Monsoon season has arrived!

Monsoon season seems to be arriving earlier and earlier each year.  We rarely had it during June.  Now it is quite typical.  It used to be just July and August...hmmm....global warming?

Anyway, for the last 3 days we've had monsoon clouds and downpours.  I actually took these photos a couple of weeks ago.  I hit some sprinkles out on the freeway yesterday as I was driving to north Indio, to babysit the 8 week old grandson while his sister and parents went to swim lessons at the Palm Desert pool.  They didn't want to take him along with them, out in the heat.  I don't blame them.  It was 114 here yesterday and more of the same for today.  I'm guessing that thunderheads will once again appear over our mountains in the afternoon.

Ugh.  It's one thing to have the HEAT, but when you throw in humidity, it just wears me out!

On the road to Temecula

Our son and his family moved to Temecula last December.  He got a job near there and off they went!  They sold their home here in the desert, but can't afford a home there, so they are renting.

And, now, this next weekend, they are moving to another house because their current owner wishes to sell his!  Oye!  It will be a small house, so it will be easier to keep cool and that's a good thing because last weekend it was 107 in Temecula.  And, our grandson will have to change schools.  His old school only had 2 desktop computer per classroom and NO ipads!  Eh?  In this day and age?

Anyway, there is a really neat place along Highway 79, on the way to Temecula.  It is a metal sculpture garden and folks stop to admire all the metal work.   Here are some pics that I took the last time I drove through there

I've been AWOL and I RETIRED!

I've been AWOL for quite a while, and part of the reason is that I've retired!  I actually retired 6 weeks before the end of the school year, right before testing.  I realize that sounds like a cheap shot, but I was so completely burned out that there was NO WAY I could stay and handle testing for my students.  I prepped them as best I could, but it is difficult when, out of a class of 22, you have 7 TOTAL NON-READERS in 3rd grade!  How are they supposed to handle common core?  They can't even read the math problems!  Plus, I had very little administrative support, and a principal who was openly hostile.

Finally, our daughter had a new baby, her first boy, on April 29, so I took that day off and retired the next day.  I've been busy babysitting the little bundle of joy.

We haven't traveled far.  Our dog, Ripley, is now nearly 9 years old, and she doesn't handle staying home alone well.  Last summer she got OUT of our front yard (she clawed her way through our fence), and a neighbor down on the corner, down the street, found her and called me in Arizona.  Thank GOD I picked up the call!  He stuffed her back inside our fence and plugged it up as best he could, and we cut short our vacation and got home from eastern Arizona (we were up on the Mogollon Rim) the next day.  There she was, panting at us...

Actually, this Memorial Day, we were able to take her with us up to Idyllwild to the Silver Pines Lodge.  We had our own little cabin there and our daughter and her family had a large one with a full kitchen. Their neighbors also went up a day later.  They have a son who is 18 months younger than our granddaughter, who is 3, and the two get along very well.  We all had a good time and Ripley behaved very well.  She was good with ALL the people and the 2 dogs on premises.  I took her out for some long walks and she was very interested in the squirrels and blue jays!

We're thinking about staying around here for the summer, but taking a trip to the Sierra this fall, when the leaves change colors.  We can do that now that we are BOTH retired!  Hubby actually retired 6 weeks after I did.  He still works from home a couple of days a week, but it is less pressure for him.  We are both finding that our bodies are exhausted and we are both taking LONG afternoon naps.  Most desert dwellers do that anyway here in the desert, as do the animals!  I'm finding that it has really taken me 6 weeks to de-stress!  Hubby is finding that out, too.

Here are some photos I took recently...

Thank you for stopping by!
~Cheryl Ann~

We visited Joshua Tree in May.  We went mid-week, something which we could NEVER do while we were both working.  We almost had the part to ourselves!