Until Further Notice....

...The desert is being relocated to the upper Midwest.

I've visited the desert, and truth be told, I fell in love. So much so that I considered putting in for a transfer so that I could spend more time there. Although I hate tarantulas (spiders in general and those are HUGE), and even though scorpions creep me out and leave a painful bite, I was completely enraptured when I experienced the desert.

Of course, those times I spent in the Phoenix, AZ area were limitd to September, October, and April, and of course, that's probably the best time of year to be there.

I came to realize, though, that God provides us air conditions for roughly 7-8 months out of the year in the form of winter, and as a lover of flying down a hill as quickly as possible on two waxed pieces of wood and composites, I cannot live in the desert.

Well, apparently Arizona missed me, for he has come to visit. Sorry, all. I didn't realize that the enrapturement went both ways.

In this drought we are experiencing, it takes nothing to kick up a dust devil and I think a tumbleweed attacked my dog on our walk this morning. The grass is quickly browning and the 100 degree heat has convinced me that I'm not so much a desert kind of girl...I'm more of a winter type of girl. Or fall. I love fall. (Not fall-ing, mind you, just fall, as in autumn). I love crisp 50 degree weather with the changing leaves littering the ground and floating on the breeze. I love the fact that here in MN, spiders don't grow to the size of coyotes, and scorpions are creatures made to be sealed into paperweights.

The only thing that doesn't really fit with the desert heat is the humidity. I've experienced worse...in Puerto Escondido, Mexico (it was dry there, too), but at least we had the ocean to swim in and the morning and evening breeze coming of the ocean was refreshing in comparison to the hot, humid puffs of air we currently experience.

They were saying in the last "heat wave" (which has not really left) that it's been 11 years since we experienced the triple digits up here, and in fact, I remember that day because I got heat exhaustion. I went on my typical 3 mile run, although I walked a lot that day. But I was dehydrated to start out with and too stupid and prideful to quit. I thought that when I grew tired I was only having a bad day and I hit "the wall". I pushed myself by continuing to my turn around point, when I should have stopped long before.

I was so hot that I took my headphones off...even they bothered me. I had never before realized how little shade there was on that road, and of course, I had no idea that the heat had surpassed 100 degrees. At some point, my head pounding, blackness crowding in at the edge of my vision, I realized that something was wrong. And although I desperately wanted to sit down, I also realized that there wasn't a lot of traffic and I needed to get home..so I kept walking, one foot in front of the other.

When I walked into my air-conditioned apartment, I hit the floor and just laid there for awhile...actually on the edge of consciousness.

Knowing what I know now, I should have been in a hospital.

I'm feeling much better now. *wink*

Of course, I learned something that day...check the weather report! It was 102 with dew points in the upper 90's, and I had no business going for a run that day. What an idiot.

The following summer was hot as well, and I remember it well because I had law enforcement training and lived in a shabby apartment without AC...and I did a LOT of outdoor running that summer! Of course, having nearly killed myself the summer prior, I knew better than to run when it was too hot, and even our instructors modified the regimen on certain afternoons.

I do prefer the desert heat to the midwestern heat, although I'd far rather live in good old Minnesota, even with our harsh winters, than, say, in "Hotlanta". (hat-tip to my friends in Atlanda).

Thus ends my commentary on the present state of the weather in my state.

I'm getting redundant in my vocabulary now so I guess it's time to go to sleep so I can regenerate new words like the one I thought I made up this week..."pursual" only to find that it's in the dictionary. *sigh*.

I need a nap. Good night!