In case anyone’s forgotten, Arizona does not observe DST (except for the Navajo nation in the northeast corner of the state, which does). Why, you ask?
It’s very simple really, we’re a Desert state, and we don’t want it to be frakking 120° outdoors at 2100 hours…that is my threshold because I used to work until then when I first got out here.j
So from now until the first Sunday in November (and that is another bulls**t issue in and of itself), we’re on Pacific Daylight Time. Hence the post time stamps which read MST.

I managed to get this nighttime shot outside our apartment:

When all is said and done on this “Storm of the Century”, the total rainfall could be at least 7 INCHES. Yes, you read right. It’s even affecting the Barrett-Jackson auction going on in Scottsdale this weekend. Dang.

I would have wrote about this yesterday, but The Mrs. and I had a Sekrit Birthday Party to go to!
I ordered and paid for my license tags on Friday…and they came in the Mail yesterday! I couldn’t believe it! It isn’t very often when a governmental agency actually works.

Well, my fever turned the corner last night; I felt a lot better today, enough to go to the Post Office Box to pick up the mail, and figured I should get a haircut. The Mrs. pined for my lost hair. No, I’m not kidding…she really did!
And then we found this at a nearby Taco Bell:

It took up 4 parking spaces. And there was someone sitting in the damn thing! I didn’t care, I was pissed off enough as it was, so I whipped out my cell phone and took a quick snapshot of it, just to show you what a**hole drivers do sometimes.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio nailed it with this simple phrase: “It’s all politics.”

As in: “Do you think your bulls**t order is going to stop me?”
He is ONE Sheriff in this country willing to ENFORCE THE LAWS keeping Illegals out. And of course, he’s always been a thorn in the side of Crappy Nappy. Even more so, now that she’s Secretary of Homeland Security.
Not to mention the side of the AFR.

Looks like Sheriff Joe’s won another round in the US District Court, where his opponents attempted to expand a specific lawsuit to a class action. Hispanic advocacy groups have been complaining for a long time that the Sheriff of Maricopa County has been racially profiling during saturation patrols…which, BTW, has resulted in the arrests of over 31,000 Illegals since he began doing this.
What gets me is, these activists will never understand that Sheriff Joe’s job is to enforce the law. I’ll bet if he speaks it en Español, they’d get it. However, this is the USA and he shouldn’t have to speak it in any other language BUT ENGLISH!

Man, these Illegals are really hard up for sneaking into the USA…freezing their a**es off inside a refrigerated trailer while outside it’s well over 80° at night near Nogales! Well they got caught, and the coyote driver was taken into custody.
You know this is going to fall on the deaf ears of Президент Оба́ма and the Demo☭rats in Congress. There’s only one way to stop this influx:

I was actually awakened by a monsoon storm which passed through the Valley at about 0430 hours. Took a look around, and then went back to bed:

And it’s still raining somewhat. Sorry, I don’t think the Official Vehicle was washed. You see, in my new digs I have my own covered space which I don’t have to share with anyone. That is, of course, until the Lady E joins me.
[snicker]

Although I managed to drive across the original London Bridge, I couldn’t get a decent shot of the bridge itself because the damn thing was surrounded by tourist traps! Gee I wonder why. Besides, there are better pix at Wiki.
Still it was a fun jaunt up US 60, then US 93 to Interstate 40, down through Kingman, and over to US 95, which went south from that highway to Lake Havasu City. Oh, and it was hotter than Phoenix by a long shot: 116°F at 1730 hours MST! Yes, it’s a drier heat.
On the way back I managed to stop and take a few snapshots of things I saw on the way north, which just goes to highlight the beauty of Arizona.

See this temperature?

This is actually 10 to 15 degrees cooler than normal. We’re all enjoying it to be sure. And as it turns out, other parts of the country, in this case, the Народный Социалистический Город-Государство Чикаго, are also experiencing the same trend.
Gee, who do we blame for that?
Today is actually the start of the monsoon, which, according to the National Weather Service, runs through September 30. It used to be designated when the dew point was at or above 55 degrees for three consecutive days, but the NWS scrapped that last year and went with a strict calendar designation.

Back in November 2005, I took a friend on a photo shoot of Roosevelt Dam, which is approaching its Centennial. My truck underwent a 44-mile rough ride on Apache Trail just to get there. This time, however, I drove the other way: US 60 through Globe, to AZ 188, for a one-way distance of about 90 miles from Phoenix’s eastern City Limits.
Man, was it a fun drive! Lots of road curves, the weather was warm but not hot, as I was at altitude of anywhere from 2800 to just over 4000 feet. Towns like Superior, Miami, and Globe are certainly a throwback to a bygone era.
And when I got to Roosevelt Lake and Dam, it is so quiet up there, even when a vehicle goes by! You can almost hear a pin drop. What a place to get away.
Just a quick side note: scroll your cursor over each thumbnail for a quick description.

Today turned out to be quite a nice adventure. I was going up to Lake Pleasant for a photo shoot when, while on the way there, I discovered a glider ride mom & pop shop next to a small RV park. It was pretty nice…
...and then I saw the restrictions and prices. I think I’m going to have to wait a while. BTW, these photos were originally shot in RAW and I ran them through the infrared filter. I always loved to take B&W.

Not much here. Went to chiropractor for adjustment, which went fine. Then went to insurance agent to handle certain legal obligations with the State of Arizona. After I got home I decided to go back out and take said legal papers down to the Secretary of State’s office near the Capitol, where there were 5,000 Tea Party demonstrators only yesterday.
Dang. And I would have very much liked to have gone. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all. Back to work tomorrow.

Yay! At least my car will get washed now!