Thursday Thoughts: Severe Weather Alert!

Las Vegas is under a severe weather alert because the temperature is predicted to reach 110 degrees today. This is not a day to be outside for a long time. Even going outside for a short time one needs to carry a bottle of water and put on sunscreen. I cannot find my sunscreen, which means its either packed in a box or nonexistent. I will get a bottle or a tub when I go the the store again, but for now I will remain inside as much as possible. I will purchase the store brand because I think all sunscreens work equally well to protect me from the UV rays.

Severe heat warning
Las Vegas temperatures rise
Another hot day.

 

No More Afternoon Naps

This morning I logged into writing.com without difficulty, but then I got sleepy and decided to take a short afternoon nap. Now when I need to get back on, I my computer is having difficulty accessing the website. I'm not sure what's wrong because there was not problem this morning. It could be weather related, I checked weather.com and they're dealing with some extremely cold weather back east.

According to weather.com, the temperature in New York city is approximately 27 degrees, while the temperature in Las Vegas is 59 degrees Fahrenheit. I know that here in Las Vegas the cold weather will interrupt my Internet connection, so there is a good possibility that's happening with the connection between here (in Las Vegas) and the East Coast. This is, of course, my own fault because I should know better then to wait until the last minute to finish any writing project or any project for that matter.

I'll keep trying to access that website  the rest of the night, since I'm not planning to go any place tomorrow I can stay up all night (if necessary). It may be necessary because I have to finish a project and post it sometime before noon Eastern Standard Time. Every time I attempt to access the website, my browser indicates it's connecting with the website, but then it either just does nothing or gives me a problem loading.

I'm going to post this and try accessing the website on my other computer. It uses a different browser then the one I'm on now. I don' t know why the the browser would make a difference in loading the website, but there I guess there could be.

Monday Mumblings about the weather

It is summer in Las Vegas. The triple digit temperatures have arrived. I think I have made other entries about the temperature. In those entries, I probably ranted or gripped about some aspect of the hot weather. This year the sudden change in weather got to me. At least, I think it was the sudden change in weather.

Las Vegas summer

triple digit temperatures

takes getting used to

Perhaps I am acclimatized to the temperatures. This morning I drove across town without the heat affecting me. Oddly enough, I rather enjoyed the drive, so perhaps I am getting used to the temperatures. I hope so, because I still do not have working air conditioner in my car.

Writing about the weather requires research

I am writing a story about becoming stranded in a snowed in, so I have to do a little weather research. The stranded part of the story is not an issue because I have had some experience with that. This experience occurred before I moved to Las Vegas. I lived with my grandparent in Oklahoma for a while and one year it snowed enough to strand several travelers in Blackwell. Eventually, the snowplows cleared one lane of traffic, so that people could drive a short distance.

I am have to do some research to help me remember what it was like to drive in one lane of traffic with snow piled high on each side. Finding this information should not be difficult, considering that half of the country had problems with unusual amounts of snow this year. I am glade I live in Las Vegas now because we did not have problems with the snow.

I look out my living room window

I look out my living room window and see a partly cloudy sky. The weather report for today is chilly because temperatures are supposed to be 10 degrees below normal. It looks like a chilly day because the sun, shining through the afternoon clouds, does not cast shadows on the roof of my garage.

I look out my living room window at the shingles on the roof of my garage. The shingles look like wood, but they are really an artificial substance created to look like wood. These types of shingles cover both the garage and the roof of the house. They look nice, but they do not stand out like the shingles on other houses. They are flame resistant as are the shingles on most of the houses in this neighborhood.

I look out my living room window at the white clouds against the blue sky. It is autumn in Las Vegas. It does not look like autumn because the leaves on the trees have not changed color yet. The nighttime temperatures have not reached the freeze point. It may not get that cold for another few weeks. I am not sure what to expect because the weather has been a bit odd this year.

Wacky Weather in Las Vegas

Earlier this week, the temperature reached 110. Today the temperature is expected to drop about 30 degrees and rain is predicted. I look out my living room window and I see a cloudy sky. I hear distant thunder and I fully expect it to rain. The weather here in Las Vegas is bizarre; it is going wacky.

Las Vegas weather
Distant thunder echoing
Wacky and bizarre

A series of storms are forecast for Las Vegas

A series of storms, sounds like a good title for a group of short stories. However, that is the forecast for the Las Vegas area this week. Apparently, there are three storms in the Pacific Ocean expected to impact Las Vegas and the surrounding mountains. This means rain in the valley and snow in the mountains. I suppose, if it gets cold enough, it could mean snow in the valley.

Snow in the valley sounds like a good title for a story. Sometimes the weather in Las Vegas can inspire writer. True the late winter weather here is sometimes monotonous; however, this January is becoming interesting and colder. Perhaps the reason it is interesting is tht it is cold, cloudy, and wet.

On the first day of the week

On the first day of the week,
with morning temperatures in the mid 40s
a high pressure area rule Vegas.

On the first day of the week,
tourist and locals alike
look forward to afternoons in the 60s
and give thanks for blue skies
on a lazy Sunday.

