Summertime, and the Living? Well, It's.....Not Always Easy

 Summer arrived in southwestern Utah last week. I "puppysat" Stella the grand-golden doodle and it was 105* in the afternoon. That poor thing, she didn't want to play fetch after the third throw at the dog park at their apartment complex. I couldn't blame her. It was really warm.

The rest of the heat of summer will only intensify.  Today, it's 102* this afternoon. But I can roll the windows down in the car and drive on the freeway and still enjoy the air moving around me. When I sit out in the sunshine in the backyard it feels great for about 12-15 minutes, and like a piece of meat on the grill, I have to flip over.  Another 12-15 and then I need to jump into the pool for at least a half hour then I can start the process again.

While the weather is not a real problem for me here, work fluctuates between BUSY and so slow I can get three e-books read during the week. That just seems to be the way of things at this new job.  I don't enjoy the slow times, but I have learned to always have a book on my phone to keep my mind busy. I much prefer being actively, productively busy.  But on the days I am, the time flashes past and then it is the next day already.

My post-Covid recovery is still coming along.  I think I am doing better and nearly completely recovered when I have a week like this week and I can't get enough sleep no matter how early I get to bed. Genius Golfer reminds me this is a process and there is no time or speed limit. I haven't felt the brain fog I had right after the two weeks of complete immobilization of the virus. SO that is a plus.  Other times I think maybe this is a menopausal issue and not Covid related at all.  Where I am in my health journey, it can be hard to tell some days. But anything is better the full on Covid on my books.

I am missing my PG friends--especially as Strawberry Days is beginning today. This is the 100th year celebration of that little city event. And we aren't there anymore. It feels weird not to have an assignment to do this week--berry topping, working the concession stands at the Rodeo...etc. My heart is back in Pleasant Grove this week while my body elsewhere.  My mind?  Well, that is the question of the day.

Words to Fit the Season

Did you know that there are certain words that aptly apply in weather like we are having lately?  I especially appreciate these seasonal word when I'm at work and stand up from my black uphostered chair only to discover tha tI have several of these:

SWACK= sweaty back

SWOOBS=sweaty boobs

SWOTCH=sweaty crotch

SWECK=sweaty neck

SWITS=sweaty pits

Now that you know these words too, you might recognize them when the weather gets to hovering around 100 for about a week.

You're welcome.

♫ I Can See Clearly Now....♫

No rain is gone, to be sure, but the inversion seems to be lifting. Finally.

For those of you lucky enough not to live here in January, let me explain what this "INVERSION" is.  It is an abysmal weather phenomenon.  We live in a valley, with mountain ranges all around us.  In the winter, the snow falls and the ground is covered, keeping the air cooler.  When a high pressure system sits over us, the cold air in the valley is unable to float out the top, and is instead trapped in the lowest parts of the valley.  Add to that the pollution that comes from any metro area, and the cold air is not filled with nasty particulates that no one wants to breathe.  The stronger the high pressure, the longer we boil up this yucky gunk, filling the trapped air with pollution and soon blocking visibility beyond a few hundred yards.

Here is what it looks like fro the higher elevations...

                                                                                 ...Gross, right?

This morning, however, I could see the mountainside from my kitchen window.  The high pressure system must be moving on, finally.  We are supposed to have a storm this afternoon.  That low pressure (the storm) will blow out the gross air and clear the skies for us, for a while.

And people wonder why January is the worst month of the year?!?  This is it.  For me, at least. Bring on the Spring!

♫ Here Comes The Sun...Duh, nah Nah Nah♫

Yesterday we had a near perfect day...temperature wise.  It was close to 70 degrees and clear blue skies and a little light breeze, once in a while.  It was delightful.

Today might just be better.  I don't think it is a coincidence that today is also (supposedly) International Unplugged Day.  Who can stay in today on the computer, phone, tablet, TV, etc. with weather like this?

♫ I'm Gonna Soak Up the Sun ♫

Today is fore-casted to be spring. Tomorrow is fore-casted to be winter again.  Welcome to Utah.  Like they say,  "If you don't like the weather, wait for 24 hours or so and you'll be pleasantly surprised".

