Heat Dome

Take a look at the new location for Maddie's award!  She's got her prize hanging up alongside all her other belts, and hopefully soon enough there'll be more to join that one.  Maddie thought of this on her own, and it looks pretty good up there!

Oh man.  Speaking of which, look at this.  It's called a "heat dome," part of the onslaught of catchy weather terms that we've been learning lately to explain things that come by and visit us from time to time.  This is a weather phenomenon that is basically a giant self-contained place of intense heat with no hope of rain or cooler temperatures until the thing passes by.  It's pretty hot outside, and will remain so for a time.  I think the last time this happened to this significance was back in 1988, and the area of heat was greater back then.  No matter if it feels like 98 or 97, it's not pleasant outside.  We just have to make due the best we can... with ice cream!  Yes, we've been getting a lot of that lately.  Maddie's been trying this new key lime pie flavor ice cream, but her "go-to" ice cream flavors have been chocolate, and that green chocolate chip mint.  Mom is loving this Hula Hula Macadamia Nut flavor, which has caramel ribbons in it and is pretty delicious.  My favorite flavor continues to be the Smoky Mountain Fudge flavor that you get in Dollywood.  It's super rich, and really good!  We have plenty of cones at home, yes even the gluten-free cones too. 

Today I was on the treadmill walking in King's Canyon, which is one park I'd love to explore more in depth on some future California trip.  We were cleaning up a lot today and just doing a bit of resting - inside, of course.  Although it's not too bad first thing in the morning on the front porch.  That's where Mom and I will sit and have a cup of tea, reading the news or reading the Bible.  I'm in the book of Numbers at the moment, plodding along with the Israelites as they wander through the desert.  I don't know if they had to deal with any heat domes, but that's something I'd be tempted to complain about.  However, given the snakes and plagues, it seems likely there wouldn't be any complaining here.

So our troubles with the bank and the all that are now over.  That all ended last week, but I forgot to mention it.  We have access to the trust fund, and that's good.  Also good:  our air conditioner.  The bad part is my daily struggle with the condensation pipes that carry the water out from the attic to the outer area.  I haul down gallons of water each day, down the ladder and into the bathtub.  Hopefully we'll get that all figured out soon.

Meanwhile, Maddie has been relaxing.  She has a few headaches from her injury, but she takes some pain killers and has been resting pretty good.  I was at work today, of course, and we were working towards different things like Summer Xtreme, and of course Forward.  They'll be here soon.  Lots of writing to do, even for the series in July, the one called "At the Movies."

Anyway, tonight we watched a few episodes of "Suite Life of Zack and Cody," just for "research," the best kind.  It's a fun show, and we're all enjoying it.  Also we watched "Loki" again, inspired by our recent stay at the Marriott in Atlanta, not to mention all the key lime pie ice cream.  We read tonight, closing in on the end of our "Empire Strikes Back" book, and after that - prayers.  It was a good day.  A hot one, but a good one!