On the first day of the week,
no one wants to thinks
about Monday morning traffic
or the predictions of hump day clouds.

On the first day of the week,
locals relax over coffee and the morning paper
or attend spiritual services
at the church down the street
while tourist
still sleepy from last nights show
make their way to hotel-casino coffee shops
for breakfast and coffee.

Freeze Warning for the Las Vegas area

Autumn has finally arrived in the Las Vegas area. There is a freeze warning in effect for the next couple of mornings. According to the weather e-mail I receive we have the best chance of a freeze on Friday night or Saturday morning.

I would be happy if it waited until Saturday or later to freeze. However, neither mother nature or Jack Frost cares what make me happy. I have heating and a new thermostat, so the central heating unit should turn off when the desired temperature is reached. The problem is that in order to keep the power bill down, I have to set the temperature lower then what I would actually like. This means putting on long sleeved blouses and sweaters.

I think I have two sweater and two long sleeved blouses. I'm going to have to check in my sweater drawer to see what I do have. I know I have two sweatshirts, but I don't think six warm items is going to work well this winter.

Writing about That in Between Time in Las Vegas

It's that in between time in Las Vegas when it's too cold to have the cool air on and too hot to have the cold air. My central air unit is off right now. The hottest it's gotten in the house the past few weeks is 80 degrees. This morning it's somewhere between 70 and 75 degrees, nice and cool almost cold in the house. The good thing about the weather lately is that the power bill is under $200.00.

Right now I'm sitting at my computer looking out my living room window. The limbs of the stone pine tree in my front yard are swaying gently in a slight breeze. This is better then the past few days because the wind got up to 15 and 20 miles an hour a couple of times. In fact, there were a couple of time I thought the wind would blow the pine trees down. Fortunately, the only thing that happened were small branches in the driveway and yard.

The wind in the trees

shout at the birds shivering

in newly built nest.

I lay in bed a couple of nights ago listening to the oleanders brush against screen around the patio. I realized that I'm going to have to have those flowering weeds trimmed. It's bad enough that the oleanders are as big as trees. Weeds should not grow as big as trees. Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea for a story. Weeds (other then oleanders) growing as big as trees and destroying the forest. Gigantic weeds invading a big city and destroying the sky scrappers.

Writing about the weather in Las Vegas

To paraphrase an old saying, "Every body writes about the weather, but on one does anything about it." Today the weather in Las Vegas is windy and cloudy. I haven't checked the weather report that comes to my e-mail box yet today. However, I have looked out my living room window and the wind is blowing.

When I got up this morning, clouds covered the sky. Now there are patches of blue peeking through the charcoal gray clouds. There is a wind chill factor, but this is early spring so the air feels brisk when I go outside. I went out to get the paper this morning and have remained inside since. I think I will go out this afternoon again because I need gas before tomorrow. I also need to get my car washed; however, I'm not washing it today.

Wind whisper through city trees
blows clouds west
towards distant mountain peeks
a nice day for remaining indoors.

I like warm Arizona type weather

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I need a vacation in a warm climate to recover from cold winter weather, which only adds to the stress of daily life. Property Rentals in Arizona is a good place for to begin looking for a vacation rental where the warm weather suits my desire to recover from the freezing winter weather. Warm weather makes daily living more enjoyable, less stressful and improves my mood. I want to be warm again.

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Triple Digit Temperatures are Here

Kamál (Perfection), 3 ‘Azamat (Grandeur), 165 B.E. – Monday, May 19, 2008 about 6:43 PM PDT

Well it is official; we broke the triple digit temperature mark today. I believe the weather person on Channel 3 in Las Vegas said the temperature at McCarran Airport was 108. This is early in the season for temperatures like that; we usually have these temperatures latter in the year. Tomorrow the winds are suppose to pick up, but temperatures will not cool down until Wednesday or Thursday. We are in for the blow dryer effect.

It is days like this that being a writer has its advantages. Instead of working in the triple digits, a writer works in a cool office. In the hot weather, a writer can set at a computer with a glass of iced water, tea or coffee, keeping cool while everyone else is out working under the hot sun. There are disadvantages to working inside all day. One of them is going from a nice and cool office to a hot car. Once you have worked in the cool you do not want to get out in the heat.

An interesting thing about living and working in Las Vegas is the difference between the indoor and the out door temperatures. In many of the mall and restaurants they keep it so cold you have to wear a sweater while you are eating or shopping. Inside a mall the cold penetrates to the marrow of your bones, but when you walk out of the mall the heat sucks the cold right out of you. I do not keep my house that cold.

At home, I follow the recommended temperature guidelines of about 78, 79 or 80 degrees. The air does not come on until the thermostat reaches 85 or something like that. I am going to have to watch the thermostat and see when the air does comes on and goes off. When I am writing I usually have a glass of ice water and a glass of cold juice or soda.

