For anyone who has ever really lived in Arizona rain is like crack for an addict who's been without a hit for a week! But in a good way! And we don't get to wait just a week for the next big storm, sometimes there's a year in between them! But inevitably we all turn into little kids and watch in awe like it's 4th of July when lightning strikes, play in it when it's daytime and raining at the same time, and none of us can get enough of that wet creosote smell!!! We walk around inhaling as deep as we can like a bunch of idiots! We don't even inhale that deep for the doctor when he asks for a deep breath, ha ha!
Only in Arizona is the weather not considered a lame topic of conversation. On the contrary! If you know about a storm heading in our general direction that the rest of us haven't heard about, you are considered knowledgeable and popular (till the storm misses us by several hundred miles, of course, then you are considered a liar or an idiot). In other words we live for those two words that say the meteorologist might actually be right this time "Monsoon Season"!
It's like Christmas! But instead of pine trees with presents under them we watch out the window as roof tiles fly past palm trees that are doubled over in the gale force winds! We also like make fun of our fellow Arizonans who while they are driving seem to forget that rain happens occasionally and yes the sky is falling! And to those same people, yes you should use more caution but please move faster than 5 miles per hour on the freeway and if that's too hard pull over! The rest of the people on the freeway? When water is on the road you do NOT have the same traction as you did for the last 18 months, so when you hydroplane and spin out try not to hit me OK?
My family is a prime example of those crazy Arizonans who love the rain maybe a little too much. Namely the Pitterle side. When we get together for a family party and there is any kind of evidence for the possibility of rain the whole party shifts onto the nearest porch with the best view of the sky. We will chant the names of family members who live in rainier parts of the country to tempt the clouds towards us and none of us are above a good old fashioned rain dance if we think it will help! We melt when we hear thunder and get giddy when it takes less than 5 seconds for the sound to follow the lightning. Needless to say, this Arizonan love of rain is in my blood to stay!
When Preston and I moved into our house we knew it was totally awesome entirely for the fact that there are NO neighbors to drive us crazy. I never realized that it was the best place to watch dust storms roll in from the north! The last time I had a view this good I was living with my dad before I got married. It was before the Riverview project got approved and we had an awesome view from our porch just off 8th street a few hundred yards east of Dobson towards Red Mountain and directly north. From there me and my dad would watch monster sized dust storms come in from the Northwest and wait till the last possible second before clamping our eyes and mouths shut before we started getting pelted with tiny little rocks flying at about 100 miles per hour. Occasionally I would wait a second too long and end up chewing grit and crying dust. After the dirt wall would pass we would watch the wall of water come and once that hit, we were in heaven! From that front porch swing we would just sit watch the rain fall till either the storm passed or bedtime came.
In my new place I happen to have the same sights out my back door. I can see Red Mountain,
sunrises over Four Peaks, and even Camelback mountain off in the distance.
Us being the only house in our "neighborhood" we discovered that you get the full force of the wind and rain no matter what direction it's coming from. We also end up with what we can only describe as a small version of the Great Lakes in our backyard.
Our latest slightly upsetting but also somewhat amusing discovery (that will also explain my choice of title) was that when it rains hard enough and the water level starts to rise we get a half circle of dirty water on the carpet surrounding the office door or aka the back door. Accompanying that water is a lovely, musty, stale water, smell to go with it as the office doesn't get great air circulation. Not that I'm complaining or anything!!! I wouldn't trade this house for anything! I just thought it was funny and that I would share the humor.
On a baby note and also speaking of humor, I found a comic that describes my essence as a pregnant lady to a T! It also made me laugh for a long time. Probably because it is so me! So of course I have to share it!
Oh yeah and we also found out that Charlie is a punk about getting his feet wet when we let him out to go potty. We had him litter box trained in our apartment and he did so great switching from that to going outside that we never considered the rain. He wont even step on damp dirt. He just stands on the sidewalk and gives me this look that says "I'll hold it, thanks".
This was our latest battle of wills...
And just so we all understand how weird this picture is, I have never seen or have been able to get him to lay down on anything harder than padded carpet. This look of defiance says "I would rather lay down on hard cement with little sharp rocks all over it and hold it than put one paw on that wet dirt." He didn't move till I did to let him back in the house! Pain in the butt!
1 Two Cents':
Charlie is one funny little puppy dog. Our dogs could care less if the dirt is wet.
That storm was AWESOME. Remind me next time I am at your place to give you my memory card, so that you can have those pictures of Charlie and the frog.
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