Rain in Peoria

Today we saw the first rain since we got back to Peoria.  This region is in a drought, too.  The grass in many places and some tree leaves have been turning yellow.  At least the high temps have been noticably less than 100 F for this week.  Unpacking continues, both at home and at work. Converting to the new computer system and all of its implications has been more time-consuming than expected, and I still am having picture-processing issues. It was nice, however, to get into the lab and run a little experiment today.  This is about the time of the year when Peoria has its annual hot air balloon festival.  Very sad to report that it and the air show (two of my favorite late summer events) have been cancelled this year (money issues).  I hope they come back next year.  Since I have been talking dry weather, today's pic is from last month, of the high Chihuahuan desert near Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.  The Guadalupe Mountains, ending in El Capitan in Texas, are in the background.  Note that some of the cacti are blackened from last summer's wildfire.