As a kid, growing up in Riverside, I always wished summer was longer. Yes the locals think it's so hot there but they also believe they actually live in a desert. They need to spend a summer in a real desert, like Palm Springs 40 miles east of them and then we'll see if they think Riverside is so hot. In Riverside I was always disappointed that the swimming season was so short and even when it is hot it's very rare that you can actually swim there after 3PM when the winds shift and the cool down begins. After six years in Florida, and my second summer here, I can say I'm offically sick of the heat. Evening cool down? What cool down? Unless it's raining it's still over 100 here at midnight. This year was much cooler than last but it's still made me sick of the heat. I'd much rather be in muggy Florida than a furnace.
That being said I am still a lot happier here in Anthem than I was in Chandler. Chandler was like living in LA but hot, dry, and dusty. In Anthem we actually get rain, storm clouds, and I can walk a block and I'm out in the desert. I hate the extreme heat but other than that I live in a pretty cool place. The good thing about Arizona is that even though the heat is so extreme the hot season is much shorter than Florida, like half as long. In a couple weeks summer will be gone and hiking can be done any time of the day not just right before sunset.
So what have we been up to this summer? Well by looking at the pictures you won't find it hard to find out why I hate the heat. I'm always outside!
A couple weeks ago my sister came out here with her kids. I had to work but we managed to take a hike the first night they were there. After our hike Cody and I looked around my yard for scorpion. It's just my luck that when I actually want to find one there isn't any. I ended up taking Cody back to the desert with my black light and we found a single scorpion in a burrow.
A couple days later I was able to get off work after just two hours. We took the rest of the day and drove up to Sedona. The plan was to hang out at Crescent Moon Ranch. Of course when we got there the thunderstorms started. It went from 97 degrees to 68 and raining. So we left the river and went to take some pictures at the airport. Then we decided to go back to the river. A half hour later the rain started again and we eventually had to leave.
Hiking behind our house.
After spending the week here Cassandra took Natalie and my kids back to California with her. Being that I was all alone for a week I took the time to get in some hikes behind the house.
One morning I got up early-ish and hiked the peak behind me. I found quite a few dead saguaros on my hike but this was one of the coolest. I was thinking it would be cool if I could actually get that thing down the mountain. It would look cool in my back yard and I've heard a saguaro cactus skeleton can get some big bucks online. Just remember what the skeleton of a saguaro looks like. I'll mention it again later.
The was our last family hike. So this evening our hike started out good. I found some cool rocks and we were having fun. Then we came across a dead saguaro that we have passed over a dozen times. I had my camp shovel with me so I decided to peel off the dead bark to show the skeleton. Well the second time I hit the cactus with the shovel a swarm of bees came out from between the bark and the skeleton. Now keep in mind I hadn't seen a single bee in the area. I was completely caught off guard.
Natalie and the kids were 10-15 feet behind me at the time. I was covered in bees and got away from the cactus as fast as I could. I was trying my best to get away without swatting as I didn't want to stir them up even more. I turned around and Natalie was still there with Adri and the kids. Adri was panicking and despite my yells to run she was just standing there screaming. I had no idea there were bees on her. It all just happened too fast. So I ran back to get Adri and she was crying and screaming. I hadn't been stung so I figured she hadn't as well. So she's screaming, I'm yelling to run as I pull her, and we are right up against the neighborhood where people could see us from their backyard. I had my .45 on my side so I'm thinking someone is gonna hear all the craziness and call the police to report a kidnapping. So we're now running away as fast as we can but I still have one bee trying it's best to get into the hair on the side of my head. I finally had to go crazy swatting at it.
When we got back to our neighborhood we finally stopped. Adri had a dead bee on her side. I lifted up her shirt and she had three stings on her back, one on her elbow, and one on her neck. The rest of us got out without a single sting. She cried the entire way back asking me why the bees stung her. I always teach her that if you leave bees alone they will leave you alone. Natalie is always swatting at bees and I have taught Adri to leave them alone so they don't get mad. So I tried to explain to her that they were mad because I destroyed their house, on accident of course. So for the rest of the night she kept asking why I destroyed their house. Now she keeps reminding me that I need to put a sign by that cactus to warn people about the bees. I think it might be a good idea. I might save someone else from getting stung or provoke some redneck to mess with the bees and let natural selection takes its course. A win either way right?
I think we got lucky that night. It could have been a lot worse. I think the reason it wasn't is because the sun had already set and bees aren't active at night. I'm not going to stop hiking. I've actually been hiking alone since then. But I have learned my lesson about the dangers in the desert. I'm always alert and looking for snakes, telling Adri not to move rocks because of scorpions, and making sure she doesn't get poked by cactus. Now I know to look out for the bees. I won't be caught off guard again.
So that's all the fun we have been up to lately. Right now I am looking for a more long term job. I had a second interview last week that went well and the pay is a lot better than what I am getting now. Once I get another job I'm going to cut back on the side work and have a more time to relax on the weekends.
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