The Radio Girl

Why I Can't Be a Weatherman

So much for my cocky "we'll never get snow here in southern Arizona" speech yesterday.  

The Winter Storm Warning made a fool of me and hurled about an inch of the white stuff at us overnight.   And it was cold enough here in Dodge City for the snow to stick around 'til this morning. 

Here's our RV neighbour's car, just outside Tucson around 7am:

And our shivering little Chevy:

But the desert hills behind our site looked especially cool, covered in snow:

The chilly weekend weather also hit a few areas that haven't seen snow in years, like the San Francisco Bay area and the desert just outside Vegas.

Our Dodge City snowfall should disappear in a few hours since the forecast high is 18C today.  And then it's back to sunny skies and daily highs of 25C (77f) until we leave for Nevada in early March.

In the meantime I might go wrap my toque and mittens around the saguaro behind our site.

It's not used to this kind of weather.

Southern Arizona Weather Watch

Lots of gorgeous sunsets over the Arizona desert lately but some lousy winter weather has sprung up for the weekend.

Lousy doesn't necessarily mean cold around here - it means windy.  Windy enough that we feel the need to give both mutts a little extra weight and padding so their leashes don't turn them into puppy balloons the minute they step outside. 

Both a Wind Advisory and a Winter Storm Watch were issued for this weekend:

Wind Advisory Tucson Metro Area including Tucson, Green Valley, Marana, Vail (Arizona)

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
232 AM MST SAT FEB 26 2011
* THE WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM TO 7 PM MST SATURDAY.
* WINDS...SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH
* IMPACTS...MOTORISTS IN THE ADVISORY AREA ARE URGED TO EXERCISE CAUTION

Winter Storm Watch Tucson Metro Area including Tucson, Green Valley, Marana, Vail 

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
228 AM MST SAT FEB 26 2011
AZZ503-504-506>509-261730-
* A STRONG WINTER STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS ARIZONA SAT AND SUNDAY.
* SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE

We won't see any snow here at Dodge City RV (I hope) but we took other precautions.  

My Fella has already taken down our patio area so the table, chairs and Mutt Hut don't end up blowing south to Mexico.

Although if the wind could carry us all to Mexico, we'd be up for it.  At least for a weekend of sunshine and pickleball.

Cold, Soggy Forecast for Southern Arizona

Our sunny Arizona weather has hit a rough patch.

The past two days have been overcast and soggy, and the wind howled so loud last night it shook JohnnyDisco to the frame.  We felt like we were traveling down a bumpy highway, instead of parked at a resort   :) 

Forecast (temps in fahrenheit) from Wunderground.com:   hard freeze warning in effect tonight and Friday night
	Tonight.  Breezy, 10% chance of rain and snow showers in the evening. Lows 24 to 29. West wind 15 to 25 mph.
	Friday.  Partly cloudy. Highs 43 to 48.
	Friday Night.  Mostly clear. Lows 21 to 26.
	New Years Day.  Partly cloudy. Highs 45 to 50. North wind around 5 mph.
	Saturday Night.  Partly cloudy. Lows 24 to 29. East wind 5 to 10 mph.
	Sunday.  Partly cloudy. Highs 54 to 59.
	Sunday Night.  Partly cloudy. Lows 28 to 33.
	Monday thru Thursday.  Partly cloudy.  Highs 59 to 65.

Shelbert has been getting all decked out in her protective rain gear before heading out for walks.  She stays warm and dry in this snazzy raincoat she got from her dog rescue foster mom, Tara.

Shelbert loves her rain gear, but doesn't get too excited about walking in the rain.

Since I'm showing off The Berts wardrobe, here's a pic of her stylish 'Britney' hoodie, another cute doggie present from Tara.

My fave shots of Shelbert and her hoodie were taken a couple days ago.  We were folding laundry and looked up to see Bert passed out in her pink hoodie on the back of the couch.

Like a college kid after an all-nighter...

Or like a pup recovering from a holiday Snausage hangover   :) 

Only 14 Sleeps 'til Christmas Eve

But it was sunny and +25C (77f) today in southern Arizona.

And with that toasty weather came another beautiful desert sky.  This one actually gets my Xmas Seal of Approval.

