Last Friday (July 13) we went to go watch Red Green put on a comedy act. It was very good. We haven't done a whole lot this last week other than signing for our apartment at Waterford in Mesa, AZ. We should be moving in by the end of July. We're pretty excited to have our place again but it's very small and it stinks... like all apartments do. It smells like a ton of dirty dogs lived in there without ever opening the window. I don't understand how some people can be so stinky, or maybe that's just how it smells when the apartment gets older. If anyone has some tips on how to make a used apartment smell fresh again please let me know. It's about 20 minutes from Roger's work and only about 5 to 10 minutes from where I will attend school. My car is getting older and therefore we have had to do some maintenance on it. It's getting a little costly but still better than buying a newer car at this point. I seem to be getting used to the heat. It can be hot at times but all in all it's fine. 100 degrees no longer sounds dreadful. There have been many thunder and lightening storms here and they are absolutely amazing! It's been raining a lot but that's nice because it cools everything down. It is very humid after the rain though. Staying inside is the best thing right now because of the heat, but growing up in Oregon you go outside every chance you get when it's sunny... not the case here and that's weird to me at times. I will be sitting inside and doing homework and wondering why I'm not outside... Oh wait, It's 110 degrees out! I look forward to the winter when It's 75 or 80 degrees all the time. Monsoon season is approaching but nothing bad other than a little heavy rain and some lightning. It is soon to get worse though. 

Roger would like to contribute to our blog this week.

Ask me how my 4th was...

I dare you.

How did you guess?

I got stung...

I went to pick up a board to maybe use to help get a car unstuck, and as I picked it up... it got me

I never saw it since it was dark out and I wasn't looking.

We went downtown early to the biggest fireworks show in the area, but it had rained that morning, and was muggy. Angela didn't want to stay, even though she was the one who wanted to go...so we went shopping, home for dinner, and watched some Repo show, and Bait car.

Well, Angela found another place to go that was closer, however, by the time I ate dinner, and we left, cars were lining the streets to pay $5 to park which inspired us to drive into a field with a bunch of other cars. There was a dirt road about two cars wide, barely, and we followed them. Toward the end of the road/middle of the field, people were pulling off to the left, (ditch was on the right), and there was a dirt mound that was too tall for small cars. Luckily, some little car was too smart to not try anyway and got high centered on the driver's side.

Well... I seem to think I know everything and can help everyone, so I got out of our car, reached down for a board that was lying across the concrete ditch, and felt it bite back, or sting, really. The weird thing is that it got the top of my thumb which was on top of the board... Scorpions like to be under things... We ended up not even needing the board, too which was the worst part.  I just told everyone to get out of the car except the driver, then I helped two other guys that were there lifted on the back of the car and the car got traction and drove out.

After pinching off my thumb at the base for a bit, I called my dad who told me to call Eric (a famous Etymologist friend of ours) who told me to call a nurse hotline provided by our insurance who told me to go to the ER in case it was a Bark Scorpion. I sat in the ER for 1.5 hours, got some Motrin, Percocet, and went home after buying some Benadryl to help me sleep.

It is the worst for the first 4 hours, then gets better, can take up to 3 days. The stinging feels like when your foot goes to sleep, and then it starts getting blood back in it... Eric wanted me to go back to see what got me...not going to happen... crowded field, traffic... Perhaps next 4^th of July we will just stay home and watch Bait Car…

Thank you,

Roger Miller