July was mostly uneventful as the weather warmed up in the Valley of the Sun. As expected, it became downright hot in the metro-Phoenix area. Of course, the media sensationalized the hot weather, claiming a record number of days over 110 degrees. The Weather Channel almanac recorded a total of 20 days of highs of 110 or higher in Mesa for the month of July, including a stretch of 17 consecutive days starting on the 13th of July.

I don’t know where they record the official metro temperature for recordkeeping, but I imagine it’s somewhere in the concrete jungle near the Phoenix city center. There was also a lot of talk about the nighttime lows staying the 90s. I think some of this has to be attributed to the amount of desert that’s been paved over and the amount of concrete poured for various buildings over the last couple of years. This retains a lot of heat – more than the open desert.

With all of that in mind, a look at the almanac also shows that these high temperatures aren’t that unusual – it’s always hot here in July and August. The “record” number of consecutive days over 110 were set because we didn’t have “breaks” where the thermometer only hit 108 or 109.

The most unusual thing I’ve observed this summer is the lack of monsoon activity by this time of year. The southwest has a monsoon season the begins mid-June and extends through the end of September. The monsoon is characterized by intense thunderstorms, higher humidity and high winds. This weather pattern comes from moisture brought up from the west coast of Mexico and is strongest in Arizona although it also affects southern California, parts of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

Thunderheads and lightning have been visible over the Superstition Mountains from our place in Mesa, Arizona, but we’ve had very little rainfall and only a few windstorms with blowing dust. Much less activity than we normally see.

The hot weather curtailed much of the acitivity around here. In July, Donna continued to play tennis, starting at 6:30am to beat the heat and she also golfed early. I’ve given up pickleball for this stretch. Astrophotography is out of the question until temperatures cool or when we do our next housesit in a cooler climate.

In previous posts, I mentioned trouble with the swamp cooler in our Arizona room. The pump quit working and I replaced it. The drive belt for the squirrel cage fan also needed to be replaced. The new belt didn’t last – it quickly slipped and burned up. The guy at the Weather Shack told me I had the belt set too tight – it needs a certain amount of slack to work properly. I replaced it again and set it how he had instructed. Then the cooler quit working and I found the root cause of the drive belt troubles. The shaft bearings in the fan were shot and finally seized.

I thought about replacing the swamp cooler with a new one as it had served us well. There were drawbacks though. The main issue is high humidity in the monsoon season. Swamp coolers are most effective with dry air and lose their effectiveness as humidity rises. A replacement cooler would run about $2,500 plus installation.

I went to the Weather Shack and looked at alternatives. Specifically I was interested in looking at a ductless mini-split heat pump. Another alternative would be to add ducting from our existing heat pump to the Arizona room, but that had drawbacks as well. It would mean running ducting through the crawlspace and putting in floor vents. Additionally it would also require a return duct to circulate the air back though the evaporator housing. This would reduce our limited floor space. It would also cost about $2,500.

A mini-split ductless system splits the air conditioning unit or heat pump into two separate elements. You have the compressor and condenser unit that is situated outside of the house. From there copper tubes carry the refrigerant into the house to the evaporator and interior fan unit. This splits the cooling (or heating) unit from the blower assembly with only a couple of hoses joining the two with no need for ducting.

I wasn’t sure of what size unit I would need for our 400-square-foot Arizona room and I was also skeptical of making it a do-it-yourself project. It would require a few special tools and equipment to do it properly. The guy at Weather Shack gave me contact information for a guy he recommended for installation, Dan Shroeder. I called him right away and he stopped by later that afternoon.

He looked the Arizona room over and checked how much heat was coming from the ceiling. The metal roof over the Arizona room was surprisingly cool, due to the Cool Foam installation I had done last year. Although it was 114 degrees outside with full sun on the roof, inside we could place our hands on the ceiling and it wasn’t hot. He said a one-ton unit was all I needed. He said if I bought the mini-split heat pump from the Weather Shack, he could do the installation the following day, Friday, July 14th.

