Odd jobs and setting off the security system...

Hey, no workers outside our bedroom window at 6 AM.....  That's a relief in itself... But we are not overly patient folks waiting for something to get on with construction, so perhaps workers would be a blessing......

I was out on the motor scooter this morning before it made it to 100 degrees and headed over to Home Depot where I acquired some paint for the outside fence gate and an electrical timer for the outside front light fixtures.

We have used these fixtures as dusk to dawn lights since I installed them a couple of days after we moved in.  Most of the houses are still empty and in varying stages of completion around us and the lack of neighbors doesn't add to our feeling of security much.

I purchased an electronic timer that is in a switch package, replacing the normal flip switch in the four switch box next to the front door...  This thing is completely electronic with a clock timer and electrical switches....  And the tiniest little screen to program that you have ever seen..

In the process, I decided to switch off the power to the gang of switches that are in that switch box...  Which was good, as I didn't have to be so careful about wiring it hot, which I often do...  But with so many open terminal screws on the sides of the switches it seems like I always get a screw driver over on one of the hot lugs..  That causes the fire to fly and knocks the breaker off anyway...

But, what I hadn't realized was that that particular breaker was also running the security system...  And in only a few moments, they were on the line wanting to know why the power had been removed from the security box.....  It is now running on battery back up, and did we do that or was our power out?  Loyce explained that I had done it and they ask enough questions that they know that it is you telling them and not the robbers......

So after the installation of that system and the programming, it was well over 100 degrees outside...  No more bike riding and it was too hot to do that painting too...  So the British Open Golf on TV grabbed my interest...  Tiger was trying to come from behind, and the younger guys were giving him a run for his money....

By 5 PM tonight, we had the Monsoon come back thru our area...  The storm starts down in Mexico and builds all day.  Then it goes over Tucson and passes by the mountain to the North.  In the Casa Grande area the storm collapses and changes into wind, gaining intensity and blowing up all the dust from the fields.

Pictures grabbed from KPHO TV website and were courtesy  of their viewers.. Used with creative commons license..

We were at 107 about the time it rolled thru here... We had winds of 60 miles per hour with a massive wall of red dust..  It was dark with a deep reddish cast from the dirt..  We had splatty rain blotches that changed the dust to mud.  The windows on the house shuddered and the roof creaked with the lift of the high winds.

I was really thankful of the hurricane clips that the builders used on each of the roof trusses as they were installed.  Also we have large hurricane brackets that bolt the walls to the concrete foundation..  It seemed to hold us together quite nicely...  But I didn't go outside in the muddy dirt and inspect to see if we had any cracks in the stucco.  By then it was only 90 degrees  outside..

The folks on the news are all a blaze with the coverage of the damages that the wind and dust did to many structures here in town....  I don't think we got a tenth of an inch of rain, but the plastic that the landscapers had taped all over the place to protect the walls and paint has now been blown to the next county...

Late tonight we were over at Lowe's where we selected a vertical blind to install on the sliding glass door going out to the porch...  Installing that will be a project for tomorrow or perhaps the following day.... Who knows ?

Retired Rod