Triple digit temperatures are coming

Istijlál (Majesty), 18 Jamál (Beauty), 165 B.E. – Thursday, May 15, 2008 about Sunset PDT

Triple digit temperatures are predicted for Sunday, May 18. These will be the first triple digits of the year. I am and am not looking forward to them. As a writer triple digit temperatures can create some very interesting ideas. However, it also means I am going to have to turn the central air unit on. When the central air goes on then the power bill goes up.

This year not only will the power bill go up, but it will cost more to drive my car to the bank to get the money to pay the bill. Right now we do not have $4.00 per gallon regular unleaded gas. Memorial day week end is coming, I am guessing we will pay $4.00 per gallon by then, if not before. This year I may start paying the power bill on line rather then withdrawing the money and taking it to the Power Company.

Tuesday Writing - the Triquatrain

Fidál (Grace), 14 Jalal (Glory), 165 B.E. – Tuesday, April 22, 2008 about 5:23 PM PDT

This weeks poetry form is the Triquatrain, which Robert L. Huntsman created. This form consists of a quatrain with a specific rhyme pattern. The first and third lines of each stanza have internal rhymes while the second and fourth lines have end rhymes. There is no specific meter or length to the Triquatrain.

Rhyme Pattern

Line 1: a, a
Line 2: b
Line 3: c, c
Line 4: b

For more information on this form see My Heart is Bleeding for You by Jermie6363 or ShadowPoetry.com Triquatrain.

I am not sure about the length of the poem I am going to write. The subject I am working on is weather phonomena such as lightning or rainbows. Both of these events bring back memories of Oklahoma and my childhood. It is amazing what a person remembers and misses about his or her childhood home. One thing I miss about Oklahoma is the lightning and the thunderstorms.

I know the length will be at least three stanzas, but I am considering a longer poem. It seems the older I get the more I miss the Oklahoma of my childhood. If I can get something in the poem about my grandparents, I will. However, I am focusing on the memory of the lightning and the rainbows after the thunderstorms were over. I do remember we had a dog that was afraid of the thunder. She would hid or let my sister cuddle her whenever a thunderstorm occurred. I think my sister or one of my brothers was afraid of the lightning or the thunder, I am going to have to ask my mother about that.

A crisp clear lightning strike lights up the night.

That is as far as I have gotten on this poem. I have to have it completed by April 27.

The End of March 2008

Istiqlál (Independence), 8 Baha (Splendor), 165 B.E. – Friday, March 28, 2008 about 3:23 PM PDT

March 2008 is nearing an end and, from where I am sitting, it looks like March is going out like a lamb. Of course, that could change quickly. I did not look at the news this mornin or at noon. My only contact with the weather report today is through my e-mail box. I get the weather report sent to me through electronic mail.

At this moment, I am sitting in my living room at the computer. I an look out my front window and see the beautiful blue or perhaps I should say hazy sky. The sky this morning was blue, but this afternoon it appears hazy.

This is my haiku for today

Afternoon haze hides

the scattered blue light of day

March passes quickly.

I Woke Up This Morning

Jamál (Beauty), 15 ‘Alá (Loftiness), 164 B.E. – Sunday, March 16, 2008 about 8:46 AM PST

I woke up this morning to find
puddles of rain water in my drive way
and the blacktop of the street glistening.

I woke up this morning to a sky
covered by a quilt of gray, charcoal and white
with a rip through which the rising sun smiled bright.

I woke up this morning and realized
that I missed the rain last night
and can only guess at the beauty of the drops
as the fell onto the street light.

I woke up on this Palm Sunday morning
to find the rain that I looked forward to
had come in the night while I slept.

A poem on Monday

Kamál (Perfection), 9 ‘Alá (Loftiness), 164 B.E. – Monday, March 10, 2008 about 6:01 PM PST

On
Monday
a poem
reverberates
through body and soul;
echoes laughter and tear,
while the partly cloudy sky
promises rain that never comes;
the setting sun illuminates white
clouds and memories of yesterday's joy.

Partly Cloudy

Kamal (Perfection), 10 Sultan (Sovereignty), 164 B.E. - Monday, January 28, 2008 about 7:49 AM PST

Morning sky a patchwork quilt
of blue, white and gray
wind blows through the Stone Pine Trees.

Writing in the Cold

5 Masa'il 164 B.E. - Sunday, December 16, 2007 about 4:12 PM PST

I'm writing in the cold. Perhaps it's not as cold here in Las Vegas as in Oklahoma or Colorado, but it seems cold to me. I like to get up before dawn and start my day at 4:00 AM. Lately I'm getting up at 7:00 or 8:00 AM because of the cold.

That's going to stop because if I don't get up at 4 AM I don't get anything done either writing or housework. I don't get as much done as I would like and then I stay up till "all hours of the night" (those were my grandmother's words) attempting to get everything completed.

Writing in the cold is difficult, I don't have any mittens to wear while I work at the computer. Maybe mittens isn't a good idea though because they don't let me type as fast. That sounds like a good exercise typing at the keyboard in mittens.

Tomorrow I have to be somewhere at about 8:00 AM which means getting up at 4 AM when the alarm goes off. I keep the central air unit at about 69 degrees, which is recommended by the power company. It seems cold but any higher and the bill would be worse then it is.