Sept 15th

” Mercury Forecast Edmonton 21 degrees, Calgary 19 degrees, Mesa 31 degrees”

If you’ve ever sat through a Phoenix monsoon, you know it’s less “rainstorm” and more “nature’s attempt to pressure‑wash the entire city at once.” Yesterday and today have been the full experience: heavy sideways rain, winds that seem offended, and that classic desert special where the ground says, “Absorb water? Absolutely not,” and sends everything racing across the surface instead. That clay/sand packed does not absorb anything. Jackie & I have seen this in August and a few times in late October. Alan was down in Mesa once and witnessed the same event.

One small blessing — our crawlspace basement puts us a couple of feet higher than most homes, which feels like winning the desert lottery during overland flooding. Meanwhile, I know the trees are growing so fast you can practically hear them stretching. Give them another shot of water and heat and i will need an extension to my extension ladder to bring them back to manageable sizing.

Jackie’s has a new contract that runs into early November, so once that wraps up, we’ll finally put together a plan to escape this snowy, cold… whatever it is. I can’t call it hell — hell is supposed to be hot — but whatever the opposite of Phoenix is. Going there is like cuddling up in a warm blanket not to stay warm but to enjoy the comfort.

With no RV lot to go to and prep I am left with only a few things to do. Golf, exercise, wash cars, clean up, organize and what? I REALLY do not know what people can do all winter to stay busy. I refuse to watch TV during the day ( one movie which was weird midday) , I refuse to nap during the day, one hour in the gym is enough, ( new reset weight of 182 pounds is holding easily) , so I will need to look for other things to make the days go by.