Natural Air Conditioning, Pasadena, Nighttime Critters, and other events.

It's very warm here.  Today was almost in the 90s. I went for a walk and every time I stepped in the shade it almost felt cold. It was most unusual when it was just my legs that were behind a shadow.  My dad calls this phenomenon "natural air conditioning" because of the sensation of walking into cooler air.

view from the top of the my apt's parking garage

Southern California has a lot of natural and unnatural air conditioning. 

Woodland Hills

The Sovereign Grace Church closest to me is in Pasadena.  It was about 30 miles, and thanks to no-traffic-Sundays on the freeway, I got there in exactly 30 minutes.

Pasadena has a lot of trees and flowers, with big mountains in the background.  One of the members of the church said it's even more beautiful when there's snow on the peaks. Oo, I can't wait!

The people in the church were very friendly, and I liked the familiarity of the service.  However, it is a bit of a drive and on the way home I was right behind a 3 car accident, so that makes me a lil' nervous about speedin' down the 101. 

creative gardening in Pasadena.    

The lady who lives in this house saw me take this picture.  When I noticed her in the window she smiled real big and waved at me.

A lot of the streets in Southern California are lined with tall Palm Trees.  It's very cool.

At night the crickets come out.  A lot of crickets.  Big ones, small ones, white, black, and gray.  Everywhere. Our apartment building has Orkin boxes labelled, "spiders and crickets".  It worked on the spiders, but not them crickets.


Early today I was watching some Sunday football when I heard the sound of running water in my bathroom, which was unusual because I was the only one home.  I ran into my bathroom to find water pouring out of the AC vent and light fixtures in my ceiling.  After running from my bedroom to the kitchen to the bathroom two or three times, before I formed logical thoughts and took action, I called the front desk.  They sent someone up to help.

Apparently the person upstairs had allowed their shower to leak all over the floor.. I don't know.. No damage was done and it stopped almost as soon as the maintenance guy got here, so I was fine with that.  We draped the towels and blanket I used to soak up the water on my porch railing.

This evening when I got back from my walk I went out to the porch to collect the towels and wash them. This guy was hiding under my stuff.

Needless to say, I screamed, dropped the blankets and ran inside.  Then, when I realized he wasn't going to kill me, I grabbed my phone and snapped some pics.  I'm sorry I wrecked your new home, lizard...now get out.