After getting some sense of winter's wrath last week--we have about two and half days of snow and cold--seeing as that is about the most of winter we have seen, today is supposed to be almost 60 degrees.  Ahhh.  That kind of weather surprise is my favorite.  And it makes the next snowy forecast bearable. 

Snow flowers from the front yard in 2006

 


Luckily for me, my tulips are quite up yet, but their little stems are poking up and sooner than later I'll have flowers to enjoy.  I'm hoping the snow is long gone by then.

Awwww...

Yin and Yang...Hot and Cold...Black and White....Positive and Negative...Sunny and Rainy.  Wait.  It is rainy enough.  I am ready to get rid of the rain and just have the sun.  For crying out loud, It is MAY!  All this cold, wet weather makes me just want to curl up with a friend and take a nap.  Wish I had a pet.

Follow Up Post

OK, this is post number 890.  Just in case anyone is counting, besides me.

I picked up The Boy in Park City today after a day of snow boarding, solo.  Genius Golfer dropped him up there this morning on his way to watch The Girl's swim meet at the gorgeous Davis Aquatic Center, so The Boy could board and now complain at how slow the swim meet was moving.  I had young women basketball all morning, so that was going to be any more fun than a slow swim meet for the poor kid, so he opted to board.

Apparently, he was doing his dangerous thing...including being the first one into the freshly groomed half-pipe this morning, since he was there early enough to be the first one in line for the lifts.  Anyway, he must have warn out his danger-card because at some point he crashed and bruised his tailbone, hit ice with his helmet (thank goodness he will wear one...and not give me grief about that) and knocked the wind out of his pride. 

He tried calling Dad at 11 AM...who, in the middle of an indoor swim, meet can't hear his phone.  I got done with the basketball stuff and was home at noon, when two minutes later the kid called me to come get him.  Not quite what I had planned, but he sounded next to tears, so I jumped back in the car and made it up there in an hour flat.  With no tickets, thankyouverymuch.  The Boy is fine, but his bum was sore.  Nothing a little stop for lunch at Wendy's couldn't fix.

While I was picking him up, however, I noticed that the thermometer in my car read a full 10 degrees warmer than it had been down in the valley.  The sky was blue and the air was clear too.  It smelled so good up there.  We have a winter phenomenon here called an "inversion" where all the pollution and cold air gets trapped in the valley and with a high pressure system parked over us, that yucky air is trapped here until the next storm comes by that is big enough to scour out the gunk.  We are due for one tonight.  After seeing the sunshine and blue skies, I think I am going to cheer for the storm to show up.

GG just got home a bit ago and said The Girl shaved a full second off her breaststroke time but her 500 yard freestyle was slow, almost equal to her very first time for that event.  Oh well.  We'll focus on the breaststroke improvementt and call it good.  I'm just hoping that her iPod didn't get stolen--her first one was at this same meet last year.  It was an expensive weekend for her last time.

The day or two before we left for California for Christmas, he went skiing with The Boy and our nephew, Garett.  The boys saw GG at some point hit a snow pothole and basically face plant it hard.  The boys thought it was funny, and GG was sore, but he always is after a day of skiing--crash or no crash.  We went ahead to CA and when we got home, he was still sore, like a possible broken rib.  So he went in to see the on-call doctor for our local family clinic.  X-rays showed nothing broken, but the doctor told GG that the tissue that holds the lungs inside the rib cage may have been injured and the damage brings on inflammation that would cause that kind of pain.  He was told to take 800 mg of ibuprofen and take it easy. 

He did that for a week or so, and it was still hurting--even more--so he went back this week to our regular family doctor.  Sure enough, that was his diagnosis too, but he gave GG a prescrition for some steroid to bring the inflammation down faster, along with a muscle relaxer to keep the spasms at bay and good, strong pain killer--that, of course, he doesn't like to take, but that is his choice.  He is moving, but feels miserable.  Keep GG in your prayers that he can heal quickly, and be back to normal.  He is stiff and sore each morning trying to get out of bed, and if he starts coughing (with this air quality, it happens to the best of us) it is incredibly painful.   He is not a good patient, as he expects himself to heal as quickly as the kids forgetting, of course, that he is 40-something years old and his body doesn't like to be beat up like this.

