Life in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Once again I have decided to go along with Michelle Ward's plot to fill up the internet with my musings! Street Team Challenge
# 15 is to blog about where you live or where you are from.

I live in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks aka Phoenix, Arizona. Not my actual mailing address but who wants to explain one more time that yes, there can be a Peoria, AZ as well as a Peoria, IL. And no, I've never been to the 'other' Peoria.

Phoenix is a nice place to live if you don't mind the constant dust. The dryness. And oh yes, the eternal, infernal, @#(*&%^%^@@**!!

HEAT!

Yes, it's a dry heat. But no, that doesn't matter once it gets over 105 degrees. Which it does in May sometime. And then it doesn't let up until November when the air once again becomes breathable by humans. I'm not against the sunshine. I quite like it, in fact. We had the same 300+ days of it in Colorado where residents could enjoy the occassional snowfall in August. Well, you could where I lived at 8600 feet above sea level. Down in only Mile High Denver, it would be 91 and sweltering. But I digress.

As the fifth largest city in the US, Phoenix is growing at a rate of about 7,000 people per day or so I hear. And we are in the midst of an 8 year drought (though blessedly it has been raining for nearly a week, but it's that spitty, fitty kind of rain they have here all too often, nothing substantial). So as usual out here in the Western American states, we are also having our perpetual water crisis. If you think this is bad, ask Las Vegas.

Dust storms. Did I mention dust storms? No? Well, I do like to pretend they do not exist. For Christmas I want a pressure washer so that I can save time scrubbing off the patio furniture before we want to use it.

So what's good about living here, you ask. Lots of stores. I only go to the ones with parking spaces in front of them. I'm not traipsing through a noisy mall full of idiot teeny-boppers. The new Cardinals football stadium and Coyotes hockey arena area which is a couple of miles from here and is growing up to be a small city in and of itself. Not nearly enough Starbucks with drive-thru windows... unlike Portland, OR where it seems that there is one on every block!

It is easier not to get lost because it's so flat that you can see everywhere. That's something I didn't appreciate until I was back in Ohio recently and got lost a block from my hotel because I couldn't see it or the sign.

Once you get over the novelty of it, the Sonoran desert is quite beautiful. There are palm trees and cactus everywhere. Bright, beautiful, lush bougainvillea and oleanders, lantana and sage. Roses that bloom all year around. The prim-looking little citrus trees with their repressed lollipop shapes and tree trunks painted white to ward off insects. Beautiful golf courses every ten feet. When I worked in Sun City, I crossed three golf courses on my three mile commute!

Plenty of twisty roads where we can drive our MINI Coopers and have fun. Just have to be careful not to run into a javelina (wild pig) on the road. Or an ATV, but that's another story and not mine to tell since I didn't even see it happen. If you like red rocks and cactus, there's plenty of scenery. If you like gambling, there's an indian casino every 47 miles because AZ is mostly American Indian reservations.

Speaking of reservations, the Apache reservation in northeastern Arizona is absolutely gorgeous. More people are familiar with the Hopi, Zuni, Ute, and Navajo reservations in northern Arizona, where the land is dry and desolate. The Navajo people are good-humored, gentle, easy-going people who got screwed when it came to their reservation. And the US Government is still screwing them through over-regulation. Not every part of the US is as free as it should be. But again, I digress, so don't flame me.

All in all, I like the city where I live, I like my house, and I like my friends. I love my little family of me, the Sports Fan, and our Golden boys, our cars, and for right now, Nana, my mom who is staying with us. I know I've got a good life and shouldn't complain. But if we didn't find something to complain about, would we strive to make our lives better? I'd be too busy playing with the dogs, making art, and groovin' to the love that abounds in our home.

But I'd still rather be in Colorado!