Muchacho Polaco

We went to a Persian restaurant last Sunday with Elias, Allie, and Parsa. I had a glass of Lebanese wine which was surprisingly good. We ordered far too much, but enjoyed everything we had.

Yun and I are not hikers. But recently we were invited on a hike and we spent some money on hiking gear – so now we are hikers as far as I am concerned.

It was really exhausting. There were nice things to look at and it took my mind off of stressful things…but on a few occasions I was sure I was about to go into cardiac arrest.

The real test for us will be to see if we join the next hike.

It has rained so much this year. So much that everything is green in the desert. Yun went to Mexico for the holiday weekend, so in an effort to get out of the house, I took the dogs for a hike in Catalina State Park. I left the house this morning with no clear destination – but came across the park which turned out to be a fun option.

Because it has rained so much – the washes which are normally just rocks and dirt, have now turned into rivers. Only about half a foot to a foot deep – we waded up one for about a mile.

It was hot – too hot for Tila. The water probably helped a bit, but she was really struggling. She’s also getting old and not used to long walks any more. So we kept it pretty brief.

Even though brief – it was a fun hike. Fortunately we did not come across any rattle snakes. That would have been a disaster. When we got back to the parking lot, there was a young guy with a rattle snake head on a stick. Once the temperatures turn cool again, we won’t have to worry about them.

We finally gave in. I have mixed feelings. I am happy that the Pfizer vaccine has full FDA approval now – even though the process that normally takes 10-12 years has been reduced to months. Hopefully there isn’t a mutated variant every 4 months which required re-vaccination (though maybe that was the original intent?). At least now we might be able to travel in the near future with our papers that prove compliance. I am somewhat reluctant to purchase tickets in the fear that the flights will be canceled.

This has been a record breaking year for rain – which is nice because we didn’t get any rain the prior two years. Still, it’s getting old and every time it rains the pool fills with debris.

The house is mostly guest ready, so we have had a few people over the last couple weekends. Last night was M&D, T&K Davis, S&S Lewis, and C&S Gauger. Good food and good wine.

It has rained a lot this year. That’s good because it didn’t rain much the last couple years. Such beautiful sunsets in the neighborhood.

We have found far too many scorpions in the house – like maybe 5. They’re usually on the wall and usually in the bathroom. We spray frequently, but I think with the monsoons, we’re going to lose that battle. A few weeks back I bought a flashlight that would help us find these miserable things – sadly, far too well. The first night I took it out, I killed about 12 scorpions in under 5 mins. We need to clean up the yard and bomb it.

This was no small task and it took much longer than I anticipated – but we really like the finished product (especially when compared to how hideous the original was).

Here’s the original: