Rain; Sweet Rain

We’re saved! I complained in an earlier post about the onslaught of a premature summer. Well, a low pressure front came through a couple of days ago and brought strong winds, thunder storms, some rain, and cooler weather. I had to break out the sweaters again.

It looks as if we will be back to normal for the foreseeable future. Next week’s forecasts show pleasant days broken by intermittent rain days. That means a continued wildflower season.

Lichen and Brittlebush
Blooming brittlebush before a lichen covered outcrop near Wickenburg, Arizona.

The brittlebush is in full bloom now and the cactus is just beginning to blossom. I recommend that you grab your camera and head to the nearest road out-of-town to capture the color while it’s here. March and April are when the Sonoran Desert is the prettiest, but this is an exceptional year. Don’t miss it.

Till then . . . jw

Desert Wildflowers

There is an upside of all the rain that we’ve experienced this winter, and that is the wildflowers that are beginning to bloom in the last week. Yesterday, Queen Anne and I had to run into town to Lowe’s, and along each side as well as in the median of Grand Avenue, we saw a beautiful display of wildflowers. There were blue lupine, orange California Poppies and African Daisies mixed in with the melon colored mallow. Of course I didn’t bring my camera.

Fence Poppies
California Poppies bloom in dense groups along the Highway 89 roadside.

I grabbed the camera bag when we got home and drove back down the road where I tried shooting a patch of poppies along the fence line. If you ever wanted to shoot desert wildflowers, this will be an exceptional year and the time to get out is now. Happy hunting.

Till then . . . jw

The Land of Two Seasons

Where did spring go? Up until last week, the Queen and I were enjoying the chilly winter days. The temperature was perfect for doing chores in the afternoons. With weekly storms passing through, we’d declare those rainy days as Lazy Days, and use them as an excuse for not working. Instead, we could enjoy the sound of rain on the roof and curl up on the couch with a good book, make a pot of hot soup, and take long afternoon naps.

Because we’re tightwads, we try to keep our electricity bills to a minimum. In winters, we keep the house a little cooler than usual. When days are sunny, we open the blinds to let the morning sun in. If the daily high exceeds the thermostat, we’ll open the doors to warm up the house. It turns out that our home is pretty well insulated and it will hold the heat gain well into the night. In dark and dreary winter days, we put on a heavier sweater and watch TV under throw-blankets.

That was the mode we were in until last Tuesday when a monster high pressure system moved in and decided to stay for a while. That’s what happens in Arizona during the summer. You have proof on the evening news. When you see that the weather map has a big “H” parked over Four Corners, it’s summer.

By last Wednesday, we started wearing shorts and tee shirts. The temperature began to climb through the seventies and kept heading towards the century mark. We’re setting records for the earliest we hit the eighties, the nineties and it may not stop there. I even scheduled my chores in the mornings before it got too hot.

So now, we’re managing the house to keep the air conditioner from coming on. In the evenings, when the outside temperature comes close to the inside thermometer, we open the house up. We shut the blinds to the morning sun and button up the house when the temperatures rise again.

I don’t think of this as summer mode because when summer comes, it’s useless to fight. We’d be better-off putting the house in an ice chest. When the heat is enough to trigger the air conditioner, it will run until winter. That’s how one copes in Arizona, we have two seasons, ‘Hot’ and ‘Not-As-Hot’.

Till next time . . . jw