wacky wednesday ... money doesn't grow on trees or does it?

When I was a child my mother would tell me, "Money doesn't grow on trees, you know!" when I would beg for some frivolous toy. I was sure she was wrong because I sometimes overheard her ask my dad if he could stop and get cash on his way home and where else, in the mind of a five year old, would you get cash but from a money tree?

As an adult, I bought a very pretty houseplant called a Malabar chestnut (Pachira aquatica) more commonly known as a Money Tree plant. Perhaps my mother really was wrong! After faithfully watering, talking to, fertilizing and turning (so it gets sun evenly) this plant for years, it has doubled in size and looks beautiful - but, sadly, has produced no money.

Beautiful green leaves but no greenbacks!

My husband and I have always shopped around for the best deal, used coupons, got reward cards and price-matched to get as much bang for our buck as possible. It has almost become a game to see how much money we can save. 

We also use credit cards that have no annual fee and offer "cash back" incentives  for using them (usually 1-5%) for everything we can AND PAY THEM ALL OFF EVERY SINGLE MONTH. This is very important so let me repeat myself. We never buy more than we can pay for each month and we use credit cards for everything from groceries to gas to movie tickets to paying bills online and more. We have done this for almost two decades and always enjoy getting our cash back bonus check in the mail. It's free money! (Remember, it is only free money if you pay off all your credit card bills every month!)

A few weeks ago, when we got another cash back bonus check, I wondered how much money on average we get each year in cash back bonuses. Since my husband tracks all receipts, income, etc. as part of our budget, it was easy enough for him to figure that out - about $1000 per year in cash back bonuses. Holy cow! That's a lot of free money! 

Money may not grow on trees but it can be delivered to your mailbox!

wacky wednesday - weird light

You know the light that streams down through the clouds producing shafts of light that look eerie? Some people call it "the God light" because it looks like God is opening up the sky and His glory and majestry are streaming through.

It puts a smile on my face whenever I get a glimpse of it. I love the unexpectedness of it - a complete surprise.

A few weeks ago I experienced a different kind of "lighting surprise" that left me wondering how it came to be. But let me start at the beginning.

After lunch as I was cleaning up some dishes, I glanced out the kitchen window at a birdbath in our yard. It was an anniversary gift from my parents to my grandparents when I was a child - I think I was eight at the time. That makes the birdbath about 50 years old and I was wondering how much longer it would last. 

And then my thoughts turned to my grandparents who had lived with us at the time. I remembered my grandmother braiding my hair before I went to school and fixing me ice cream for an after-school snack and teaching me how to play gin rummy and crazy eights. I remembered my grandfather oiling the chain on my bike and listening to me practice my reading as I read the newspaper to him and showing me the "proper way to eat waffles - with peanut butter and syrup!" They have been gone for decades now but the memories are fresh.

I finished the dishes and went on with my day. In the late afternoon (early evening?), while I was getting dinner ready, I again glanced out the window and saw the birdbath. But this time it was as if a spot light had been turned on it.

The birdbath has been in this spot for 20+ years and we have NEVER seen it lit up like this before. I asked my geeky husband (and I mean that in the most affectionate way!) what would cause this lighting. The birdbath is along the north wall which means the sun was setting to the left (west) of it. He said it might be reflected light off the back windows of the house although it didn't look like light was hitting those windows. 

Or maybe it really is God light and I got an incredible gift.

wacky wednesday ... weird weather

Oklahoma and Texas have their tornadoes. The eastern seaboard has its hurricanes. And Arizona has its monsoon - a season of high temperatures, high winds and high humidity resulting in monsoon storms ranging from minor dust storms to violent thunderstorms that sometimes (ok, rarely) spawn tornadoes.

As of 2008, the North American monsoon begins on June 15th and ends September 30th. Prior to that, the start and end of the monsoon was determined my climatic criteria - three consecutive days when the dew point averaged 55 degrees or higher. Using that criteria, the average start date in Arizona is July 7th and the average end date is September 13th.

Having lived in Arizona most of my life, I have experienced summers with very mild monsoons and others with quite intense monsoons. This year would be the latter.

Monsoon rains in Arizona average about 2.5 inches or about a third of our annual rainfall. This year we have received more than twice that so far and have 20 days to go!

Sometimes the rain comes as a continuous rain and is usually accompanied by thunder and lightning. Wind can be variable ranging from virtually none to lots.

 A storm earlier this week lasted more than 12 hours with gentle continuous rain and lightning producing major street flooding, flash floods in washes and even power outages. By the afternoon, the skies had cleared and the rain had stopped leaving this tree in the lake near our home. Phoenix received a record-breaking 3.78 inches of rain that day, but some neighboring cities received over five inches! 

