The Heat Of The Moment

We will solve no real problems with this post - there will be no talk of my deep concerns for both my favorite teams - The Dallas Stars and the Minnesota Vikings - there won’t be any attempted great prose.

No - this is just a piece about me being here and me living in the desert in the summer. If you do it too, then you’re aware of the challenges. If you don’t - it can seem stifling, crippling, annoying as hell.

But for me - it’s my favorite time of year here.

I took that photo (above) yesterday.

OK - I go outside late in the day to jump in my swimming pool. What you need to know about that is I made a small investment in a pool chiller - and that’s maybe the best thing I ever bought in my life. Haha. And it’s not crazy expensive or anything. Having one of those gets me outside every day, regardless of how hot it is. I spend at least an hour or more shooting baskets and floating around. It’s awesome.

Anyway - I go outside and I notice that my little outdoor table next to the pool is a mess. Shit’s everywhere.

I had a few things in this little glass box including a bic lighter. I’ve heard about these things happening but had never seen it. Look at the picture. Look at the lighter. It blew up and created an explosion that sent shrapnel everywhere. I wish I had taken pictures before I cleaned it all up.

That’s how hot it is here. 116 yesterday. Today it’s going to be much milder - 112 is the forecast. Maybe I’ll go for a bike ride… ummmm… no.

We’re a seasonal community here. Palm Springs. Rancho Mirage. Indian Wells. LaQuinta. Indio. Coachella. We’re a tourist area - a series of small resort towns strung together with big stuff happening in each during the winter and spring months.

We survive on the income all that creates over those months, as we routinely double and triple our local population.

And then - poof. Everybody leaves. Most everybody. Only the 12-monthers stay - and I’m a 12-monther.

Maybe you think about retirement and where to go - maybe you wonder what it’s like here when there are no huge events and the towns are anything but abuzz…

The Valley is a one-of-a-kind place that’s - by California standards - very affordable if you’re a year-round resident.

And there’s so much more than that to it - starting with - where else in Southern California is there a major metropolitan area with very little traffic, especially in the summer?

It’s here. Let me sell it to ya.