Valley of the Sun 2014: So, how hot is it?

A few hot jokes courtesy of the internet:

Q: How hot is it in the Valley of the Sun?

A: So hot every fat guy sweating in the city smells like Bacon!

Q: How hot is it in Mesa, Az?

A: So hot that I saw a fire hydrant chasing a pack of dogs!

Q: What happened after the mom purchased a loaf of bread from Albertsons?

A: By the time she got home it was toast!

Q: What do you need to visit Death Valley, Arizona?

A: Dental Records

Q: What are the only two seasons in Phoenix, Arizona?

A: Hot and Hotter.

Q: What did the one pig say to the another at the beach?

A: I'm bacon!

Okay, the weather is certainly the new of the week. 80F every day! I sure miss the cold damp weather back home. I miss the downpours. The dreaded wet flurries. I miss sloshing through puddles on our daily walks. No I don't! Ha!

I went to Gilbert this morning to catch the sunrise on the Riparian Preserve. I got there a bit after sunrise expecting to see many birds to be in the ponds. I think the number of photographers outnumbered the birds. It is unusually hot and dry and the birds are flocking off to cooler climes. I did get a good shot of a Verdin and Black Phoebe that I will post here tonight. We are going to have to scope out some new birding spots. Maybe Robin and Robert can help us with that next week!

Last Wednesday was the monthly street party. This month almost everyone on our street got together for a pot luck Valentine's Day theme breakfast. Great food and a good time was had by all.

Last Thursday I golfed with Steve at his Red Mountain Golf Club in north Mesa. The course was fantastic. It is your iconic desert golf course with elevated tees looking down on green fairways lined with cactus and Palo Verde trees. Of course there was lots of sand and designer Pete Dye took full advantage of the setting. Diabolically he added sand traps around each green to add to the challenge. Thanks Pete. This was only the second time in 14 years that I golfed a full 18 holes. Not unexpectedly I shot a high number, but less than the previous 18 hole effort in Victoria in December. I had some brilliant holes and some that were memorable only to be forgettable. Steve was not rattled by my erratic play and played well from tee to green. The two 80 year olds who made up our foursome were amazing. I think the fellow birdied the last 3 holes while the gal was consistent throughout and was perhaps the best chipper/putter that I have ever golfed with.

We rode our bikes several times last week. Of note is Dana's record setting time on the Usery hill. The hill, a steady 5k climb, is on our regular route. Last Wednesday Dana set a personal best time up the hill. Her new time of 15:57 was amazing and is a new standard for her. On Saturday Steve, Joanne, Dana and I rode the Wild Horse trail on our mountain bikes. This challenging desert trail offers some technical sections that kept all of us alert and focused. Joanne took a spill in some soft sand and got up sporting a clump of Cholla cactus attached to the side of her knee. If you have never had Cholla cactus stuck to your body think a pin-cushion of porcupine needles. These things do not come out easily. Impressively Joanne yanked them out of her skin with little fuss.

Friday we dined at our fav restaurant, The Blue Adobe, in downtown Mesa. It is always a treat to go out and even though we say we should do it more often, we don't. It does make the times we do go out that much more special. Enough said on that.

I golfed with the Sunday "Royal Canadians". This is the regular "9 and Dine" group from our RV resort. Fun time for all although I putted as though I were putting with a croquet mallet rather than a putter. I clearly need work on this aspect of my golf game. Then again, there is little of my golf game that does not need work, and a lot of it!

Yesterday we took out 4Runner in for a little preventative maintenance. This gave us reason to hop the Light Rail to Tempe Town Lakes for a morning of birding. There were not many birds in and around the lake but we did identify 3 new species to add to our Arizona list for 2014. These were Eared Grebe, Brown Pelican and the very striking Cliff Swallow. The Cliff Swallows have made quite an impact in Arizona over the past 3 days being reported for the first time this year in many locations in Southern Arizona. I think they all few in at the same time.... Our yearly bird species count stands at 123, thanks in part to the arrival of the Cliff Swallows.

Here are some images captured this week. Enjoy!

Ciao from the Valley of the Sun.