On This Blog, EVERY Vote Counts.

We need your help. We have a dilemma and can't come to an agreement on what to do.

One month ago, a storm blew through and damaged a tree in our front yard. It was a total bummer because literally 48 hours prior to this storm, we painstakingly trimmed all our trees in order to prevent such a problem. We cut, chainsawed and rented a u-haul trailer to take it all to the dump. And then this happened:

So, we cut off the downed branches and hauled them into the side yard, where they have sat for the last month. We need to haul them to the dump, but haven't done it yet because we can't decide what to do with the rest of the tree.

At first we decided just to cut it down and replace it. We don't even like this tree. It's grown in a way to make it impossible to trim properly, and it's thorny. VERY thorny. If I had any idea the beating I would be taking to trim this tree, it would have NEVER been planted in my yard.

So, it hasn't been cut down yet for a couple of reasons.
One - we just haven't had the free time to tackle the project.
Two- the HOA (suprisingly) hasn't pitched a fit about it yet.
Three- cutting down a tree also means, grinding the stump, getting it out and preparing the ground to replant a new tree (because according to the HOA we must have two trees in my front yard... a house with only one tree just doesn't cut the mustard around here.)
Four - it's freaking hot outside, and I don't want to tackle this project in the heat if I don't absolutely have to.

Now that it's been a whole month, I'm tempted to just leave it be and let it grow back. Even though I hate this tree, I'm too lazy to deal with taking it out. Eric really wants to get it out. We go back and forth about it all the time.

So, I'm putting this to a "blog reader vote"... should I hold my ground and continue in laziness because in 3-6 months, it will look like a normal tree again, or should I just deal with it and be rid of it once and for all?

Please leave a comment with your vote - any opinion will be welcome. Heaven knows I can't seem to make up my mind!

The Big One

It's FINALLY raining... we are getting it all ---

the crazy wind, the lightning and thunder and the rain... oh the rain! :)

I went to Curiculum Night at Taylor's school and came out to stormy skies. I then jumped into Target to enjoy a quick shopping trip ALONE! (Something I haven't had since school started!)

When I came out it was raining... sideways!

I ran to my car... getting absolutely soaked the whole way. I didn't mind getting wet, I was just worried that I would fall and kill myself duing the sprint through the puddles in the parking lot. And of course, I had my favorite Gap flip flops on, which become super slick when they are wet! But, I survived and jumped across the road to Sprouts. We really needed fruits and veggies. The parking lot here really took a beating. Four trees were downed just outside the front door!

Things calmed down once I got home and I took this shot from my back porch. It doesn't seem like an amazing picture, but keep in mind that my flash was turned OFF and I was pointing the camera at the blackest sky. I think my neighbor's house blocked the view of the actual bolt, but it lit the sky so long that I could press the shutter button on the camera after the sky lit up and I still caught it!

I'm so grateful for the rain and the break in the heat. My car thermometer went from upper 90's to 73 degrees in about 30 minutes! Ahhh... sweet relief! Tomorrow morning is going to be WONDERFUL!

Rain....

It's hot outside.... it's muggy... the cicadas are driving me crazy... the pool is almost the temperature of my parents hot tub...and the skies are blue.... and I'm depressed.....

We've been in "monsoon" season for almost a month now... but it's been like 3 weeks since we've had any rain.... I'm having withdrawls! We haven't even really had more than one thunderstorm this season and the last one we had, was in the middle of the night, so we slept through most of it! Even just a cloudy, blustery afternoon would be a welcome relief!

Please, Mother Nature... show us some wet stuff... we're melting out here!

Monsoon Madness

Here's a couple of videos from Saturday....

Just 24 hours later...

Turns out this storm was the single biggest monsoon storm in terms of rainfall since 1995! We needed the water, but some places got flooded like Tempe, which logged over 3" in one hour!

Dirty Little Secret

Yesterday I heard my first cicada for the summer. They are this ugly little bug that sit on the tree branches and "sing"... but for us it's just any annoying buzz. When my father in law first came to visit us (in August), the first thing he said, was "I think the street lamp in your court is broken... it keeps buzzing." It took us a few minutes to convince him it wasn't the streetlamp. It was a bug... it wasn't until I walked over to the tree that was buzzing and shook the branches, that the cicada shut up and my father in law "believed". After 3 full summers, and well into my 4th one, I've discovered that when you hear the cicada's buzzing that means Monsoon is here. It's the part of summer that I love and hate all at the same time! The Monsoon is Arizona's "dirty little secret". When I told people I was moving here, I can't tell you how many times people would say, "well, at least it's a DRY heat." Yes, that's true... in May and June. But July and August (and sometimes even September?!?) Fuhgetaboutit... it's anything but DRY! Until this year, the monsoon was declared after we'd had 3 straight days with a dewpoint of 55 degrees or higher. Honestly, until I moved here for a summer, I'd never even paid attention to what a "dewpoint" was! (Click HERE to read more about "dewpoint" and how it works.) Dewpoint typically begins around July 1st give or take a week or two in either direction. With it come humid days, afternoon thunderstorms, crazy rain (not as often as we would like) and dust storms. I look forward to it because it's a change from the same old thing we've been dealing with for weeks, but I dread it because of the humidity. It's so dang miserable. And it know it's not as humid as living in Florida, but they don't get to 110 on a regular basis either... like last summer when we had 32 straight days over 110 or something like that. Let's just say it gets old after a while! I also don't enjoy getting woken up by a thunderstorm at 3 a.m. That has happened several times since I've lived here. I love thunderstorms, but I want them to be done when it's bed time. It's hard to sleep with lightening flashing through every window and thunder booming every 30 seconds. This year, the weather "gurus" have decided to change the monsoon starting date... it's now June 15 every year. Very early for most years, but they are using hurricane season as an example. Official hurricane season usually starts weeks before any real hurricanes develop, but it still reminds local residents to be "on their guard." I guess that's a good idea with monsoons, too. I was just hoping to get a couple more weeks of dryness before it began! Click HERE for some amazing Monsoon photos... I was going to copy a couple and paste them here, but there are too many good ones to steal them in good conscious! Enjoy!