Snowbirds

I just came back from visiting my mom, sister, and brother (and brother in law) in Snottsdale, AZ. (well, a month ago) As it's March, it's still winter. In fact, it's quite nice in the winter with days in the 70's and 80's, and nights in the 40's and 50's . . . it's enough to make one want to move there. But, hold on. We were "lucky" on this trip. The temps got into the mid to upper 90's and very dry while we were there. A bit of an anomaly . . . but only a bit. Come May through September, temperatures in the 90's . . . continuously . . . day and night . . . are quite common. Come the summer months temperatures in the 100's are normal . . . all the time! It's weird. Here, days almost always cool off at night. In Phoenix, even at midnight it's 100 degrees! I was talking to a friend about this the other day. The comparison, of course, is winter here. But,at least here in Wisconsin, we don't have 3 to 4 months worth of zero degree weather . . . continuously! And, it's easier to keep warm than it is to keep cool. They spend as much on energy keeping cool as we do keeping warm, it's just as hard on cars and roads, and we don't have too many insects that can kill you. Even with the occassional April snow storm, I'll stay in Wisconsin.

Hawk

We have a hawk that visits every now and then. This picture was taken right in our front yard. A.J. (get it?) let me get pretty close to him. He was eating a mouse. Cool bird.