Being able to take these pictures at sunset (wearing shorts and flip flops in December) is the best way to sum up why we budget, save and invest the way we do.  

This life beats the hell out of the consumer lifestyle (big house, new car, lotsa toys, maxed out credit) hands down.

Please note: NO cacti were harmed in the merriment of this holiday photo.

RV Life: Observation #24

JohnnyDisco is ready for Christmas.

Feliz Navidad from sunny southern Arizona.

The Santa hats on our side mirrors look cute, but what I really wanted to do was crawl up to the top of that huge prickly saguaro behind JohnnyDisco and stick a Santa hat on it.  

Course if I attempted that little trick, my next post would be coming to you from a round room with padded walls.  And I'm pretty sure our medical travel insurance does not cover 'climbing a saguaro cactus'.  

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just over 2 weeks away.  When you're out hiking the dusty desert, or playing tennis in +25C weather every day, you tend to lose track of cold weather holidays.  The only reason I know tomorrows date (Dec 9th) is because Superior Plus (SPB.T) will be announcing their December dividend and I'm expecting a cut, so I've been keeping my eyeballs on the calender.

Most mornings before My Fella and I play tennis, I usually warm up with a 3 to 5 km walk around the neighborhood.  We're in a rural area - lots of ranches, dogs and horses.  And a couple days ago a really loud chicken jumped me from behind and scared the ever-lovin' beans out of me.

"SQUAAAAWWWWK!!!"  

Stupid chicken.

Arizona locals have been putting up their holiday lights and decorations, which are cool to see in this desert landscape.  People really like to light up their cacti  :)  

One of these days I'll bring my camera on my morning stroll so you can see all the Arizona style Santa Clauses draped over the prickly pears and barrel cactus.  In the meantime, check out tonights pinkish purpley desert sky.

Arizona Weather Update

Here's what it's been like weather wise in southern Arizona:

Daytime highs were 20C to 30C our first two weeks here, but the latest trend seems to be sunshine and a high of 18C every day ... except for the past two cloudy, windy days   :( 

Overnight lows have been bouncing around 0C to +8C.  Which is why Shelbert has been stepping into her hoody before heading out for her early morning pee.

And then snuggling up in it for more nap time afterwards. 

FYI:  we did not buy The Bert this hoodie - her foster mom from the dog rescue organization gave it to us when we adopted her.  We're not really into doggie clothes, although she does look pretty damn cute!  

December 1st is exactly one week away and we're not sure what to expect weather wise, but we are getting ready for Christmas here in JohnnyDisco.  No room for a tree in the RV, but...

We did sneak in a huge holiday poinsettia...

The 8" pot, with a 24" plant cost us $15 at a Tucson Home Depot yesterday.  

We'll probably also put up a few Christmas lights on the cactus outside our door.  Although nothing can compete with Mother Nature - especially out here in the Arizona desert.

BC Weather

We woke up to cloudy skies and rain this morning at our BC RV resort.

It's been sunny and hot for the past few weeks, so it's nice to have a refreshing day of rain.  My Fella  had planned to go fishing this morning and he was thrilled about the weather - apparently fish like rain.  (Maybe that will help lure them onto his hook, cause so far the fish are definitely winning  :)

The rain also means I don't have to water my flowers and veggies this morning.

I've been watering them twice a day because of the hot, dry weather.

My regular morning routine is under way (reading the business news, watching BNN online, checking the markets) and it's so much more fun to do this while it's raining.  JohnnyDisco has lots of windows and because we're parked in the middle of the BC forest, we always feel thisclose to nature.  But drinking my morning coffee in a warm and toasty RV while watching light rain splash the windows makes me feel even closer. 

Especially with the captivating smell of wet dog lingering in the air.  Rain or shine, the dogs still need a morning 'pee' walk.

But then it's right back to bed for them.  Walking in the rain must be exhausting when you're only six inches off the ground.

Raining Cats and Dogs

It's been pouring at our BC RV resort all day.

And I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to scrounge up plastic containers to fill with rain water for our plants.  When we finally have our own little piece of land, I want a rain barrel. 

I covet rain barrels.  I ENVY people with their own rain barrels.  Seriously.  If you have your own rain barrel, DO NOT TELL ME - I have Rain Barrel Envy. 

