A clap of thunder is overheard, ominous clouds overhead, a dust storm emerges in the distance, splatters of raindrops hitting our windowpanes. Ahh, rain! :D

This summer hasn’t been that bad compared to last years. I have no complaints.

Check out the 10 Day Weather Forecast from weather.com

Well, that did not suck. Every year I begin the season hopeful and that glimmer can last one more week. Good win for the Cardinals. Matt needs to get into camp. Could this be the year of nine wins? How about no more than nine losses?

During cloudy afternoons, I’d take a stroll with my daughter around our neighborhood looking at other people’s properties, not snooping mind you, but just doing some visual research on landscaping. As I passed by a couple of houses, I noticed a really irritating noise coming from the property. “What was it?” I wondered to myself. It sounded like a very loud electrical buzz. I was afraid one of those electrical boxes in front of some houses were going to explode. Or I thought, their wiring must be faulty and they should really take care of it before a major catastrophe occurs and the whole community blows up. I walked a little faster when I passed one of those properties. But then there was a house with no electrical box at all. “What the #$@# was it!” I thought frustratingly to myself. Then I saw it. An insect, the ugliest thing next to my cricket tenants, a cicdada. It looked like a cross between a dried up bee and a crab. I gave it a sneer. I hate insects.

Looks like every Krispy Kreme store in AZ has closed its doors. Noooooo….

We agreed to search for food down on Mill, and loaded into a Jeep, driving past the Place Where the Crane Crashed, as it is written, for the I-10 east on-ramp. We glide past the parking structures of Sky Harbor along the 143 and then curve onto the 202 towards the flour mill and the bars. It is Phoenix mid-day and the clouds are looming large and dramatically, and we are small underneath them. We settle at Gandolfo’s on University. I tell Vo, “I’m suprised I never went here when I lived down here.”

“You lived down here?”

“For a month.”

“What happened?”

“Kicked out.”

“By whom?”

“The others.”

“Oh.”

We split and we dine on a 42nd Street, a hot sandwich made with breaded chicken and pastrami, and the ecletric of Tempe and the Polo Shirts of our company and other companies filter in and out. Across from us sits IT technicians, and they have the faded sleeve tattoos and facial piercings surrounded by middle-aged fat that betell of a past self that would have probably commited suicide if they could see themselves now.

We eat and leave, we make a quick stop at Hardy, and Vo and I stand in line at a counter-service Starbucks, and the misters only help to make it more humid. A bicyclist gets hit as a car comes to a halt and ruber is inhaled, and an old woman screams. The man fancies himself an Armstrong and gets up in his tight blue racing suit and runs off, no one knows to where. The bike is in his tow. I am glad he wasn’t hurt more seriously, as I would have felt an obligation to help, but would not have.

A Springsteen song comes over the outdoor speakers at Starbucks, and I recognize it as a favorite of my east coast lover who captured my west coast heart. With Devils & Dust we grab our drinks, Vo her macchiato and I my iced quad venti vanilla latte, and we walk past the Israeli diner we ate at two days before.

“You ever eaten there, Will?” Vo points to the Ethiopian restaurant on the same corner.

“Once.”

“Good?”

I don’t have the heart to tell her that there is a reason that the Ethiopians starve.

This one is for the guys. If you’re still going to Supercuts, please know there are other (read: better) alternatives. The Valley is loaded with upscale barbershops that are more than worth the extra $10. I go to Classic Barber Shop on 12609 N. Tatum Blvd., near Tatum and Cactus Road. There’s also V’s, which has several locations in the Valley.

These are the types of barbers that appeal to the old school: warm shaving cream, straight-razor shaves and hot towels for your face. I got a gift card for my dad for Father’s Day two years ago for a shave and haircut, and he loved it. Needless to say, it’s become his annual Father’s Day present.

Women have their hair/nail salons, guys have barbershops. At Classic Barber, there’s a TV set up at every chair and, if you have to wait, a plethora of sports or, ahem, male-friendly magazines. The barbers are extremely careful shaping your sides and edges, but the best is the straight-razor shave on the neck and the hot towel that follows. If I’ve been particulary lazy, I’ll even have them shape my beard for a little extra.

A haircut costs about $19 (before tip), which is more than worth the service and attention – not to mention a good haircut. I used to hit the chain places, then would wear a baseball hat for a week.

Besides, how often do guys treat themselves to spas or massages? Yeah, not too often. It’s a nice way to treat yourself once every few weeks.

Well, I didn’t get to go to Moon Valley this past weekend because it was way too hot for baby Katherine to be hanging out in. The forecast for the weekend predicts cloudy 101 degree weather, but I hope the clouds stay out longer so we will get to talk to John, designer and plant extraordinaire from the Chandler location and answer all our questions.

I’ve been researching and found out that a call to Blue Stake (602)263-1100 is in order. They are a free service that comes over to your property and marks portions of your yard that have electrical, sewer, and/or water lines. This is very important especially when you are digging. Then the design begins in terms of where we want our plants to be located, the selection of desert plants and our drip irrigation layout dependent upon our landscape design. Once we have chosen our plants, Moon Valley will keep our plants in their nursery until the time comes when we are ready for actual planting. I don’t know if other nurseries do that as well, but I was very happy to hear this because of our HOA. We need to get approval from them first which will take 60 days if all goes well and then we will need to dig 6-8″ deep irrigation ditches where our polytubing will be running through the yard before the actual planting. There is so much work to be done. We need to get rid of rocks that might compromise the irrigation line. That is a difficult task as I walk along my property and see rocks everywhere. Our community used to be an orange grove and I can’t see how they could have grown anything with all these rocks.

The beginning is near and the finished product seems so far away. There is so much to do and so little I still don’t know about. By the end of the year, baby Katherine will be 9 months and hopefully be playing in our new back yard and I will gain the knowledge of xeriscaping and the appreciation of desert gardening.

I picked my girlfriend up from Sky Harbor yesterday. I went in at the 24th Street entrance as it was just after work and I work on 24th Street. I have never used this entrance before. My girlfriend’s flight had been delayed twice already so who knew when it was going to arrive. I was a bit dismayed at the prospect of wasting a half an hour circling the terminal so I was quite excited to find the staging lot. I never knew that Sky Harbor had a staging lot and flight information board! Is there an east side staging lot like the one on the west side? It was extremely convenient. I was able to sit and enjoy (as much I could have hoped for) my meal (if you want to call it that) from Carl’s Jr. The flight information board shows all incoming flights and displays “Ready for Pickup” when the bags are available in baggage claim. Off I went as her flight displayed “Ready for Pickup” and I waited perhaps 3 minutes curbside before my girlfriend emerged. I’ll have to utilize this staging lot more often.

Steve Davidson, a local photographer has been missing and folks are looking to get out the word in more places. Maybe some Phoenix Metblog readers have seen him? Here are some of his fantastic photos which may give a clue to the sorts of places he goes (they think he was last in the Superstition Mountains). http://www.pbase.com/azleader.

Please help. MySpace page.