I want some coffee!

That's a line in one of the songs in the musical "Kiss Me Kate" by Cole Porter. And he got it right for this transition summer of 2022 as global warming takes over every aspect of our lives. This is what is projected for the EU for the summer of 2022. I expect roaring hot temps here in southeast AZ but... London?! Ireland and the Alps look rather inviting as do some coastal areas. I have serious doubts how we can continue as a species on the current trend. And with these temps being forecast I have to worry about our future coffee sources. There's only so much high elevation available for growing. And the higher you go the less surface area is available for growing (think of a cone). It's my understanding that the robusta varietal is most tolerant of high growing temps. But frankly I don't care for the taste unless it's part of a blend. And it has 40% more caffeine than the arabica varietal I prefer- not a good thing for Mrs. B's little boy! So... o...

We voted early beating the deadline of 26 July 2022 for mailing our early-voting ballots.   All was fine except the state info pamphlet contains no info on nor statements by the candidates for US Representative and US Senate. We know the names for the senate but for someone running for the House seat it was a crap shoot. Poor job by the office of the Arizona Secretary of State. I ended up doing a Google search for the names and hoped for the best! It was so much fun I think we'll do it again in November.

... sort of!   Last time I said our Vegas is getting closer to 'ready' and I had a long list of things that we had finished. Well, ok- it was a short list, but those items are done. Off the list. Fini . The biggy this time was supposed to be getting the Vegas over to Shannon's on 7 July to have the cab AC refrigerant topped up. That didn't happen. Well, it did happen but it was not a magic cure. Thanks to info from Dana at Lightning Fast RV Repair (apparently a very good mechanic!), I'm fairly sure the low pressure safety switch has been tripped (several times!). And I also suspect that switch also set a latching relay on the fuse/relay board in the engine compartment so that if you turn power off and back on the safety switch is still tripped. That switch (+ latching relay) apparently keeps the compressor clutch from engaging so the compressor doesn't run when the system is low on refrigerant. It could be that the switch is defective but I've convinced myse...

I found this critter hangin' out in the street looking pretty horny. It's a horned toad or horned lizard- take your pick. Horned toad/horned lizard

#VanLife traveler Michael Beattie, fresh back from Mexico, caught this guy hangin' out waiting  for dinner. Check the original image on his Conchscooter blog for 26 June 2022 .     Well done Michael!

The Bullet coffee roaster still has place of honor in the shop!  What has happened is I discovered Mexico Organic Chiapas at Coffee Bean Corral in Jul 2020. Since then Chiapas has replaced everything else for roasting and I didn't want to keep saying the same-old same-old here on iwantsomecoffee .  In late-2019 thru mid-2020 I was obsessing about Ethiopia Organic Yirgacheffe. The Yirgacheffe is still a great choice but I don't get the same enthusiastic reaction from others as I do with the Chiapas. Not only are we 2 old toots happy with the Chiapas coffee I'm roasting, so too are the folks I share with.  Now life is a little simpler. I keep roasting the same kind of beans the same way. No variation cuz I've worked all the bugs out of the roast profile which is now migrated into a Recipe (automated commands which control the Bullet roaster temperature). And that makes for nothing much to write about. But that change in roasting habit did nothing to keep the Bullet's...

We are starting to get the RV ready. We delayed till our friends the road warriors (Michael & Layne) had returned from Mexico. Our park rules say we can't have our travel-RV on our lot at the same time as a visitor's RV. So we had to wait till after their departure for Clarkdale, Arizona. Once the lot was clear, however, I brought the Vegas out of the storage yard, parked it on our site and got busy. Well, OK... it was Lightning Fast RV Repair that got started. We had some uninvited visitors to the vent line for the fresh water tank. Looks to be a spider's nest; plus some mud daubers left us a few eggs embedded in (surprise! surprise!) mud. Made filling the water tank a nightmare as I had to keep stopping water flow to let the trapped air vent out via the fill line... Vent hose was home to first a spider's nest then mud dabbers laid a few eggs. A replacement piece of hose solved that issue plus Jeff fab'ed a custom piece of screen material to keep the critters f...