“I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE….” TODAY IN ILL.

When we rolled out of bed this morning, the mountains were enshrouded in clouds. And, of course, I saw yet another photo op.

  

We were up early anyway.  We had to do our laundry before we needed 4 washers instead of 3!!  As we were getting ready to hike up to the laundry, my cell phone rang.  Now it is only 7:30AM, and that makes me nervous. I looked at the number and it was our middle daughter, Terrie…the one with 3 kids…(this is one reason I get nervous)..I answered and she sounded fine, but did inform us that there was an earthquake about 4AM this morning in Illinois. They live in Sugar Grove, Illinois, which is about 40 miles Southwest of Chicago.  It registered 3.8 on the Richter Scale, and the epicenter was around Hampshire, IL.  That would be about 15 or 20 miles North of their house.  She said it shook the house pretty good, rattled the windows and knocked her son’s guitar off the wall in his room.  I guess the minute it happened they all, Terrie, her husband, Tim, and their 3 kids basically ended up in the upstairs hallway at about the same time, wondering what the heck happened.  Their 5 year old was scared and was crying.  Tim realized that apparently they had an earthquake. I guess nobody got much sleep after that.  Terrie was laughing now, and assured us that everything was OK…But, it was a bit of excitement for all of them. 
Now that I had calmed down, we loaded up and Den helped me walk our laundry up to the laundry/bath house. (I guess you could say we were “airing our dirty laundry”…OK, maybe not…
There is a sign outside the laundry where they post events or notes..Today it says “Good Morning”, in the Tohono O’odham language..  I really must practice saying that…

I filled 3 machines and went back to the camper for a cup of Java…After about 20 minutes, it was time to go and transfer to the dryer..and of course, now it was raining..Den offered to drive me, but, OH NO…I could walk …stubborn…I grabbed the umbrella from under our bed, put on my crocks and headed out. I forgot that my crocks have holes all around the outside…I was reminded of that with squishy socks by the time I made the laundry..not to mention that the wind had come up and was about to turn me into Mary Poppins…
It did quit raining ..just about the time I went back to the camper ,while my laundry did it’s time in the dryers. I love being able to sit in our camper instead of a Laundromat . I must say, though, I get some of my best “fodder” for my blog at Laundromats.We decided it was time to take our walk…I took my camera , as usual.

This morning the clouds were doing strange and beautiful things to the mountains…

This particular photo reminds me of dry ice seeming to be smoke, seeping it’s way over the mountains…kind of creeping toward us like in the B horror movie, The Blob..(for those of you old enough to remember movies without major bloodletting)…eerie, yet hypnotizing.

I took this picture from the good ‘ol casino parking lot…seems I get some of my best shots from this vantage point. There was a road sign right in the middle of this photo..but through the magic of Picasa and the brains of Dennis,(with a little help from Al, it disappeared…)Thanks, Al of The Bayfield Bunch.

When we did our walk, I put on my jacket, with hood, and my gloves.  Dennis thought I was doing a bit of “overkill” with the gloves, but the temp had dropped from 52 degrees at 7:30AM to a chilly 45 degrees now…and the wind had come up.

On our walk we had been seeing this 5th wheel with an “itty bitty” slide out…..Here is a picture of it….

At first I thought it may be a stacked washer/dryer..duh!…there are 2 windows there…Dennis thinks maybe you throw your clothes in from the inside and you can watch them go around from the outside…(I think hanging out with me for 40 years is starting to affect his thinking). Does anyone have a slide like this??? Just me, being nosey….Of course I could knock on their door and just ask, but that would be a bit rude…I may have sunk to some low levels, but I just cannot be quite that forward.

Right now it has been pouring outside, but I do see a bit of blue sky to the South. We lost our Satellite TV just once due to heavy rain. I have 2 huge T-Bones in the refrig, marinating..Grillmaster will have to use and umbrella if the rain continues…A fried T-Bone just isn’t the same a good grilled one!!

   I stepped outside with my camera because the sun was beginning to come out… but it still was looking dark to the West…

Shortly after I took these photos it began to rain again….Oh well…This just means the Sonoran Desert will blossom sooner..I hope we are here to enjoy it…(I just hope it doesn’t entice the snakes to come out early for a drink….)  Speaking of drinks…I do believe it is time for a"Happy Hour” in the camper…It is cozy and dry in here, but we are actually starting to get puddles outside around us…Tomorrow is an exciting day at the IGA in Ajo…GROCERY DAY!!!And….they have Rib Eye Steaks for $3.99 a lb….ridiculously cheap..and I will definitely get two!!!!

Shout- out to a fellow blogger…Hey Al!!…I did these photos and some of the blog on Windows Live Writer!!!BIG learning curve goin’ on for ‘ol Donna!!!!