A change of pace......

We woke up Thursday morning to something different.....light rain.  This is the first noticeable, sustained rain since the first week we were here when it snowed, and then rained for an entire day.  By 11 am it had ended......I know, the graphic says it would stop by 7:45 am.....it didn't, but that's all good because we were inside anyway watching the USA lose 1-0 to Germany.  In spite of the loss the USA progressed to the round of 16 which is the "sudden death" round.....a loss now and you are out.

After the soccer match I took advantage of the end of the brief rain and wiped the car down.  One benefit of the rain was it settled down the pollen from the pine trees that has been covering everything like a blanket for the past few weeks.  It's been kind of discouraging because within 15 minutes of wiping the car off it would be covered with this yellow pollen dust again.  Everyone says the pollen should let up pretty soon, and we are hoping that the rain has drawn a line in the sand at last.  One thing I forgot to mention was we received our new floor mats for the VW Beetle we bought on eBay.  When we bought the car it only had one floor mat for the driver's floor, so we had wanted to get a new complete set.  We finally ordered them a week ago, and they arrived Wednesday.

By the time I finished wiping down the car, the outdoor cooking area, and picnic table it was time to watch the 1 pm WC matches.  As it stands now the USA will play Belgium next Tuesday hoping to win and advance to the round of 8.  That it has now been two weeks since the World Cup began is hard to believe.  On the other hand it has pretty much dominated our days for two consecutive weeks, and we have not done much else but watch three, or four matches a day.  Friday will be a day off from soccer, so we are planning to head over to Carson city to do visit Trader Joe's and Costco, and maybe do a little "junking".

We spent the rest of the day reading with the electric heaters whirring in the background.....I don't think the temperature got much higher than 62 degrees, so it was a nice day to spend inside......

One update for those who do not follow World Cup soccer.....I wrote about the Uruguayan player, Suarez, who bit an Italian opponent.  The news came in yesterday that FIFA (the international governing body for professional soccer) has suspended Suarez for 4 months.....he will not play another match in the World Cup, and, in fact, cannot even be present at a soccer venue anywhere in the world for that 4 month period.  Will that change his behavior?  I don't know.....he has previously been suspended for 1 month, 2 months and now 4 months.....they keep doubling the suspension time....so far it has not impressed him enough to change his behavior.

That was our Thursday......thanks for stopping by!