (after I piled the pillows up on it so they could not get up on it... clearly this plan failed)
Daisy sleeping on the couch:
Daisy is taking a nap (as usual...)
Honey having her prison photo taken:
We didn't do it!
Daisy & Snowy sharing a rare moment together in the chair:
