Wednesday, January 19, 2011 by Dana.

Years 1-2
I love my pool! My family loves the pool. We spend nearly every waking moment in it after work/school. We drink in it, eat next to it, and pee behind it. We invite friends over several times per week and volunteer to host every party for the kid’s sports teams. We love sending pics of splashing in the pool to our relatives in rural KY. I love my pool!

Year 3
The kids still treat the pool like it was new, but wife & I wait until the water temperature is over 82 before swimming. Wow, I didn’t realize it was so hard to keep the chlorine levels balanced in the blazing AZ sun. Broken umbrella? How did the tile get so corroded so fast? WHAT? $450 for new filters!?!? I hate my pool.

Years 4-5
Ugh! Seems like I spend a lot for a few months of use. I’m putting in a pool heater so I can at least use it 10 months of the year. Oooh it’s like a giant hot tub. Let’s put the kids to bed and invite our friends over for moonlight swimming! I love my pool!

Years 6-7
I am on my 3rd set $450 filters and installed a $575 replacement salt cell. F’ing algae!  I’ve given up trying to keep the tile clean. Why does the waterfall look like a cavern forming stalagmites? Is that a hunk of the pool wall surface that fell off? I swam in it less than 3 times last summer because I felt I had to be doing maintenance on it instead of enjoying it. I hate my pool!

Year 8
I miss having an awesome pool. I’m investing $10K in my backyard to have the entertainment venue I used to have. I want to love my pool again!

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Monday, March 22, 2010 by Dana.

We’ve had a wet winter in the Sonoran Desert, which has led to some of the greenest “carpet” on the mountains that I’ve ever seen here.  Our hike on Sunday morning was beautiful.  I snapped this photo, which included a lovely patch of yellow wild flowers near the top of the ridge.

All the lush vegetation yields more insects à more lizards & birds à more small mammals & snakes à more birds of prey & larger mammals, such as this coyote roaming the streets near our house.

So what is the downside?

1.       More risk to house pets from birds of prey and coyotes.

2.       Huge risk of wildfires when the heat comes this summer.

3.       My allergies (and everyone else allergic to pollen) going crazy.

All in all… the downsides are no biggie, don’t you think?

Posted in Weather, Desert, Suburbia | Print | No Comments »

Friday, January 1, 2010 by Dana.

Happy New Year! I’m awake at 7am on 1/1/2010 to make predictions.

1. My 1st nap of 2010 will occur today (1/1/2010).
2. My dogs will boycott making resolutions to behave better.
3. My car will get stolen forcing me to get a newer one that doesn’t need shocks, breaks, or general maintenance.  Wait… no… I sense that is just wishful thinking on my part.
4. I will put away Holiday decorations with a vow to get better ones for outside next year.  I will end up putting up the same crappy decorations after Thanksgiving, except 2 more strands of lights will quit working.
5. Based on straight party line voting, we will get a national health care system. Due to all the compromises, it will be so watered-down and confusing, that people will complain about it well into 2011. Republicans will still do nothing to reverse the damages caused by 8 years of the Bush administration.
6. My discontent for suburbia will make me search for a rural home with no neighbors within 300 yards. The kids will beg us to not move to the middle of nowhere, so I will still be blogging about Disturbia into 2011.
7. My middle child will hit a growth spurt around his 13th birthday in March and will be as tall as me by 2011.

Ok… Now for some real predictions

1. The Tempe woman that showed up in Miami without her 8-month old that was last seen in San Antonio will confess to killing her child after her boy is discovered in her abandoned vehicle.
2. A major earthquake will create a giant sinkhole in Mexico south of Yuma, AZ.  It will create a beautiful spring-filled lake that turns Yuma, AZ into a major tourist town.
3. Android-based phones will outnumber iPhones. Apple products will revert to a minor cult status for a few years until they wow us again with a new system using a holographic projection display and thought recognition for system input.

Posted in Crime, Desert, Technology, Holidays, kids, Suburbia, Pets, Neighbors, Disturbed | Print | No Comments »

Monday, December 28, 2009 by Dana.

I live in a desert. Everyone here in the PHX metro area does, yet our storm water drain system does nothing to reuse rainwater in anyway.  Why?  It’s time to get smart!  Check out this article in AZ Central for more details.

Posted in Desert, Suburbia, Disturbed | Print | No Comments »