Dog Days

 

cc photo by J. Delp

August in Arizona certainly constitutes the “dog days” of summer. I have not written much lately, and I blame it on the heat. July and August are typically the most insufferable months in the Sonoran Desert.

“Yes, but at least it’s a dry heat,” you say.

There is truth in that statement, for I have spent summer days in states with much higher humidity and will acknowledge the level of discomfort that the hot, heavy air inflicts on residents who dare to venture outdoors – especially during mid-day. As I have written, while shearing Christmas trees in Kansas, heat and humidity often combined to make the work nearly unbearable. When temperatures soar above one-hundred degrees Fahrenheit and you throw in some moisture, it is every bit as uncomfortable as a one hundred and fifteen degree day in Arizona.

However, summers in the Phoenix metro area are just different. Yes, it is a dry heat. Like campfires, jet engine exhaust, blow torches, kilns, stove tops, and the Sun. While many states routinely see highs soaring above one hundred degrees, the truly exhausting part of the Arizona summer is not the high temperature – you just stay indoors – it is the low temperature that saps your enthusiasm for existing. During July and August, it is not uncommon for the “low” to remain above ninety degrees – typically at an unthinkably early hour of the morning. This gives the outdoor enthusiast very little reprieve from the furnace-like setting.

I’ve included a dramatized photo of my dog (Cubby) walking along a canal near my house at about 7:00 pm. The temperature at this time was about one-hundred and five degrees. In the “winter” months, this pathway would be littered with walkers, bicyclists, runners, and the occasional skateboarder. Not on this day. Just me and my dog. Apparently we were the only souls dumb enough to brave heat exhaustion for a one and a half mile saunter on the surface of Mercury. Mornings are sometimes slightly better. The thermometer reading during this morning’s walk (a bit before 6:00 am) was about eighty-eight degrees. Definitely tolerable by comparison.

If these paragraphs seem a bit negative, if the author seems a bit cranky, or if there is a bit too much whining going on, just know that I blame it on the weather. Give me a few months and I will expound on the beauty and wonder that is an Arizona winter. Until then, I’ll be sticking it out in the air conditioning.