I've got a full week coming up--funny how that happens so quickly after a long holiday break. But so far, as the rest of us are healthy, sore bums aside, it is a good thing this time of year.  Seeing the sun, however, sure made me anxious for spring.  I can keep hoping it will come quickly--though I know it is only January.  Dangit.

Global Warming, My Foot

The family took the afternoon today to go see "Tangled"--darling show by the way.

When we got outside, there was almost two inches of snow on the ground and the car was iced over.  Crazy weather!!

I am so glad the whole global warming phenomenon has been thoroughly substantiated.

The Perfect Storm

Last night we got a couple inches more of snow.  The temperatures were below freezing, and at about 11 PM (when I had to go pick up The Girl from a Christmas party) the roads were icy and slick.  This morning the snow was turning to rain so the roads are wet but slushy and much easier to drive in.

Most storms begin as rain and turn to snow.  The way this one is going, the mountains will still get pounded with snow--they estimate measuring new snow in feet this weekend, not inches up there--while the valleys will be washed out and the air will be cleaned out too.  This is my favorite kind of storm.

I do love seeing the snow in the mountains, but can do without it on my day to day travels, and especially when the freezing temperatures come and the ice can temporarily build up.  Looks like this weekend the storm is behaving perfectly, at least for my money.

Be warm and safe out there, friends.

Nothing!

After all the panic and media whipped freaks at Home Depot and the grocery store last night, we got some wind, but not even a skiff of snow.  What a let down!

Now it IS cold out there, but if it going to be this cold, it might as well snow.  It missed our little town, and most of those near us, from the sounds of it.

But my SIL Brenda reported that they had received 15 inches Sunday night, and got another 8 inches last night.  So they really are hunkering down, but we are going to bundle up and get The Boy a haircut, meet a friend for some photos and have a regular, though colder, day off of school.

Here's hoping the brunt of the storm filled the resorts with snow, that your travel is easy going as you head "over the river and through the woods" tomorrow, and you have more than one moment to pause and think about all that you have to be thankful for this week.

The Word Of The Day Is...

Do you see that series of white flecks in the photo? That is snow. Yes, my friends, it is snowing here on the circle and it is May 24th. Graduation is Thursday. The Girl's ninth grade water park party is Wednesday. Elementary schools will be holding their dance festivals this week. Popsicles are the preferred treat, traditionally. But this? Really?!

The word of the day is STERN. My feelings exactly.

PS--At 11:00 this morning there was about an inch of slurpee/slush all over everything...I was too annoyed to take a picture of THAT. Now at 12:35, the slurpee machine in the sky has stopped and the driveway is drying off. I just hope my tomatoes are OK...but I am aftraid to look.

Schnikes, It's Cold!

We stopped by to see the Kolob Canyons corner of Zion's Park before we came home. The wind was blowing and the snow started falling just about the time we were ready to go back home. Spring in Utah. You never know what you're going to get.

Global WHAT, Again?

I would like to formally request about a week of mid-July weather right about now. This zero degree plus wind chill on top of 6 inches of snow is not even for the birds. They are smart enough to fly to St. George or Guatemala for the winter. I should have gone with them.

What really kills me in this wintery week is that I have California friends who are complaining because it was 50-something degrees yesterday. You've all gone soft in the granola, fruit 'n nuts, seaside paradise you call home. Puh-leese. I don't want to hear any of your whining. I am a California girl at heart, but I have had to toughen up to deal with the high basin winters.

Too bad those international dolts meeting this week in Copenhagen to discuss Global Warming didn't hold their meeting in Salt Lake City instead. They could have enjoyed some great skiing while they avoided their meeting, for obvious reasons.

Enough Already!

I am not very happy with the weather this morning. Yesterday the wild blew so hard I thought we might be in Kansas, Toto. I wake up today to this:

It is March 30th, for pete's sake. Enough already. Though, skiing friends tell me this snow is "epic, man".