Sunday, June 23, 2024

Monsoon Season Is Here/ Living In The Desert

 The Tucson Monsoon has arrived. A few years ago they changed Monsoon season to a calendar date but truth is Monsoon season happens when the RH gets to 25% or so and stays there.  For that to happen the desert has to get hot enough to form a low pressure area to draw moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and California. We have had the heat and RH for a couple of weeks and yesterday we had the first storm at the house. It was a good start, hard rain and wind for several hours and this morning outdoors feels like a Houston August morning. It will be the kind of day you are thankful for AC. That's the bad news, the good is it only lasts for a couple or three months and the desert needs the rain.

Being retired in the desert southwest is easy living but you need to adjust your day's schedule. As an example, from mid March thru September I'm usually up by 0300 and take care of work around the house and do my morning walk before 0900 or 1000. By late morning it is time to kick back and enjoy a drink and/or a toke by the pool followed by a nap till near sundown. After the sun goes down the desert (except during Monsoon) cools off very quickly. Early evening outdoors is usually perfect.

Bottom line: Up early, do your work, once it is hot enjoy the pool and/or AC and a nap. Once the sun is setting back outdoors. It is a good life.    

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Juneteenth

 Tomorrow is Juneteenth, our newest and most important yet overlooked holiday. I've been all over the reasons Juneteenth is important, no reason to revisit. 

Raise a glass of whatever to all the folks that have finally made the celebration a national holiday for all.

Happy Juneteenth,

ken and MsBubba   

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Bong v Everything Else

 While I haven't tried every means of Cannabis consumption I've tried most of the major ways. I have the equipment and knowledge to extract THC for tinctures or infusions, and then to reduce to FECO. The various stages can be used for under tongue infusions, eatables, Carts, Vapes, Dabs and so on.  Vaping flower from the big Volcano to small single hit devices is another way to consume and do not forget joints.

Of all the ways my favorite is a bong. It is miserly with your weed, cools the smoke a little, and because it is direct smoke the hit is almost immediately making it easy to titrate your dose. Vaping is almost as fast but vaping flower is very wasteful, 30% to 60% of the flower THC is left behind. "Already been vaped" flower can be reused but the product is second rate.

Next to a bong Carts are a close second and have the advantage of being small and discrete. Biggest downsides are they are a PITA to make and you do not know the effects of the carrier oils and distillates in commercial carts.

MsBubba likes Carts and infusions. I prefer under the tongue infusions and tinctures to eatables simply because eatables take so long to hit, can last too long and are hard to titrate. You are either questioning is it working, do I need another hit, or doing the zombie walk for four or five hours. 

One last method is pressing Rosin for dabbing or vaping which I love but it is wasteful and a PITA (easy to have "blowouts") and requires working fresh weed , a lot of work for very little product. 

Last to address are joints, love 'em. It is where most of us started and is the most social of all the methods with maybe the Volcano a close second. Rolling papers are cheap and can give your old fingers a workout, the smoke is good but unless you are with a circle of friends you end up wasting a lot of flower. 

Your mileage may vary,

ken

New Hearing Aids

 I had a great life as a pilot but back in the day "real men" didn't wear hearing protection. It was not just ramp noise but a...