The excellent desert winter weather has returned. The temperature was in the mid to upper 70s yesterday. The thermometer should hover around 80 degrees with no rain forecast in the next 10 days. Once the sun sets, the temperature drops quickly though down to an overnight low of about 50 degrees.

Donna took advantage of the weather with a bike ride in the morning. She had work to do, so after lunch, I rode my mountain bike along Eastern Canal. The dirt path along the canal was rutted from work trucks passing through while it was muddy last week. The water in the canal itself is still muddy.

Muddy canal

With the water being so muddy, I didn’t expect to see fish in the canal. But I did see a couple of fish and also discovered turtles in the canal. The turtles were very wary though. Every time I stopped to try to photograph one, it would disappear under water. I saw one sunning himself on the side of the concrete bank. I came slowly to a stop and he stayed put. As soon as I pointed my camera phone at him, he dove into the muddy water.

The canal has locks every mile or so to control the flow and water level. These locks also contain the non-native white amur fish that are put into the canal to control aquatic plant growth.

Canal lock

Near one of the locks, I saw workers from the local power utility company, Salt River Project (SRP), digging a hole. They had a hose about six inches in diameter connected to a giant vacuum in the back of a truck. As they removed dirt, it was sucked into a large container in the truck. I don’t think I’ve seen this before.

Digging a hole

I asked one of the SRP guys what they were doing. He told me they had to put up temporary structures. They were digging holes for large wooden poles. The poles would have a cross bar and uprights attached, like a football goal post, also made from wood. This was in preparation for work on the high-tension lines above. They were going to string a new bundle of wire from University Drive south to Guadalupe Road, a distance of more than five miles. This bundle would feed a new substation.

The lines high overhead would remain live while the work was performed. Shutting down the lines would knock power out of many neighborhoods in the area. The lines carry high voltage – 230,000 volts! The wooden pole structures are put in place as a safeguard. If a line is cut or broken and comes down, it will be held off the ground by the poles. Grounding 230,000 volts could be disastrous and very dangerous to anyone in the area.

230,000 volts in those lines

Donna is making me almost famous. She did an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette promoting her new book, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness. In the interview, she mentioned my blog. The article has since been syndicated and has been picked up by newspapers across the country. This article has a sub-heading that reads “Take Some Notes From Author Who Lives In Motor Home With Husband Blogger.” By the way, I posted my 400th blog post yesterday.

Last night, Donna prepared something a little different for dinner. She followed a friend’s recipe for pizza chicken. This dish features pounded chicken breasts smothered with homemade marinara and baked with pepperoni and shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. It was a novelty dish that we both enjoyed.

Pizza chicken

She served it with sauteed zucchini and onions.

Pizza chicken with sauteed zucchini and onions

I’ve had few people inquire about the horseradish-infused vodka I mentioned in this recent post. I haven’t made it, but Sara Graff told me how it’s done. Her first batch was made in a mason jar – the second was made in a large bottle with a resealable cap.

She peels a fresh horseradish root and then cuts it into strips the size of large french fries that will fit inside the mouth of the bottle. She tied string to each of the horseradish strips and put them in the bottle. The strings suspend the horseradish and also aid in removal later. (If you’re using a mason jar, you can just toss the horseradish “fries” into the jar and fish them out later.) Then she filled the bottle with Sobieski vodka. The bottle is left in the freezer for five or six days. Then it’s ready to serve. You’ll want to remove the horseradish strips because it will make the vodka taste bitter if left too long. Sounds pretty simple. We’re planning to make a batch.