The Weather Shack had a stack of Hessaire mini-split heat pumps on sale. I bought the one-ton heat pump kit for $532 including tax. This was an unbelievable deal – Home Depot wanted nearly $900 for the same unit. Dan showed up with a helper the following morning and did an excellent job. He had it up and running shortly after noon.

He told me the main failure point on mini-split systems is the connectors of the refrigerant tubing. He cut the ends off of the copper tubing and made new flares as he didn’t trust the factory flares. They could easily be damaged during shipping. He also replaced the foam insulation sleeves over the copper tubing with another type that he said was more UV resistant and durable. He wired a dedicated power circuit from the household electrical service panel. He had the proper equipment to evacuate the system to eliminate any moisture before he charged it with refrigerant. Altogether he did a fine job and charged $500 which I thought was more than fair.

Now I needed to have the swamp cooler removed and the hole in the wall for the swamp cooler duct filled in. I called Paragon Home Services and they came out and removed the swamp cooler.

They did a good job filling the hole in the wall and repairing the interior drywall. The worker commented on the 2×4 framing of the Arizona room. He said it was solid and better than what he usually sees in these type of room additions. They charged $375 for the job and hauled the swamp cooler away.

We are very happy with the outcome. Our Arizona room is comfortable and we’ll be able to utilize the mini-split system for heat in the winter so that’s a plus.

I dropped Donna off at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at dark-thirty on Sunday morning, July 23rd. She had a flight to Cincinnati, Ohio for band camp. I know, band camp jokes, right? She had a busy week with classes, seminars and practices that entailed about five hours of playing the clarinet daily. The camp finished on Friday and she then flew to Tampa, Florida to visit her sister, Linda. She came back Monday evening, the last day of July.

Meanwhile, I was holding the fort down and trying to keep Ozark the cat company. It was getting a bit boring. To break things up, I went to RJ’s cigar shop one afternoon. This shop has a large walk-in humidor and a two-room cigar lounge. To enjoy a fine cigar in the air-conditioned lounge, you have to buy a cigar there. My previous experience with these types of lounges found high prices on the cigars they sold. I was pleasantly surprised to find RJ’s prices were very reasonable – within a buck or two of online pricing.

I figured that I would splurge on a cigar I wouldn’t normally buy for my home humidor. I went for a Padron Serie 1926 – it was a $23 cigar. And it was worth every penny. I read my Kindle and enjoyed puffing for about 90 minutes. I saw three guys come in together with a cooler. They bought cigars and sat around a table in the lounge and proceeded to pull beers out of the cooler while they talked and puffed. Hmm, is this legal?

I came back a few days later and bought another Padron, a 1964 this time. I think this may be my all-time favorite cigar. It lasted two hours while I read again. I asked the shop owner about bringing your own drinks into the lounge. He said it was fine and if I wanted to bring liquor he had an ice machine, cups and mixers in the back room. Who knew?

My diet suffered while Donna was away – nothing new there. Here are a few of the dishes she prepared before she left. I don’t cook like that, although I do have a few specialties for the grill and smoker and I make killer grilled cheese sandwiches, omelets and Japanese fried rice.

The first plate is a Mediterranean chicken skewer with cilantro lime rice and Mexican corn on the side. Delicious! (We bought four prepared skewers for under $10 from Costco – a great find.)

The next dinner plate is shoyu chicken over rice with grilled bok choy. A favorite for sure.

I couldn’t pass up USDA Prime beef tender loin steaks (filet mignon) at Costco. I grilled the steaks medium rare and Donna made sides of green beans with bacon and roasted baby potatoes.

That’s about it for dinner examples. This afternoon, we’ll be meeting Mike and Jodi Hall at RJ’s Cigars. Mike and I will puff stogies and solve world problems while the girls catch up. I’ll bring a cooler this time.

Not much to report weatherwise. It will continue to be hot for the next couple of weeks. Monsoon rain should arrive sooner or later. I don’t see any sign of rain in the 10-day forecast.