hot

it's 85 in my casita today, and that's with the cooler going on high (only one speed) and those 2 vornado-type floor fans blowing away.

the "cooler" (ha) brings the temp down--as long as the relative humidity stays below 20%--and the fans can direct the moving air to make it feel a little more personally cool. there's one for me and one for Sun Bear, for whom the heat is excruciatingly debilitating.

i have been dipping into the stock tank inside my backyard screen house most every day, and boy what a difference a big ol' puddle makes when it is 98 degrees with relative humidity up in the 20's. we are so dry here that any humidity over about 15 percent makes us whine. i know, this is nothing compared to the midwest or the southeast, or even sometimes the northeast, but there you go.

i moved here from Florida, before that lived in Georgia, before that lived in Delaware. i knew what i was leaving behind, and i did it on purpose. gotta say, the ferocity of the sun's rays here is distinctly more intense than sunlight filtered through air with water in it.

meanwhile, it's really hot! did i mention that?

the monsoon clouds build up most afternoons, usually to the east and north. the other day i was totally convinced it was going to storm, and waited at home for an hour before realizing that the clouds had drawn back and away without bringing any rain to MY backyard (the truest measure of actual precipitation here--"did it rain at your house?" often only a mile, or portion thereof, separates the wets from the wet-nots).

i loaded up the dogs and headed to the Rillito, where the deeply slanting rays of the early evening sun hit the green cottonwoods and the dark gray masses of clouds bulked in the northeastern sky. it was a gorgeous tableau, and the temperature had dropped with all of the cloud cover, and the breeze was strong out of the south.

it was a beautiful half hour and i still remember the wonder and peacefulness of being able to be out in nature alone with my dogs, and also really appreciating it since i have temporarily abandoned our morning walks. i am sleeping too late and my bum knee, while improving, is still bum enough for me to forgo those walks for another few weeks.

i have been working with a personal trainer, 3 times now, to address said knee. he is good and i am improving.

happy 4th of july tomorrow; a rare holiday that i actually am not working!