Since I'm barrel-less, I resort to using these lame plastic containers.

 
Not as cool as a rain barrel, but they do the trick.

The best part of the rain is hearing it fall on JohnnyDiscos roof.  So soothing.  I love being in a warm, cozy RV when it's pouring outside.  We're surrounded by BC forest and it smells amazing out here. 

The Shelbert was not as impressed with the rain today since she's only been out for two walks, compared to the usual five or six.  She lay by the door (like a little bear skin rug), waiting and waiting and waiting for the skies to clear...

Then she tried to pass the time playing with her Squeak ...

Eventually Fuzzbert just gave up and went for nap.

Paws are crossed for sunshine tomorrow.

April Stock Wrap

Rain, rain don't go away.

 
We need some moisture so stick around for awhile.

It's been raining here in rural BC for the past week or so but everything has turned so green sooo quickly.  And being a Capitalist,  green  is one of my favorite colours :)

It only took about ten minutes to open up my USD bank account.  And my Banking Guru, Cecelia, told me to call her when I want to buy US dollars for the account.  If I do the transaction online it takes up to 48 hours and the loonie can fall substantially in that time.  If Cecelia does the transaction over the phone, it's done immediately so I get the current rate which apparently updates every four minutes. 

Other money news:  April markets were up, but dropped off a teeny bit at the end of the month.  The only change in my portfolio is the sale of my Altagas position.  I did well with that stock over the past few years but now that guidance is out for the trusts conversion, I'm not really interested in holding it anymore.  Altagas is cutting their distribution from $2.16/year to around $1.20/a year per share.

Conversion guidance has also been given for Pembina Pipelines, Inter Pipeline, Armtec Infrastructure and Yellow Pages, all of which I'm keeping for now.  The only trusts I'm unsure about are Bonavista Energy, NewFlyer Industries and Artis REIT:

• Bonavista is such a well run company that I'll probably keep it unless the distribution cut is really drastic.
• NewFlyer is an Income Deposit Security which (from what I understand) means it won't have to convert in January.
• And Artis is a pure REIT so I'm pretty sure it won't be forced to convert either.

All my accounts were up for April:

• RRSP +3.3%
• LIRA +1.1%
• TFSA +6.6%
• non-reg +3.5%

The PIG (Passive Income Goal) is still on track!

RV Life: Observation #18

Water freezes.

Especially in sub zero temps in the middle of rural BC.  This is what we woke up to yesterday (Friday) morning, but since it was cloudy it was also still above 0C. 

 
Then the skies cleared last night and at bedtime My Fella and I were both thinking it would dip below zero overnight.  Sure enough when we got out of bed this morning JohnnyDisco's water hoses were frozen.  Poor guy - he froze his hose. 

Below zero temps and frozen water hoses aren't something you ever really think about living in a real 'house', but we're slowly learning to think more like RV-ers.  Turns out it wasn't that big of deal ... we just turned on the water pump when we needed water and the sun did the rest.  Within a few hours the hose thawed and our water was back to normal.

And in the meantime we had a chance to finish Project: Home Office. 

We specifically bought a unit with bunk beds so we could convert it to a desk area.  Here's what the space looked like with the bunks still in place.

And after My Fella removed the top bunk.

 
We installed a desktop a few days ago but I was so excited about our progress, I forgot to take a pic. 

Then while My Fella was at the golf course yesterday, I arranged the office and finished the side shelf.  The only thing I didn't do was put pictures up on the walls.  Since they were going into the slide I got a little nervous about drilling into something that had a live wire attached to it, so I just duct taped everything where I wanted it.

 
And Mr Rugged-Construction-Pants finished everything this morning.

The new office area is seriously cool. 

 
Worthy of the swankiest sticks an bricks home, eh?  The woodgrain matches so well it looks like the desk was a built-in right from Tiffin, the manufacturer.  And all it cost us was time since we already had the matching desktop from another project.

I celebrated by setting up the cute new mousepad I bought on sale in the States. 

If I was a fiction writer, I'd call this foreshadowing about the next item on our list of "Things To Do This Summer" :)

p.s. Gracias to future Pa-In-Law for the gift of fine Italian wine.  I fully indulged ... after putting away the power tools.