As summer rolls into full swing here in Phoenix Arizona one of the biggest issues for home owners is their electricity bill. The scorching outside temperatures force air conditioning units to work overtime to keep the insides of homes habitable. It's not unheard of for home electricity bills to be over $400 per month during this time of the year. Naturally this prompts a consciencious homeowner to try to lower their bill. Below I've described 10 mostly useless ways that one can lower their monthly payout.

The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul is Douglas Adam's second Dirk Gently novel. Gently is a private investigator, actually a holistic private investigator. That is, he believes in the total interconnectedness of all things. Therefore, his detecting methods involve pulling together the most unusual and apparently unrelated things and finding the common link. While the first book, Holistic Detective Agency, was fun and clever, Teatime seems to be too over the top. Adams has certainly given Gently some strange and apparently unrelated events but he doesn't tie them together in a clever way. Instead of explaining it all in "our" world, Adams moves the whole shebang off to a parrallel universe populated by norse mythological creatures. Once in that world we don't expect things to necessarily make sense so the tension of the juxtaposition of strange events is significantly reduced.

The Go John Trail winds its way between a cluster of small hills (or mountains) to make a 4.5 mile loop through some very nice Sonoran Desert country. The trail starts out from the parking lot with a bit of a climb to a low saddle. Right at the peak of the climb is an abandoned mine shaft. Some Arizona state department has built a wire cage over the opening to prevent people from climbing in. That's probably a good idea.

A few weeks ago I found myself enjoying a few days with my wife in Sedona Arizona.  I've always wanted to hike some of the trails in that area so I decided to take advantage of the situation and find a short trail that would give me some nice red rock views.  The manager at the Bed & Breakfast we were staying in suggested a trail called Little Horse Trail.  I was looking for something that was relatively flat, not too crowded, and provided good opportunities to see the incredible rock formations up close.  He said that Little Horse Trail would work perfect for what I wanted.

The Light Of Eidon is the first book in the Legends of The Guardian-King series by Karen Hancock.  As a fantasy book it does an excellent job of combining all the elements of the fantasy genre (magic, mythical creatures, swords, and heroic quests) into a fresh, new story.   It also presents a deeper and more complex view of humans than many books do. 

The story spans about 2 years of the life of the main character, Abramm, also know as Eldrin.  At the beginning of the story Eldrin is preparing for his initiation into the religious order.  On the eve of his induction he is betrayed and sold into slavery.  His owner plans to train him and use him as a fighter in the gladiator fights.  

The first week of May we spent in Lincoln City Oregon enjoying a family vacation.  Lincoln City is one of our favorite locations on the Oregon Coast.  Now that we live in Arizona it's a bit hard to get there but we made the extra effor this year and were well rewarded with a great time! The rest of this article gives an overview of our trip.  I've also included some pictures with descriptions.