Palm Trees Burning in the Night

There was a sharp crack of thunder and I was instantly awake.  I grabbed Todd's arm & woke him up too.
"Whats wrong?"  He said, probably still asleep.
And lightning lit up the room.
And then came the rain.  I could hear it hitting the skylight and the windows and the roof.  It got louder and sounded less like rain and more like angry children hurtling gravel at our house.
And then it subsided.
Typical monsoon.  I rolled over and thought it was over.
But, unlike a typical monsoon, there was another crack of thunder.  And more lightening.  More rain.
It reminded me of the thunderstorms I watched as a child in West Virginia.  It was so odd to hear that here.
The thunder and lightning kept repeating.  Finally, I heard sirens.  I could hear them get louder as they approached from the fire station, then they passed & headed West.
My first thought was that someone's palm tree must be on fire.

The first monsoon I ever experienced (on the day after I moved here) was the first time I saw a palm tree that had been hit by lightning.  I was driving somewhere and I could not believe the amount of rain coming from the sky.  The streets had gone from dry to flooded in 5 minutes and I was praying I could make it back to my apartment without a raft.  I turned my head and looked down a side street and right there in someone's front yard a palm tree was on fire.  It was like a 25 foot tall tiki torch burning out of control.  The fronds were on fire and falling onto the lawn and I thought for sure the whole neighborhood would go up in flames.

Oddly, I have only seen that happen one other time.  But as I laid in bed with my husband and dog snoring, I thought for sure someone's palm tree had ignited.

When I went to work the next morning it was 92 degrees.  The streets were dry, and it was like nothing even happened.

PS- I'm the worst blogger ever and I need to finish the road trip stories!

Sunday Morning Shenanigans

Hey, look at us.  We made a video!  It lacks the production quality & fancy music of my cousin's videos.  Baby steps.

Hey runners, answer me this

Why do women's running shorts not have pockets?  I have things I can't live without, even for 4.2 miles.  I need my phone, a house or car key, some ID.  Chap stick would also be nice.

Why are runners such litterers?  Before the race there were no garbage cans.  If you have 28,000 people about to run, who are all drinking water and eating protein bars, you have to figure there will be some trash.  Why not provide receptacles?  And the water stations along the route?  Also not enough trash cans.  I felt terrible throwing paper cups down on the curb, but I had no choice.

Observed on the First Day of Summer

Ahhhh, feels so good!

Observed in the Parking Lot

I guess this means my next car will not be a yellow Camaro. The plate is already taken.

Observed on the 101

My future car?

Cadillac SRX, plate reads 'LILCHIK'

HA!

Crackin' Up

The only victim of my move:

Wouldn't you know, it was my ONLY FiestaWare plate.

Observed on Dunlap

Joey, have you moved to town?

Observed at the Booze Barn

Really, that's the small size?

Observed this weekend

Sorry I haven't been posting lately, not to much has been going on.

But I did run across this the other night. Apparently liquor companies are now making candy:

And a new gym opened down the street:

Does what happens at the Indian casino, stay at the Indian casino?

I has some really funny captions for each picture, but with Blogger's wonky formatting I can't add them. Oh well! But this was my Friday night.

Observed in my Office

This is one way to kill any semblance of productivity I had on a Friday afternoon.

Observed at the Booze Barn

Is it really necessary to have a 2' wide strip of raised concrete dots outside the Booze Barn? I cringe every time I roll a cart full of wine, 12-packs, and other glass-encased alcohol goodness over this monstrosity.

Observed in my Office

From my handbag a day calendar..... "Tubular suede evening bag with Rhinestone cap. France, 1930's."

Every time I looked at it I wanted a mocha.

Observed in the Sunday paper

An example of the dumbing down of our culture:

Ratty plaid shirt & sweat pants as "dressy".

Observed at the library

It has been about a year since I've visited our local library. In that time they have completed a major renovation. Needles to say, I was surprised to see the renovation required removal of most of the books.

Some pics of our new library:

Observed at Fry's

Whats the point of buying organic if it's wrapped in plastic?

Observed in the parking lot of the hippie market

Political statement?

Environmental statement?

I'm not sure....

Observed in my backyard

I think I spy a penguin!

Observed on my desk

Thanks to my magic of iOS4 I now have a picture wallpaper on my phone. Here is what I looked down & saw today.