OUR ARRIVAL YESTERDAY:
Today we had a 6 1/2 hour drive through the suburbs of LA. The traffic was a little crazy, but we made it easily. We arrived at our condo and about 3:30 and the landlord was waiting for us. We were very surprised and pleased, as the condo was furnished better than we had expected and it is larger than we thought. This place is so well stocked that there is little room for our stuff in the cupboards and such. Lovely gardens all around and the pool right out our living room window. GREAT!

We thought we might make it through our 3rd day gone without incident, but not so! After we arrived we carried lots of loads up the stairs and then decided to head to the grocery store before putting stuff away. As we got ready to leave there was a VERY loud explosion and the lights went out for a few minutes. They came back on and we left for the store. We arrived back at the condo after dark (it gets dark earlier here) and found that the entire place was in darkness..like really dark. We stumbled up the stairs and used our cell phones as light. Luckily, as I explored the kitchen earlier, I had seen a flashlight. We put the groceries away and found a couple of tealight candles for a tad of light. Then we sat in the dark and waited. It was too early to go to bed. After a game of cribbage by candlelight, we went to bed at 8:30.

Just before bed, I went into the kitchen with the flashlight and I screamed! There was a cockroach on the counter as big as a 50 cent piece. Having never seen one before, it gave me the creeps. I yelled at Matt and he came to save the day. His attempt to smash the roach resulted in him getting just one of his legs and nothing more. YIKES...this might result in a call to our landlord.

FOLLOW-UP: A transformer exploded near us and the power was out until early morning. By then the chicken was warm and the ice cream was soup. We had to throw away several things this a.m.

OUR FIRST FULL DAY: Today was repair day. Matt's bike went to the bike shop for new handle bars and such. Then as we were driving around and noticed that the air conditioning was not working. Koks in the desert without air...I don't think so! Got that fixed while we stood around waiting for $107.00. I can't imagine what else could go wrong.

Our weather is a bit overcast, but 70 degrees. Quite delightful for the Northwesterners. Rain is expected at the end of the week. Tomorrow I will include some photos of our place.

MISS YA'LL!