The Great SeaScorcher of '09

Yup, it was the great SeaScorcher of aught 9.

Well our little heat wave had me running to the porch for cover and some electric fan action. It really is the humidity that does me in. You just can’t get cool with that. Living in Phoenix I could take the 125 degree temps it reached the year I left and only remark that it seemed a “little hotter today” but that was a dry heat. Someone from Phoenix should kick me now for having said that. In the Pacific Northwest we have been doing our level best to break heat and whine records and I like to think I am doing my part to help out with that. It may well be 100 or more tomorrow and I have been practicing my whining for days now so I'm all ready to go.

I gave up painting in the outdoor studio which had become a sauna and moved some stuff up to the porch which is at least in the shade all day. For any of you not familiar with the PNW weather we are a temperate climate and can expect a week or two of high temps in late July but not like this. This is just stupid weather assuming that weather could in any way be considered intelligent that is.

I am so very grateful that it cools off so much at night. In Phoenix the high concrete, asphalt ratio made evening cool down a quaint theory. You couldn't sit on the cement steps without burning your behind off. A primary concern in everyone’s mind during the summer months was the fear of a car accident in which you were thrown from the vehicle onto the molten hot asphalt only to lie there helpless and in agony. That fear of course came after the scorching antics of getting into your super heated metal oven of a vehicle and trying to drive it without actually touching anything. And yes, it is true; you can actually fry an egg on the sidewalk. It is a rite of passage for all Desert Rat children.

So you see I have earned my right to whine because I have already done my time. The year it hit 125 degrees Sky Harbor airport shut down because as it was revealed later, they had never actually tested the airplanes for those temperatures. They never expected to have to fly in them. The catch is that for the rest of us running around in that heat back then it just “seemed a little hotter” that day. Nothing special, just a little hotter.

I guess I have a different perspective on the weather. I am still making up for a lot of hot dry years in the desert. I don’t want to be cheated out of a pleasant 75 degrees with the occasional rain to water my plants. I don’t want to have to think about planting decorative gravel instead of grass or cacti instead of fuchsia. I already had that. I want lush cool greens like they promised me when I crossed the border and they handed me my complimentary latte` and rain gear. Apparently I need frequent watering.

Smart dog and "Sketchy" the frog.

This was not actually rain but what my neighbor referred to as a "dampening" not truly raining but rather dampening the rocks. sigh. Still, it looked pretty and not everything is wilting or whining. No matter how much I am.