Morgan again...I thought I would share some pressing good news and some bad news. No need to get too excited or worried, they are both relatively mild but effect our day to day lives and I thought sharing them would give an interesting and off beat view.

I always like to hear bad news first so here goes... we have a grasshopper plague, no but seriously we are thinking it is in biblical proportions! We frequently walk over to our neighbor Mary's house (of which I will explain more later on) and the walk consists of a driveway and then a path up to her house lined with garden beds and grass. The experience, however, is slowly walking and watching hundreds of grasshoppers scatter at every single footstep. The single footsteps then make a chain reaction within the few feet surrounding the area. So pretty much walking at a steady state creates an enormous wave of grasshoppers. Oh and the garden beds are completely wiped out, no tomatoes for us this season:( We have witnessed all types of grasshoppers as well, some very small and some that are enormous. The most notable is a friend we have made that hangs out by our outside compost pile, this one is gigantic...easily 3 inches long and one inch wide! He has a pretty good gig we figured out, he is missing a back hopper leg so he just hangs out and munches on kitchen scraps allowing himself to morph into this abnormally sized insect. 

We try to enjoy meals out on the patio when the heat and weather permits, so we have had an interesting view of a large bush right in front of our outdoor table. When we moved here the bush was about seven feet of lush green leaves and today as it stands I think the last leaf disappeared about four or five days ago. The only slight green tint that remains on the once thick and beautiful bush is from the colors on the grasshoppers back. Leon was fascinated by them at first but bored quickly when they would not constantly move around, the hopping still startles him and that never gets old for a laugh from Marc and I. The picture below was taken one evening on a post right next to our bush, r.i.p.

Okay on to good news...this is big...I took a hot shower for the first time in our house tonight!!! A big thank you is necessary for my number one, Marc. As some of you know we have been struggling with the hot water heater since we moved in, and let me tell you that it turned into a daily struggle for us. Let me give some background...the original heater was hooked (more like rigged) up to small gas tanks outside the house. After doing some research Marc figured out how to light the pilot and figure out the next hurdle. After a long struggle (about two weeks) working through this stage and some close calls with open flames we thought it had a common problem that was an easy fix. Turns out an "easy" fix for this delightful water heater turned into a bigger disaster. The parts were so old that replacing one piece quickly turned into just stripping it completely. Next steps in our wonderful neighbor/landlord/friend, Mary. We talked about a whole handful of options and decided on a 10 gallon electric water heater that could eventually be hooked up to solar energy sources. This sounded great and a good prospective project for Marc and I. Unfortunately we don't know the first thing about electric wires so Mary contacted her son and one of our other neighbors, the entertainer. Fiasco number two, for many reasons. The water heater got connected to the plumbing but had an obvious dripping leak and the electrical, well that never really happened. As it so happens, the breaker is maxed out and the water heater would be too much for it to handle. Strike three. Within one days time, after a month of chaos we picked up a four gallon electric water heater that plugs into an outlet. Marc connected all the plumbing last night and after searching out an extension cord today we were in business, minus the other house guests. So instead of walking through a sea of grasshoppers and the hot sun, I had a delightful shower in my own shower tonight, and for that I think I will have a fantastic night's sleep...goodnight!