I’m not cut out to take pics of fireworks

Getting a good fireworks photo is harder than it looks.  I had a quiet day at home with the cats on the fourth and I was determined to try again to get a good pic of the fireworks I can see from my patio. 

I made sure my camera battery was charged and drug out my camera manual to see how to set it for fireworks.  I was almost ready to give it a whirl when one of my sisters called.  As we were talking, some older neighbor kids climbed the high bluff in the desert behind my house and began shooting off bottle rockets.  There are snakes back there, not to mention the brush is dry and there’s a lot of it.  Luckily, nothing went up in flames.  Kids do this every July 4 and New Years Eve. 

When we lived in California, we went to a friend’s house once for a cookout on the fourth.  This grown man decided to hike down the hill to set off fireworks he bought from the stand in town.  He lived on a bluff behind a shopping center.  Well you guessed it, he started a brush fire, which set all of us in motion rushing down the hill with buckets and a garden hose, which wasn’t quite long enough.  People never think things like this will happen to them.

This is pitiful, but better than nothing

I did go out on my patio later and stayed out there an hour experimenting and taking lots of pictures.  It was a balmy summer evening, but no mosquitoes here like in humid climates.  That’s one thing to feel blessed about when it comes to desert living. 

When I downloaded my photos the next day, it was no surprise to find most of them were duds and I only got two halfway okay pics out of the deal.  I think this takes practice, but where do you practice a thing like this when you only get one shot at it every six months?  It’s all in the timing of each shot because I had no idea what I was pointing the camera at, or when to snap the picture.  The viewfinder was pitch black.  I guess under the circumstances I did well.

One thing I did learn was that there is much more to using my camera than I usually use.  It’s a Canon point-and-shoot and I love it, but I’m always glad to learn new things.  It only took me about six or seven years to discover all this new info because I really don’t have the time to read the camera book. 

 This one isn't much better, but I tried

 

Since my husband’s been gone, I’ve been multitasking and doing some of this stuff while I eat a salad for dinner.  I may as well try to accomplish something while I stuff my face and it doesn’t matter if it takes me two hours to finish my meal.

He’s been gone a week already and that sure did fly by.  Today’s his birthday so he met up with some childhood friends and they had breakfast.  He’s overwhelmed with all the stuff on his “to do” list, but is making his way through it.

The water situation here is under control for now.  I keep my eye on it though.  The plumber said it’s possible the water heater could be cracked on the inside liner, but he recommended we wait, get a pressure gauge to put on it, and observe the situation for anything unusual.  So far, everything is fine, which is good because water heaters aren’t cheap.  He thinks the water heater got a burst of pressure and the emergency valve blew and flooded the mechanical room.  He can’t explain why water got into the closet because there’s a room between the two and that room was dry as a bone.  One of life’s mysteries yet unsolved.

I’ve been up to other things too and will save that for another post.

Rain in the desert can be destructive

It started out with storm clouds

Yes, it’s nice to have free water for the plants, but too much rain in the desert all at once can have devastating circumstances.  As most people know, it rarely rains in the desert and certainly not buckets full.

Water rushing from the rain gutter

Last night and today, it’s rained more here than it has since we first moved here.  The winter of 2004-2005 turned the streets around here into flowing red rivers, it washed out landscaping and flooded homes.  Twenty-plus homes fell into the Santa Clara River here.  Things were a disaster for quite a while.

The street in front of our house

Another view of the street in front of our house

I haven’t seen anything like that until today.  Our street wasn’t entirely covered with water this time, but it did wash out people’s landscaping and rose about ten feet up the driveway.  Our home is on higher ground, thank goodness, but the residents at the end of the street weren’t so lucky.  Four-five homes on that end got flooded.  One house with a basement that has always been a problem had about four feet of water in it.  The other neighbors got about five inches.

 This is our riverbed in the back.  It follows the natural slope of the land so any water drains off.

After the rain stopped a moment and enough water receded to drive on the street, my husband drove around the neighborhood to access the damage.  People had furniture out on their driveways and there were clean up crews there.  We loaned a shovel and warehouse broom to some neighbors we know so they could remove some of the red dirt.  Their entire backyard is history.

The only thing that saved the new house they’re building two lots down from us was the empty pool.  All the mud and water washed down into it instead of flooding the house.  That will be a major clean up job because once the red dirt dries it’s like trying to remove cement.  It’s in all the pipes over there and the pool drainpipe.  I guess once they shovel the pool out they’ll have to get a roto-rooter in there to take care of the rest of it.  The contractors told my husband the new people wanted to move in next month.  Luckily, this doesn’t happen often because that lot is very low and, as I said before, I think they’ll have future troubles with that house.

So we’re high and dry and thankful all we have to replace is a bit of landscaping in the front.

But roads are flooded and closed all across our area.  They’ve even closed I-15 because of flooding and mud.  If anyone’s thinking of moving here, this would be a good time to drive around town and see which areas flood.