Mondaze

The skies looked promising to the north.

Well, consarn it all to hell anyway, we did not get the promised rain turning to snow Saturday night, though it was gray and chilly around here until midafternoon Sunday.

El Rancho Pendejo stays deceptively cool on a cloudy day, so by the time we’d finished our chores and stepped out for a bit of exercise, we found ourselves dressed for conditions that no longer prevailed.

“We could’ve worn shorts,” Herself sez to me she sez as we jogged up a short hill. And she did not lie. I was seriously overdressed, wearing pants, a hoodie over a T-shirt, and a ball cap. The hoodie came off fast. Smartwool glove liners that I stuffed into a back pocket before leaving stayed there.

Jogging upward through the cacti.

That was then. This morning the furnace clicked on promptly at 4 a.m., which is about when Miss Mia Sopaipilla decides breakfast should be served (“Meow. Meow? Meeeeeowwwwwww!”) Four hours later it just clicked on again. The furnace, not Miss Mia, who having enjoyed a delicious meal is napping cozily in the Situation Room.

More chores. For instance, coffee must be brewed, twice. Since our coffeemaker went south Herself uses the Chemex at Mia-thirty while I crank up the ancient Krups espresso machine an hour or so later. The last of the bread gets toasted. Old loafer bakes new loaf.

Out goes the trash and recycling for pickup. Brief yet cordial salutations are exchanged with neighbors and dogs. Something has shit in the cul-de-sac. Not a dog. Be on the lookout, etc.

As the temperature inches upward the lawn gets one of its twice-weekly drinks, which feels increasingly stupid with the Rio looking like a sand trap on the devil’s back nine. Time to help a landscaper make his truck payment? Probably. You don’t have to water rocks, or mow them, either.

Anyway, this old wasicu is too stove up to do a rain dance. The gods would just chuckle and avert their eyes.

“Hey, we told you to go to the desert, not to stay there. You get your wisdom and then you get the hell out. Who said anything about lawns, golf courses, and swimming pools? Not us, Bubba.”

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11 Responses to “Mondaze”

  1. JD Says:

    Ha! Latest cold front in the Bibleburg area just started rolling in. Temp went from 51F to 31F in about ten minutes. 3″ – 5″ snow tonight and highs of 31F Tuesday and Wednesday with more snow Wednesday night. Good news is only 45mph wind gusts. 🙂

  2. Pat O’Brien Says:

    Fish and game department here in AZ is cautioning people here that the drought is forcing wildlife into towns looking for water. Since this development has a golf course with ponds, watered and fed with ground water, I expect to see javelina and coyotes around here evening and early morning. Might even spot the odd black bear. I have seen bear scat on the street where the washes cross. Foxes also come in here this time of year. A neighbor had one napping on a patio love seat.
    Are the deer still coming in your back yard?

    • khal spencer Says:

      I hear the Feds are about to declare an official water shortage in the Colorado Basin. How long do you think your development will be able to keep those golf course ponds full? Or are you folks outside the Colorado River straw?

      • Patrick O'Grady Says:

        More from Tony Davis at The Arizona Daily Star and John Fleck’s colleague Eric Kuhn.

      • Pat O’Brien Says:

        We are outside the Colorado straw. We get all our water from an aquifer, San Pedro basin aquifer, I think. But, it is being depleted. That rate has slowed dramatically in the last 10 years or so, and the draw continues to decline slightly in recent years. But, now that modest home building is starting again in Sierra Vista and surrounding area, the decline won’t last. Filling ponds with ground water for irrigation and aesthetics, even though the golf course and club has reduced their usage, won’t fly much longer. Phoenix will be hit when the Colorado river water restriction start. The article that Patrick put a link to a few posts ago about Lake Mead water releases outlined what will happen to them, and sooner or later Tucson.

      • Patrick O'Grady Says:

        California may soon feel the pain as well. The shit, like the water, rolls downhill.

      • Pat O’Brien Says:

        Word. Here’s the link about Lake Mead.

        http://www.inkstain.net/fleck/2021/04/lake-mead-likely-to-drop-below-elevation-1040-by-late-2023/

        Tucson has been recharging their Colorado allocation into their acquirer. When the cuts hit, they won’t suffer short term. How long they can dodge the bullet I don’t know. The aquifer around Wilcox, East of here, is in big trouble due to corporate agriculture.

      • Pat O’Brien Says:

        Yep. We treat the Saudis better than we treat Mexico. Will someone please explain that to me. A country ruled by a corrupt monarchy backed by wacky clerics are our buddies, while we treat our next door neighbors like shit. Plus I’m getting robo called, 3 times today alone, by an orange asshole looking for a handout. I’m going to a dark place. Bye.

    • Patrick O'Grady Says:

      I’m knocking on wood as I type this, but the deer have been giving us a miss lately. We had them in here a ton earlier this year, but they seem to be working the streets that really hug the foothills right now.

      We’ve also seen coyotes, bobcats, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, and raptors, though the ’yotes and bobcats are visiting the neighbors, not us. According to our wildlife cam, anyway.

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