We're having Seattle weather here in Phoenix right now. Much rain, and temps in the low 70's. The remnant of Hurricane Rosa came up from over the Baja and dumped 2-3" this AM, causing flash flood warnings. Even had a few thunderstorms.
The rain created small rivers running down some local streets here. On some main roads (which are canted to the center) there is a 3' wide "trough" running down the center, and the rain had filled some of these up over 10' wide with about 4" water. Good thing my Ford Escape has high clearance.
I had no problems at my house but there is still much standing water on some street intersections. And the rivers on the streets have also shrunk, but earlier it was pretty impressive. The forecast is for more rain tonite but not as much as today, which may be a record. Temps are expected to rise into the 80's for the rest of the week, but it looks like the upper 90's/100+ temps are gone for the foreseeable future.
Last night I had a terrible experience. I was watching a DVD in the living room and went out into the kitchen to get some yogurt from the fridge. I had the kitchen lights off so turned them on, and what do I see right in the middle of the floor - A F**KING SCORPION!!!!
The hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I rushed to get one of my slippers from the Arizona room. It was still there as it hadn't moved and I clobbered it good. It twitched a little and I slammed it again to make sure it was dead. Got a bunch of paper towels and wrapped it up, being careful of the stinger.
So by now, my heart is pounding. If I hadn't looked down when I turned the lights on I would have stepped right about where it was and I was barefoot at the time.
The scorpion was about 4" long and brown, and it blended in with my laminate kitchen flooring. So one would have to be careful to notice something like that. So ya, that shook me up and now I'm being double careful when I go into the kitchen and Arizona room, as that has quarry tile.
I had asked my real estate agent to see if the seller had any experiences with scorpions in the house, and he reported that he had killed 2 of them in the 2 years he owned the property. So I was aware that they are not uncommon here. But having now experienced one is a whole different thing.
I've done a little research on scorpions, and this particular species will produce a painful sting but is not considered life threatening. There is one species that's the smallest called the bark scorpion, and they are only a couple inches long at most and translucent in color. Those can be fatal in some cases. So how did this get in my house?
Scorpions are able to squeeze through an opening as thin as a credit card, according to what I've read. Having a door sweep that's not tight can be one point of entry, but there are many other possibilities. At this point I'm not planning on calling in a pest service, and there are plenty of those here as termites, ants, etc are prevalent.
At the same time I'm going to be doubly sure of entering the kitchen or the Arizona room. I've also had 3 or 4 experiences of a rather large and ugly cockroach which is fast and defies my efforts to squash it. Such are the realities of living in this area! And it's not like I was unaware of this before settling in this area! So now I'm shaking out my shoes before I put them on.
:shock:
Beyond that I'm moving forward with the new surf project and will have at least 10 of the 15 tunes I composed ready to go for my first session at the local studio later this month.
Cheers?
RR
The rain created small rivers running down some local streets here. On some main roads (which are canted to the center) there is a 3' wide "trough" running down the center, and the rain had filled some of these up over 10' wide with about 4" water. Good thing my Ford Escape has high clearance.
I had no problems at my house but there is still much standing water on some street intersections. And the rivers on the streets have also shrunk, but earlier it was pretty impressive. The forecast is for more rain tonite but not as much as today, which may be a record. Temps are expected to rise into the 80's for the rest of the week, but it looks like the upper 90's/100+ temps are gone for the foreseeable future.
Last night I had a terrible experience. I was watching a DVD in the living room and went out into the kitchen to get some yogurt from the fridge. I had the kitchen lights off so turned them on, and what do I see right in the middle of the floor - A F**KING SCORPION!!!!
The hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I rushed to get one of my slippers from the Arizona room. It was still there as it hadn't moved and I clobbered it good. It twitched a little and I slammed it again to make sure it was dead. Got a bunch of paper towels and wrapped it up, being careful of the stinger.
So by now, my heart is pounding. If I hadn't looked down when I turned the lights on I would have stepped right about where it was and I was barefoot at the time.
The scorpion was about 4" long and brown, and it blended in with my laminate kitchen flooring. So one would have to be careful to notice something like that. So ya, that shook me up and now I'm being double careful when I go into the kitchen and Arizona room, as that has quarry tile.
I had asked my real estate agent to see if the seller had any experiences with scorpions in the house, and he reported that he had killed 2 of them in the 2 years he owned the property. So I was aware that they are not uncommon here. But having now experienced one is a whole different thing.
I've done a little research on scorpions, and this particular species will produce a painful sting but is not considered life threatening. There is one species that's the smallest called the bark scorpion, and they are only a couple inches long at most and translucent in color. Those can be fatal in some cases. So how did this get in my house?
Scorpions are able to squeeze through an opening as thin as a credit card, according to what I've read. Having a door sweep that's not tight can be one point of entry, but there are many other possibilities. At this point I'm not planning on calling in a pest service, and there are plenty of those here as termites, ants, etc are prevalent.
At the same time I'm going to be doubly sure of entering the kitchen or the Arizona room. I've also had 3 or 4 experiences of a rather large and ugly cockroach which is fast and defies my efforts to squash it. Such are the realities of living in this area! And it's not like I was unaware of this before settling in this area! So now I'm shaking out my shoes before I put them on.
:shock:
Beyond that I'm moving forward with the new surf project and will have at least 10 of the 15 tunes I composed ready to go for my first session at the local studio later this month.
Cheers?
RR
