Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Dust storm and rocket derby



This is a glimpse of what I drove through yesterday on my way home from picking up my nephew Kayce for a sleep over in town. Late afternoon during monsoon season you run the risk of this...especially on the 16 mile stretch of desert highway to get to Maricopa. I had my little camera in my purse, so I had Kayce take pictures for me. It was pretty thick, but I've driven through much worse and didn't have a camera then. I just try not to drive in the late afternoon if I don't have to. We did get quite a bit of rain following this, which resulted in my back yard being pure mud. I REALLY need some grass.

Cole had his rocket derby tonight. After getting 5 boys through years and years of scouting, we've made 17 pinewood derby cars not including the ones I've helped other scouts build , but I have never had to build a rocket, so it was a learning experience. It had to be wound 150 times each time he raced. Mark helped wind it up when Cole got tired of winding. He won 3rd place, so he was thrilled!
I've started reading the book "Bleachers". I really like it so far.

16 comments:

Andi said...

Oh my gosh! I've never seen anything like that! Is it sand or just dust? How in the world do you keep your car clean? I would be washing mine or at the car wash all the time!

Congratulations to Cole...the rocket looks great. He's such a cutie pie!

Happy reading...I'm going to try one of the books from the suggestions you received on your post.

Amie said...

Hi Jolene, good to see you back commenting I missed you!!!

Great rocket and how scarey for you driving in yucky dust storms.

Have a good weekend
Amie xx

Pam said...

Whoa! That is some dust! Scary!

Congrats on the 3rd place!

Kimberly said...

I've never seen that before. That would be weird to drive through. Congrats to Cole for third place, that is so good. Have a great day.

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality said...

Hi, Jolene, thanks for stopping by my blog! I hope you'll come back & visit again.

That looks like a terrible storm! We are still needing a lot more rain down here in the South.

Rhoda

Briana said...

My goodness! We have nothing like that around here. That would freak me out I think.

I can't wait to do scout type stuff with the boys! Of course, I also want to do GIRL scouting stuff too!

Kim said...

Wow. What a storm. They showed that on our news all the way over/down here.

Congrats to Cole on his 3rd place.

Bethany E. said...

Wow...never seen anything like that dust storm! Amazing pictures...glad you got through it! :)

Jacquie said...

That dust storm looks positively wicked. Personally I'd be cowering in the side of the road if that were coming at me ;-) Kudos to you.

Nicole *Ü* said...

Holy cow! That definitely must be scary and I could see why you would avoid driving during monsoon season!! Yikes!! I've never heard of the rocket derby, but it sounds like Cole did great and had fun!! Your new computer looks so neat!! I need one desperately but have been holding off with the release of Vista so that programs can be compatible with it and they can get the bugs worked out. Is "Bleachers" the one by John Grisham? I really liked it! Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

That dust storm looks wicked!! Not something that I would like to drive in at all!! So excited about your new computer, hope you like it.

Congrats to Cole on 3rd place, that is too awesome!

Loved "Bleachers" very different from his other "lawyer" stories.

Chickenbells said...

My heavens...what a storm! It's been overcast for days here now...heaven! The derby cars are really neat, and congrats on the 3rd place!

Anonymous said...

Now that is something I've never seen before and I have to say it's really weird!!

Baby Mark is getting so big!! How's his belly Jolene?
New baby yet??

deedub said...

I never knew AZ had monsoon season and dust storms! Ugh! I'm so isolated here in the fabulous Pacific Northwest! ;)
Glad to hear the book is going well so far!
Enjoy!!!
-d.

Leah said...

Aacckk! I wouldn't want to drive in that!

Congrats to Cole on his rocket!

Wendster said...

Hey! I have got to look up Maricopa on the map. Is it close to Phoenix? I will be in Phoenix in two weeks and would love to say hello if it isn't too far away! Driving out on the 19th and home on the 23rd. Nephew's wedding is on the 24th in California. Hope we don't hit any dust storms! I'm amazed you can drive through those! Scary. I've never done a rocket. That sounds cool! What propels them?