Monday, April 30, 2012

It's Early but . . .

Summer is coming!  A little over a week ago, we hit record high temperatures.  At our recording station the high was over 100 degrees twice.  I never, ever, ever, thought I would live in the desert.  It still looks like spring here.  One tree in the back yard is sporting beautiful soft pink blossoms.  I never have found out the name of it.  The Palo Verde tree (green stick) is nearly covered with sunny yellow flowers.  Birds of many sorts come into the yard to see if Rob has "accidentally" spilled dog food for them.  One particular blackbird struts back and forth on the wall waiting for the spill.  The other day he landed on the patio, strolled up to the sliding door, tapped on the window and flew back to his station on the wall.  We don't have hummingbird feeders, but they come for the flowers on the trees.  When our little dog Rudy is out there, they fly right up to him.  We haven't figured this out, however it is fun to watch

I did say summer is almost here.  The biggest change for summer weather:  no cold water comes out of the tap from now until September or October.  We have a special tap for drinking water, but now it's warm or hot.  There are summer savings.  We seldom have to use the water heater during the heat.  Everything needs to be refrigerated, including us.  Thankfully our home is well insulated and the air conditioner is stellar.  Of course . . . I don't go out in the heat all that much. 

Shopping and going to appointments is best done early in the morning or late at night.  Since this is a 24-hour town, we can shop anytime we like.  Unfortunately the doctors don't accommodate the lifestyle. I was pretty shocked to find that most big chain markets and stores are open 24 hours.  My sister loves this.  If she wakes up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep, she can hit the stores.  I haven't been shopping that late, but I imagine you can always find an empty checkout lane. 
I thought it would take years for me to acclimate to the temperatures here.  We both expected we would truly suffer the first year.  What a surprise for us!  It was hot, hot, hot that summer.  Downtown temperatures reached 117 degrees.  You know how they say it's "dry heat"?  (Whoever "they" are) .  It actually is.  90 degrees when we were live near the beach was unbearable for me.  The air was sticky and it was difficult for me to breathe.  Dry air = good breath for me. 

So how's the weather where you are? 

Thinking of you all, Penny

1 comment:

paul said...

i'm happy to read what you wrote about dry air being breathable even when it is so hot

i want to move to Sedona Arizona one day

humidity here on the east coast wears a little thin after 50 years of age