Other times, there is little rain but a LOT of wind. We had a storm in August that wreaked havoc in the east valley with microbursts hitting several neighborhoods. A microburst is a downdraft (sinking air) in a thunderstorm that is less than two and a half miles in scale so they hit neighborhoods, not entire cities. They can be wet or dry and can have wind speeds up to 150 mph that cause comparable or even worse damage than a tornado.

Notice the palm trees! And the really crazy thing is that the wind bounced off the house and then pushed our patio chairs the opposite direction towards the pool. 

Storms like these cause roof damage, uproot or split trees and cacti, damage power lines and cause power outages, create traffic nightmares as streets are flooded or are slick and create flash floods in normally dry desert washes. Clean up can take days or even weeks.

Most of the trees in this parking lot had split. Fortunately, no cars were parked under any of the trees that were hit.

Many trees in this neighborhood were completely uprooted. This one fell obstructing a sidewalk; others fell into the street.

City workers are not the only ones who have to deal with storm clean-up. Homeowners and businesses also have a tremendous amount of work to do after storms. Inspecting your home or business for water and roof damage is the first order of business.

Yards frequently flood as drainage can't keep up with the amount of rain that falls in a short period of time.

Cleaning up debris and fishing patio furniture out of the pool are next on the list. 

Some monsoon storms are dust and wind with a smattering of rain. They are the kind that just mess up the windows and leave a a layer of dirt on everything outside - my least favorite of the monsoon storms. Occasionally we will get haboobs - a giant wall of dust and wind that reduces visibility to practically nothing creating a traffic hazard and a mess to clean up. (You can read about them in this blog post - A Dirty Story.)

Other monsoon storms are primarily thunderstorms with some rain but a lot of thunder and lightning. This year we have had some fabulous lightning displays and booming thunder. It is with mixed feelings that I watch and enjoy the show because they often spark wildfires that burn thousands of acres of forest.

Just as people take precautions when there is a tornado or hurricane, there are things we do to stay safe during a monsoon storm. Some are common sense - don't stand out in a lightning storm. I used to think not driving through running water (or even standing water in a depression) was common sense but after thousands of motorists had to be rescued from the tops of their cars, Arizona finally enacted the "Stupid Motorist Law" that fines (heftily) motorists who do that and need to be rescued placing not just themselves in danger but also the rescue workers who rescue them. Public service announcements educate people about what to do when they are driving in a severe dust storm or haboob (pull well off the roadway, turn your car off and keep your foot off the brake) and what to do if a power line falls on your car (stay in the car until help arrives).

A monsoon storm is unlike any other summer storm. Once you have experienced one, chances are you will appreciate it for the respite from the blazingly hot temperatures that it is and maybe even enjoy it. 

wacky wednesday ... don't give up

When we were in Hawaii six years ago we toured the Dole Pineapple Plantation on Oahu. Incidentally, one of the best parts of the tour is getting a Dole Whip at the end - reminded us both of being at Disneyland! Funny how a lot of things remind us of "the happiest place on Earth!" But I digress...

Pineapples are unusual-looking fruits and I was curious to see see how they grew. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the fruit grows on the top of a stalk that shoots upward from the plant and starts out as a tiny pineapple that gradually gets bigger! An employee told me you can grow them at home quite easily. I don't think she knew I lived in the desert of Arizona, not on a tropical island.

But I decided to give it a try. A year ago (August, 2013), with the help of friends who once lived in Hawaii, I planted two pineapple tops using two different methods - a how-to I read on the internet and instructions from our friends. Both were planted in pots and kept inside by a window. You can read about it here.

The one I planted according to internet directions never did well and died within a few months. The one I planted using the directions from our friends didn't die right away but it also didn't grow much or do anything else for months.

I continued to water it every week, gave it plant food, made sure it had A LOT of sunshine, talked to it and cleaned the dust from its leaves. Months went by and still nothing. Then I noticed the outer leaves were slowly drying out and falling off. I was convinced it would soon be dead.

A couple of months ago, while I was watering and talking to it, I noticed some new leaves growing upward. They were narrower and lighter green like baby leaves. Hmmm. Maybe it wouldn't die after all.

Each week the leaves were a little longer and there were more of them. All of a sudden, the plant started to grow after months of seemingly doing nothing!

As the baby leaves grow bigger and stronger, the old outer leaves are turning brown and falling off.

Every time I look at this plant I am reminded of the value of perseverance and hope. And perhaps one day a sweet golden pineapple will grow and I will make a Dole Whip out of it ... and imagine I am at Disneyland!