FallWinterSpring is here!

It's November and the weather finally warrants wearing two layers, and spending time outside without dying of heat exhaustion.
I took the kids to the park yesterday. It was sunny and about 68 in the late morning. We watched the ducks for a while, and Ollie played on the playground. I sat in the grass with Brandy, enjoying the fresh air. This is why I love living here.
Though the summer is insanely hot, from November until about April it is absolutely lovely.
I don't mind snow, in fact I like it quite a bit, but the sub zero temperatures simply don't sit well with me. If I want to see snow, I can drive a couple of hours and do that, even go skiing! I will admit that the holiday season is a bit strange without snow. People DO put lights on their cacti. Seriously.

I'd rather deal with 115 heat here, because after all, "IT'S A DRY HEAT!" There, I said it... Though the residents of the desert have significantly increased the humidity levels here with golf courses, grass, pools, fountains, and non-native plants that require more water, the average is still under 40%. It sort of equates to walking into a convection oven. During the hottest part of the summer it is simply impossible to spend much time outside. Your body can't absorb enough to keep up with the rate of loss. That sounds crazy, but it's true. In the summer, we hibernate in our air conditioning, paying ridiculously high bills to keep cool.

I love our proximity to everything and nothing. From my house, it's 30 minutes to downtown Phoenix, but in the other direction it's also 30 minutes to Tortilla Flat (population 6). It only takes a few minutes to be in the mountains and feel like you are alone in the world. Once in a while, I get in the car and go out to the mountains just to remember how pretty it is. On that note, I'm heading out to spend some time with my horse. He is growing a shaggy winter coat since the nights have become quite cool...