I went into the kitchen this evening to wash the dishes when I was surprised by a sudden sound coming from the skylights. "What the hell is that?" I said out loud. I was perplexed - was my ancient HVAC system finally giving up the ghost?

But no. It suddenly dawned on me that it was RAINING!

Water falling....right out of the sky....who'da thunk it?

Rain? What is this rain you talk about?

I'd heard stories, from the elders, that rain was "water falling from the sky".

"Water falling from the sky?!?!? Preposterous!" I was pretty sure they were pulling my leg - the idea is absurd! But lo! It turned out to be TRUE!

It's so awesome to see another good storm. I think we're doing pretty good as far as moisture at this point in the season(?).

Wayne - I think you're right - we're actually slightly ahead of the game this year (for a change) - and these last two rains have been gentle too - not the torrential downpour of monsoons. Lucky us!!

In the Atacama desert of Chile/Peru, rain is so scarce that the natives didn't even have a word for it in their language.
Recently, mummified remains of soldiers have been found. They died in the War of the Pacific (1879-1883).

That's dry. Really dry!

You know you're a drylander when.... You choose to mock those who live in places where everything is green and lush and brag about how warm you have it in the winter.

In summer --- May all the wells run dry, my dear, and the rocks melt with the sun, and I will watch it all from here, while the Salt River shall not run. (Burns) doesn't it ?

I think I'll go outside to watch my little waterfall dump a million gallons into the valley. Hahahahahaha...(he shrieked with a crazy look in his eyes) Hahahahaha --- The rest of us have water, --- untold water. This could be like one of those rap feuds. West coast against ----- No coast !!!

Dale Hodgins wrote:You know you're a drylander when.... You choose to mock those who live in places where everything is green and lush and brag about how warm you have it in the winter.

In summer --- May all the wells run dry, my dear, and the rocks melt with the sun, and I will watch it all from here, while the Salt River shall not run. (Burns) doesn't it ?

I think I'll go outside to watch my little waterfall dump a million gallons into the valley. Hahahahahaha...(he shrieked with a crazy look in his eyes) Hahahahaha --- The rest of us have water, --- untold water. This could be like one of those rap feuds. West coast against ----- No coast !!!

Laugh while you can!!! Later I'll pick some more clementines and take them into the outdoor shower! Just sayin'. >

I take advantage of this time of year to do my annual mocking, because come summer, it's BACK to Hell's waiting room (aka Phoenix)....

Yup. I'm going to harvest some Cara Cara Navels this morning. After that, work on the climbing roses. It's perfect right now in "The Valley Of The Sun."

I tried a minneola tangelo this morning - super juicy but still a bit on the tart side. They usually ripen up more in Jan.

Enjoy those cara caras! One of my favorites. I MUST get a lime tree in this year - I now have the perfect spot. A beautiful lime I had years ago succumbed to a hard frost - alas.

I love my Cara Cara. This tree makes me look like I know what I'm doing & I don't even have any idea what rootstock it's on. One thing that's really cool is that the skin is much thinner than any other Naval I've seen grown in Phoenix.

I had an outdoor shower this morning. A customer had clogged downspouts on his over filled gutters. I got a little bit everywhere. Three degrees above freezing. I'm currently warming my bones at a Starbucks. I get citrus fruit at Safeway.
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If we do get a rap type feud going, I don't want to end up like Tupac or Biggie. Let's limit it to drive by fruiting and squirt gun action.

The phrase "..... But we could use the moisture".

@Dale: A driveby fruiting you say? Hmmmmm.....let me just take a walk down to my neighbor's pummelo tree....



@Wayne - gotta love a plant that makes you look like you know what you're doing! Most plants in the desert are contrarians - no matter your expertise, they are out to prove that you are a desert "Loser"

@Johnny -

I totally had that "what is that weird sound... it's like a dripping kind of noise, but the faucet isn't running... OH IT'S RAINING!"
Or in my case, the eaves of the roof had finally started to drip, instead of powdery snow blowing around like sand.

Cracked me up, because that would NEVER HAPPEN where I grew up... parts of western Oregon get 9 solid months of rain.
We would get radio warnings about "sun breaks" in the afternoons, which were seriously considered a traffic hazard on the westbound highways.

Now I live in an area with about 12 inches of annual precipitation, and about 6 months of that comes in solid form. Maybe a bit more up here on our hilltop, where we get fog accumulation as frost on the trees. We have pine and spruce and larch; the valleys are mostly sagebrush.
We have a 3-week season known as "breakup" where all the water melts at once and we have mud... the other two seasons are "dust" and "ice."
Lotsa sunshine, though. And nobody complains about either the sunshine or the rain.

I have been pointed toward the OP as an experienced drylands land steward, and am now following various relevant threads in the hopes of some insights applicable to my change of station.

-Erica