Monsoon Season...

...is officially upon us.

I'm so sorry for the sporadic nature of my posts, Dear Friend. Things here have been chaos. I've been working shifts at both hospitals every day, and the construction at my house continues. I'm exhausted and I miss my dog terribly.

I had a really good day at work today, but my good mood started to run out towards the ends. I left work to drive home, but instead headed the opposite way, out into the mountains. I was hoping the drive would ease my mind.

I considered, briefly, stopping to buy some water and just hiking until my legs gave out. But scrubs are poor hiking attire. Also, the horizon was filled with monsoon clouds. Instead I just drove. Initially I had just planned to drive out a little ways and get a decent picture of the Superstitions. This plan, however, was hampered by billions of low hanging telephone wires and trailer homes. Eventually I abandoned that plan.

I drove out to Peralta Trail and meandered around. It was stunning. The sun was streaming through the last of the puffy clouds, and the monsoons were starting to roll in from the south. I stopped periodically to take pictures. There are these marvelous hanging chain cholla trees out that way, and as I am currently enamored with them, I figured they would make me feel better. It both did and didn't.

I'm just surrounded with a sense of unease these days. I'm pretty sure it's a result of the construction in my house. I really dislike having people in my home, particularly people I don't know. The fact that they're in there when I'm not doesn't help. Neither does the on going complications and continuous delays. Additionally, the majority of my things are packed up at the moment, and so it doesn't even feel like home right now.

At some point I realized that the monsoon storms were nearly upon me. I was miles out on a dirt road, one littered with washes, still muddy from the last big storm, in my tiny little Mazda. Not exactly a great place to be on a beautiful July day in the desert. I turned around and headed back.

The storm was just ahead of me now, and dumping rain on the desert. I hit the wind and sand just as soon as I made it back to the freeway. All the overheads warned of low visibility. As I made my way back into East Mesa the rain started. Thick, heavy drops. Between the wind, the dust, and the rain it was very difficult to see. As usual, the roads immediately began flooding slightly. I made my way out of the storm, only to find that there were two more in between where I was and home. Each storm was more intense than the last. The final one was nearly impossible to drive through. I was going less than 20 mph on the freeway, visibility was less than 20 ft, and the wind was gale-force at just over 60 mph. I got stuck in a really intense downburst just shy of Mill, and torrential rain. I can't even remember the last time I saw rain like that. Apparently this storm just tore everything apart, the radio was reporting 5,000 homes would be without power until at least midnight. Yikes! It was the kind of storm I know you would have appreciated. It was beautiful and destructive, and made everything smell like wet desert and asphalt.

I made it home to find that I still had power, but the new leak issue had not been resolved today. They had clearly been working on it, as there was an additional towel on the floor, one that did not belong to me, (as well as some tools and a baseball cap) but nothing to indicate when the work might be finished. Additionally, the fish tank in my bedroom was uncovered, which concerns me. Although the most reasonable explanation is that the sheet simply slipped off of it, as it is prone to doing, in my mind I'm at least partially convinced that people were going through my house and touching my stuff.

And that, Dear Friend, THAT is all I know.

I'm exhausted, and I'm falling asleep even as I type this.
I hope things are well up there in the land of trees and fog.
I hope that you're missing the monsoons at least a little.
And I'm hoping that the glory that is this desert life, will draw you home again.
Give Phil my love.
<3