life in the AZ desert is sometimes cold... and wet...

Cold:

from the Wednesday 1/17/07 (Phoenix) Arizona Republic newspaper:

Nearly 5,000 customers in fast-growing Maricopa were out of hot water and heat for two days during below-freezing temperatures after high demand caused a shortage of natural gas, officials said. The outage began Monday morning when not enough gas was available on one of the coldest days of the year, with a low of 19 degrees. Linda Taylor, a Southwest Gas spokeswoman, said that the extra demand from the cold weather caused the outage and that the gas line that supplies Maricopa, about 10 miles southwest of Chandler, needs to be larger. Repair crews "physically modified" the system with tap equipment so that more gas will come into Maricopa and the problem won't happen again, Taylor said. She said they would have the majority of Maricopa customers back up by Tuesday night.Bob Jackson, Maricopa public works director, said the city's high growth rate, 16,000 new residents in 2005 alone and now a population of more than 23,000, may have contributed to the outage. "I'm sure they underestimated demand," Jackson said.Arizona Corporation Commission member Kris Mayes said the agency is investigating the problem. "I think Southwest Gas was caught unprepared," Mayes said.

Thankfully, our neighborhood was not one of those affected!!

Wet:

It was cold again today, and rainy, to go with it- high in the mid-40s. This (see pic) is what happens with rain and a bad memory! The road we usually take when we drive home avoids the downtown traffic in Maricopa... but, there's a road closure right now (road work outside a new housing development- go figure!), so there is a detour. That is unpaved. And rutted. And icky!

It was only a mile or two, but enough to get all over, and I got some on my jeans when I got out of the car, to boot! (They're in the wash right now.) The mud is so thick it reminds me of chocolate cake batter. Needless to say, my car is staying where it is, because there's an 80% chance of showers tonight- cross your fingers!